Introduction
The actual size of countries varies greatly and is difficult to portray accurately on a two-dimensional map. This is where the Mercator Projection comes into play. Developed by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, this projection is considered one of the most important developments in the history of cartography. The Mercator Projection preserves angles and directions when constructing its maps, which makes it ideal for navigation purposes. However, it does distort actual land masses, making countries appear larger or smaller than their true size depending on their latitude. This means that countries located near the poles appear much larger than they actually are while those near the equator appear much smaller. For example, Greenland appears almost as large as Africa on a Mercator Projection map when in reality it is approximately 14 times smaller. The use of this projection has been controversial in recent years due to its misrepresentation of areas around the equator but it still remains popular due to its navigational accuracy and convenience.
Real Size of Countries
[shield-db-table]True Size of Countries
Two-dimensional maps distort the size of countries as well. Some look fairly similar on the map as in real life: this is the case of Brazil, India, and countries in Central and South Africa such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Angola. Some countries however appear much bigger on the map than they actually are. For instance, Canada and Russia occupy almost 25% of the Earth’s surface on the map, when in reality they take up less than 5%. Similarly, Greenland seems to be a giant land, but its actual size is significantly smaller than it seems. On the map, the United States seems to be bigger than West Africa when it is actually much smaller, and could easily fit in the West part of the African continent.
FAQs
Why do maps not show the actual size of countries ?
The vast majority of maps do not show the actual size of countries because they are drawn according to one of two projections: the Mercator projection or the Gall-Peters projection. The Mercator projection, which is the most commonly used map projection, significantly distorts the size of countries near the poles. The Gall-Peters projection, on the other hand, accurately shows the size of countries, but it distorts their shape.
Which map shows the actual size of countries ?
The Gall-Peters projection is a cartographic representation of Earth that attempts to address the distortions in area size caused by other projections like the Mercator projection. It does this by accurately depicting the size of countries relative to one another, providing a more accurate means of understanding the global distribution of landmasses and how they compare in terms of actual surface area.
Why is Africa so small on the map ?
Africa appears smaller than its actual size on most maps due to the Mercator projection which distorts the size of objects closer to the poles, and because Africa is located much closer to the equator than other continents, it is significantly affected by this distortion.
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