Why Does Greenland Look So Big on Some Maps?

Introduction References & Edit History

Images & Videos

Map comparing Greenland's actual size with its apparent size according to the Mercator projection

Smiling white woman pointing up at a vintage map, superimposed with the text Africa and the Mercator map.

Side-by-side comparison showing a globe of the Earth on the left with accurately proportioned continents, and a Mercator projection map on the right, where landmasses appear increasingly distorted and stretched near the poles, especially between 60 and 90 degrees latitude. The map highlights how the Mercator projection exaggerates the size of high-latitude regions.

Why Does Greenland Look So Big on Some Maps?: Media

Videos

Smiling white woman pointing up at a vintage map, superimposed with the text Africa and the Mercator map.

Is the World's Most Popular Map Wrong?

The Mercator map distorts the size of some countries and continents.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

Map comparing Greenland's actual size with its apparent size according to the Mercator projection

Map comparing Greenland's actual size with its apparent size according to the Mercator projection

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Side-by-side comparison showing a globe of the Earth on the left with accurately proportioned continents, and a Mercator projection map on the right, where landmasses appear increasingly distorted and stretched near the poles, especially between 60 and 90 degrees latitude. The map highlights how the Mercator projection exaggerates the size of high-latitude regions.

Distortion caused by the Mercator projection

A globe (left) depicting Earth with no land distortion and the Mercator projection...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.