Smart “to scale” map reveals the true size of the Earth’s countries

Looking at a world map, it makes sense to assume that Greenland and Africa are similar in size.

But in reality, the African continent is 14 times the size of the icy northern landmass.

Including a number of offshore islands, Greenland’s total area is 836,300 square miles (2.16 million square kilometers), while Africa is 11.7 million square miles (30.4 million square kilometers).

Not only that, but the latter is three times the size of North America and also significantly larger than Russia, despite the opposite appearing true when you look at a map.

So what’s going on?

Well, it turns out that many countries – including Russia, Canada and Greenland – are not nearly as big as we think and that’s because of something called world map distortion.

This phenomenon can be attributed to the Mercator projection, a map most often hung in classrooms and textbooks that was created in 1596 to help sailors navigate the world.

It gives the correct shapes of land masses, but at the cost of distorting their dimensions in favor of the rich lands of the north.

Canada and Russia, for example, appear to occupy about 25 percent of the Earth’s surface on a world map, when in reality they occupy only 5 percent.

Australia also doesn’t seem to be that much bigger than Alaska, even though it’s the sixth largest country in the world.

In fact, it is 4.5 times larger than Alaska.

The biggest challenge in creating a world map is that it is impossible to represent the reality of the spherical globe on a flat surface – a problem that has haunted cartographers for centuries.

As a result, the shapes of world maps were typically diverse, ranging from hearts to cones.

But the diversity gradually faded and one model, devised by Gerardus Mercator, surpassed the others.

However, its distortion was studied by Met Office climate data scientist Neil Kaye, who created a two-dimensional representation of what the world really looks like.

It illustrates how countries in the Northern Hemisphere are much smaller than people usually think.

The well-known Mercator projection (pictured) shows the correct shapes of landmasses, but at the cost of distorting their dimensions in favor of the wealthy lands of the north

Africa is actually three times the size of North America and also significantly larger than Russia, despite the opposite appearing true when you look at a map (pictured)

This strange distortion has been investigated by a Met Office climate data scientist, who has created a two-dimensional representation of what the world really looks like

He did this by feeding Met Office data on the size of each country into Ggplot, a data visualization package for statistical programming.

Kaye then created the final map using a sterographic projection – a map function that projects a sphere onto a plane.

Mercator, who lived from 1512 to 1594, was a Flemish cartographer known for creating a world map based on a projection that showed sailing courses as straight lines.

Unlike other geography students of about the same time as him, he did not travel much.

Instead, his knowledge of geography came from his library of over a thousand books and maps.

Look at a world map today and you probably think that North America and Russia are both bigger than Africa. This strange distortion was revealed by a climate data scientist who created a two-dimensional representation of what the world really looks like (pictured)

The map was created by entering data about the size of each country (right) and feeding it into Ggplot, a data visualization package for statistical programming

In the 1580s, he began publishing his atlas, which he named after the giant who held the world on his shoulders in Greek mythology.

In the Mercator projection, North America appears to be at least as large, if not slightly larger, than Africa.

Greenland also appears to be of similar size, but in reality Africa is larger than both.

In fact, you can fit North America into Africa and still have room for India, Argentina, Tunisia and what’s left.

The map also suggests that Scandinavian countries are larger than India, when in reality India is three times the size of all countries combined.

WHO WAS GERARDUS MERCATOR?

Gerardus Mercator (5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a Flemish cartographer famous for creating a world map based on a projection that showed sailing courses as straight lines.

Invented in the 16th century, the ‘Mercator’ projection gives the correct shapes of landmasses, but at the cost of distorting their dimensions in favor of the wealthy lands of the north.

Although he is best known for that, Mercator was not just a geographer. He dipped his toes in theology, philosophy, history, mathematics and magnetism.

Gerardus Mercator (5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a Flemish cartographer known for creating a world map based on a projection that showed sailing courses as straight lines

Not content with just those skills, Mercator was also an engraver, calligrapher and he even made globes and scientific instruments.

Unlike other geography students of about the same time as him, he did not travel much. Instead, his knowledge of geography came from his library of over a thousand books and maps.

In the 1580s, he began publishing his atlas, which he named after the giant who held the world on his shoulders in Greek mythology.

He suffered a series of strokes in the early 1590s, which left him partially paralyzed and nearly blind, until a final stroke caused his death in 1594 at the age of 82.