We have previously explained that world maps are wrong due to the Mercator projection, which distorts landmasses as they approach the poles and creates severe anomalies such as Greenland appearing as large as Africa. This distortion is hard to visualize without the right tools, but the website The True Size Of eliminates it at its root with an interactive map that automatically adjusts the size of the selected country as you move it away from its original position.
Gerardus Mercator created the projection that bears his name in 1569. One of his goals was to preserve local directions and shapes, keeping north "up" and south "down," but the projection is not without controversy. Over time, both its origin and its usefulness have been questioned (initially, the projection could not be applied to navigation). In fact, Mercator only became the standard solution for navigators in the 18th century, and had to wait another century to gain popularity in commercial and educational maps. The problem... is its distortion towards the poles...
The True Size Of: The Real Size of Countries on an Interactive Map
... and that is what The True Size Of tries to solve. All you have to do is search for a country and drag it towards the equator to reduce its distortion in the projection. One of the most extreme examples is the aforementioned Greenland: It seems as large as Africa, but in reality it has an area 14 times smaller.
Even more impressive is the distortion of Antarctica, which "fits" without much trouble into the African continent (14.2 million square kilometers versus 30.3 million). Another comparison with a historical profile worth making is the United States and Russia. Mercator makes Russian territory look gigantic, but it is 17 million square kilometers versus 9.5 million.
Finally, remember you can rotate the selected countries using the compass at the bottom. Try it!
Official site: Click here
