World Map Actual Size Of Continents

The image you re picturing will most likely resemble the mercator projection a 2d representation of the globe created in the 1500s which most maps you commonly.

World map actual size of continents. The reason why certain countries look bigger or smaller than others is that of something called the mercator projection. The world map you know is totally wrong. Check out this clever graphic which helps put into perspective the true size of countries. This exercise is an eye opening look at how this map might have affected our view on the world concerns that were raised as far back as the early 20th century.

Morrison warned in 1902. Drag and drop countries around the map to compare their relative size. Is greenland really as big as all of africa. The map suggests.

Visually speaking canada and russia appear to take up approximately 25 of the earth s surface when in reality they occupy a mere 5. New world map depicts continents true to their actual size the three cartographers created the equal earth map in response to public schools in boston adopting another map the gall peter map. Thus it is that we ve all got stuck with maps of the world which show africa 30 4mkm 2 as basically the same size as greenland 2 2mkm 2 rather than a whole order of magnitude bigger. As the animated gif below created by reddit user neilrkaye demonstrates.

Greenland meanwhile is 1 14th the size of the continent as can be seen in gall peters equal projection which provides the correct proportion of land mass to the continents. Putting a 3d planet on a two dimensional world map was something of a challenge for early cartographers and so a flemish geographer and cartographer named gerardus mercator came up with a solution for the most accurate world map. In 1569 he designed an atlas that could be accurately used for navigation purposes but the downside was that his system distorted the size of. Once upon a time the human race thought that the earth was flat.

As a result the closer you get to the poles the more distorted the map becomes and the bigger things look relative to their actual size. A great tool for educators. You may be surprised at what you find. The new projection is called equal earth and is designed to represent the relative sizes.

Take a look at these true size maps that compare the actual real size of different parts of the world. People s ideas of geography are not founded on actual facts but on mercator s map british cartographer g. Particularly in the case of the african continent. Think about a map of the world.