Mercator Projection: Scientists prove that Russia and Canada are much smaller than shown on maps

If you look at an ordinary map of the world, you might think that Greenland and Africa are almost the same size. But in fact, the African continent is 14 times larger than the northern island.

This was reported by the Daily Mail.

The total area of Greenland, including a number of offshore islands, is 2.16 million square kilometers. The African continent has an area of 30.4 million square kilometers, surpassing North America and Russia. Yet maps show the opposite.

Why are there such discrepancies between the actual size of the territories and their depiction on the map? In 1596, geographer Gerard Mercator created the best projection among competitors. It is the one used on modern maps. As a result, some countries, such as Canada, Greenland, and Russia, look larger than they actually are. It's all about the "world map distortion" effect. The Mercator projection depicts the correct shapes of land masses, but makes the northern lands appear larger than they actually are.

Canada and Russia are the most striking examples - occupying about a quarter of the world's surface on the map, in reality, they own only 5%. The Mercator projection has also played a cruel joke on Australia, which, according to the maps, is smaller than Alaska, although it is the sixth largest country in the world, exceeding the area of Alaska by 4.5 times.

The inability to depict the reality of a spherical globe on a flat surface is the reason for such inaccuracies. Scientist Neil Kayem, who studies climate data from the Meteorological Center, used a computer program to create a two-dimensional image of the true size of the continents and countries on our planet.

Read also: Неймовірна знахідка у Єгипті: 3300-year-old tombs and chapels.

Then, using stereographic projection, he created a real world map and was able to see the actual size of the countries. According to Mercator's projection, North America and Greenland are similar in size to Africa, although the latter is larger than both of them combined. In addition, according to Mercator's projection, the Scandinavian countries are larger than India, which is actually three times larger than all of them combined.

As a reminder, we have already written about a gruesome discovery in Mexico.

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