Why does Greenland look the same size as Africa on most world maps? The Mercator Projection, the most common map in classrooms and homes, severely distorts the size of countries, making regions near the poles appear massive while shrinking equatorial areas.

Let's explore:

• How the Mercator Projection distorts Earth's true geography
  
• Why even though it doesn't look like it on some maps, Africa is actually 14 times larger than Greenland
  
• The history of map projections and why Mercator became standard
  
• Better alternatives: Gall-Peters, Robinson, and Winkel Tripel projections
  
• Which world map projection you should actually buy for your home
  

Map projections are the mathematical methods used to represent our spherical Earth on a flat surface. While Mercator's projection was designed for navigation in 1569, it's still used in education today, despite its significant size distortions. Google Maps also uses this 450 year old map... because it's still great for navigation. It's just not ideal for teaching spacial concepts.

World globes are an excellent approximation for landmass size, position and proximity. Still, humans desire display on flat surfaces like the display you're reading this text on now. For centuries brilliant minds have attempted to find ways to display the entire world on a flat rectangle with no distortion but thus far, it's yet to be resolved!

Although all world maps are distorted, some are 'much worse' than others, depending on the application. When it comes down to it, we just want you to be informed and have a map you enjoy.

Shop reference-grade maps!
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