← Same Sun, True Size · Lesson 2 of 3
The stretched map
Every flat map of a round Earth has to stretch something. The Mercator map, made in 1569 for sailors, keeps directions true, so a straight line on it is a steady compass heading. The price is size: land gets stretched more and more towards the poles.
On a Mercator map, Greenland looks about as big as Africa. In fact Africa is roughly 30 million square kilometres and Greenland about 2.2 million, so Africa is around fourteen times bigger.
Why does Greenland look so big on a Mercator map?
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