Most of us grew up looking at world maps that dramatically distorted the actual size of countries, and we had no idea. In this eye-opening video, we reveal the truth about how big (or small ...

A fascinating interactive map shows how different countries really compare in size – a problem that has for centuries stumped cartographers trying to show the spherical Earth on a flat piece of ...

The Mercator projection, a cylindrical map introduced by Geradus Mercator in 1569, distorts the true size of countries on maps, making them appear different to reality.

When you look at a map of the world, it makes sense to assume that Greenland and Africa are similar in size. But in reality, the African continent is 14 times as big as the icy northern land mass.

Inspired by a similar 10-year-old map by cartographer Paul Breding that resized countries based on their population size, college student Chase Mohrman decided to create his own updated version.

A new kind of world map (above) has been developed that shows the true size of the continents without distorting their shapes too much. The world map you are probably familiar with is called the ...

But if you want a better idea of the relative size of the world’s landmasses, you need a map that distorts shape but preserves area, like the Peters projection does. Mercator’s original 1569 ...