30 Real World Maps That Show The True Size Of Countries

Ever wondered why Greenland looks as big as Africa on the map? It’s because of something called the Mercator projection. Putting a 3-D planet on a two-dimensional world map was a challenge for early cartographers. 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. Still, the downside was that his system distorted the size of objects depending on their position relative to the equator.

Because of this, landmasses like Antarctica and Greenland appear much bigger than they actually are. Though there are around 40 types of map projections, from conical to polyhedral and retroazimuthal, depicting the true size of the world, this one is still used the most because of its convenience and simplicity, even by Google Maps. None of these projections can be titled the real world map because they all depict the same Earth through a different lens.

So, what does the real-world map look like? To show how incorrect our understanding of countries by size is, a website called thetruesize.com lets you move land masses into different locations. This helps you understand the true size of countries.

We at Bored Panda played a bit with this tool, and what we found will change your perspective on our planet’s geography. The website lets you juxtapose two countries together to compare their relative size.

Here’s what the real size of countries looks like.

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US Moved Down Next To Australia Looks Unbelievably Small

Map comparing the true size of the United States and Australia.

Final score:

166points

30 Real World Maps That Show The True Size Of Countries

US Moved Down Next To Australia Looks Unbelievably Small

Russia On The Equator Is Not A Giant Bear Anymore

If Romania Was An Island In The Arctic Ocean

Australia Is Way Bigger Than You May Think - It Covers Almost The Whole Of Europe

Is Africa Bigger Than it Appears on the Map?

If Brazil Was In Asia It Would Be Massive

Indonesia Would Spread Almost Across The Whole Of Russia

Greenland Is Not So Big When Compared To USA And Brazil

When You Move Canada To South America

What is the Most Realistic World Map?

California Moved Onto The UK Shows They're Quite Similar In Size

China Placed On Top Of Russia

Australia Moved Onto North America Becomes REALLY Big

Japan Can Stretch Almost Across Canada

Why is Greenland So Big on the Map?

Antarctica Is Not So Much Larger Than Brazil

This Is How India Changes As You Move It North

Canada Moved Down Onto The US Reveals That Both Countries Are Pretty Much The Same Size

How This All Works

Is the True Size Map Accurate?

USA Compared To Europe

If Poland Was An Island In The Norwegian Sea

The US Could Easily Cover The Whole Of Canada But It Becomes Much Smaller When It's Moved South

When You Move Mexico Onto Greenland Its Size Increases Dramatically

If Lithuania Was An Island In The Barents Sea And Artic Ocean

Moving UK North And South Reveals How It Actually Compares To Other Countries

Democratic Republic Of The Congo When You Move It North

How The Size Of Russia Changes As You Move It South

#27 Tiny Iceland Compared To New York

Tiny Iceland Compared To Its Giant Neighbor Greenland

Let Me Just Make This Easy; The Issue Is Peters (accurate) Vs Mercator (inaccurate).

Alaska Doesn't Seem So Big When Compared To 48 Contiguous States

Texas Moved On Top Of Alaska Shows That They're Almost The Same Size

You Cannot Make Legitimate Size Comparison Unless You Are Doing So On An Equal Area Map

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