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Mercator Projection Explained (Why Does Greenland Look So Big On A World Map)

When we take a look at the world map, we can see that Africa looks tiny, and Greenland and Russia appear to be very huge.The reason behind this is because The world map you are probably familiar with is using a project method called the Mercator projection which was developed all the way back in 1569. It is used to convert the 3D globe into a flat map which are commonly used today. Due to the Earth's curved surface, accurately representing every area on a flat map is challenging. It's impossible to fully convert a spherical map into a rectangular one without sacrificing some level of detail. In the 1500s, navigating a merchant ship in the correct direction was a formidable task because it required sailors to continually adjust their ship's angle towards their destination by performing mathematical calculations. The Mercator map projection, invented by Gerardus Mercator, revolutionized this process, with the first map using this projection introduced in 1569. This innovation eliminated the constant need for recalibration by maintaining consistent angles, and it has remained popular to this day. When a ship is traveling from London to New York, sailors can simply calculate the passage angle on the map and steer the ship accordingly. When it comes to navigation, Mercator maps offer ease of use. However, their most significant drawback is the distortion of countries near the North and South Poles, which makes them appear much larger than their actual size. This distortion occurs because on the map, lines A and B have the same length. However, on the Earth, line A is much longer than line B. This discrepancy happens because line B is much closer to the North Pole, causing areas near the poles to appear larger on the map. For instance, on a Mercator map, Greenland seems to be the same size as Africa, but in reality, Africa is approximately 14 times larger than Greenland. This distortion occurs because Greenland is positioned at the top of the map, while Africa is located in the middle of the map.