Greenland looks as big as Africa on the wrong world map
Gerardus Mercator published his conformal cylindrical projection in 1569, turning rhumb lines into straight lines for navigators. It became the standard sea chart by the 18th century, then faced criticism for bloating polar lands. Web mapping revived it in the 21st century as Web Mercator.
The Mercator projection, first presented by Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, is a conformal cylindrical map. It represents rhumb lines—paths of constant compass bearing—as straight lines, making it ideal for marine navigation. When applied to world maps, it inflates landmasses farther from the equator dramatically.
Mercator announced the projection in 1569 with a world map measuring 202 by 124 cm in eighteen sheets, titled for sailors' use. Edward Wright published accurate construction tables in 1599. The projection was ahead of its time: lacking reliable longitude and magnetic declination data, navigators could not fully adopt it until the mid-18th century.
Critics note gross area distortions. Greenland appears the same size as Africa, though Africa's area is fourteen times larger. Alaska looks equal to Australia, which is 4.5 times bigger. Madagascar seems matched to Great Britain, yet Madagascar is more than twice Britain's size. At latitudes above 70°, the projection is practically unusable.
Publishers reduced Mercator world maps through the 20th century, but web mapping brought an abrupt resurgence via Web Mercator. Today it survives in marine charts, some world maps, and online services, while commercial atlases largely prefer alternatives. Mercator himself used the equal-area sinusoidal projection to compare relative areas on his own work. Critics like George Kellaway and Irving Fisher argued the projection misleads viewers about relative importance of equatorial nations. Brazil's true area is nearly five times that of Alaska on such maps.
Source: Mercator projection
