Travel & Geography

25 Countries That Are Far Bigger or Smaller Than They Appear on Most Maps

Fact 1 of 254%

Greenland is actually fourteen times smaller than the continent of Africa.

Greenland compared to Africa on a globe.

On standard Mercator maps, Greenland looks roughly the same size as Africa. In reality, Africa is massive enough to fit the United States, China, India, and most of Europe within its borders.

"Africa is 11.7 million square miles, while Greenland is only 0.8 million."

This distortion happens because the map stretches objects near the poles to maintain navigation lines.

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