A 10 milliliter graduated cylinder.
-Photo by Matthew T. Ross-

A milliliter takes up the volume of a cubic centimeter.

The liter was first introduced back in 1795 in France. Without a doubt the metric system is one of humanities greatest inventions. Even greater than the metric system itself, is the idea of a standards for measurement. Even though most Americans don't know it, they are actually on the metric system. All of our weird miles, inches and ounce are actually (now) based on metric standards. Those metric standards are then based on physical properties of the universe. America still generally uses the "inch-pound" system largely for historical reasons. You can read more about that here: http://science.howstuffworks.com/why-us-not-on-metric-system.htm