The reason why certain countries looks bigger or smaller than others is because of something called the Mercator Projection. Putting a 3D planet on a two-dimensional map was something of a challenge for early cartographers and so a Flemish geographer and cartographer named Gerardus Mercator came up with a solution. In 1569 he designed a map that could be accurately used for navigation purposes, but 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 appeared much larger than they actually are.
To show how incorrect our understanding of country sizes is, a website called thetruesize.com lets you move landmasses into different locations. Bored Panda has played a bit on this site, and this is what we found.
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The US Could Easily Cover The Whole Of Canada But It Becomes Much Smaller When It's Moved South
Buzzfeed: And if Canada is moved down to where the US is, it’s clear that they aren’t as dissimilar in size as most people think.
Buzzfeed: People often forget how big Australia is because it’s so far away from other land masses. Here’s what happens when you move it over Europe.
Alaska Doesn't Seem So Big When Compared To 48 Contiguous States
Buzzfeed: People often forget how big Australia is because it’s so far away from other land masses. Here’s what happens when you move it over Europe.
California Moved Onto The UK Shows They're Quite Similar In Size
Buzzfeed: Because it’s so far north, the UK also benefits from the shortcomings of the Mercator projection.
Buzzfeed: And Here’s What Happens When You Overlay The Five Largest Countries In Africa On Top Of The USA: 1. Libya 2. Democratic Republic of the Congo 3. Algeria 4. Chad 5. Sudan
Buzzfeed: What Happens When You Place The 10 Largest Countries In The World Next To Each Other On The Equator
Iceland From Norsaq Flight Gl 783 - Air Greenland 18.52.56
You Cannot Make Legitimate Size Comparison Unless You Are Doing So On An Equal Area Map
