{"id":178,"date":"2026-09-02T10:59:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T10:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britishmemory.uk\/blog\/?p=178"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:59:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T10:59:42","slug":"after-seeing-these-15-maps-youll-never-look-at-the-world-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/britishmemory.uk\/blog\/after-seeing-these-15-maps-youll-never-look-at-the-world-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"After Seeing These 15 Maps You\u2019ll Never Look At The World The Same!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The misperception of the sizes of countries on\u00a0\u00a0maps<\/span>\u00a0is a common phenomenon that can be attributed to the Mercator Projection. The task of transforming a three-dimensional planet onto a two-dimensional plane posed a considerable challenge for early cartographers, which prompted Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator to devise a solution. In 1569, Mercator created a\u00a0\u00a0map<\/span>\u00a0that was accurately usable for navigation, but the downside was that his system resulted in distorted sizes of objects based on their positions relative to the equator. This distortion causes landmasses, such as Greenland and Antarctica, to appear much larger than they actually are.<\/p>\n

To illustrate the flawed nature of our understanding of country sizes, a website named thetruesize.com allows you to move landmasses to different locations.\u00a0Bored Panda<\/b><\/a>\u00a0conducted an experiment on this website, which resulted in some intriguing findings.<\/p>\n

US Moved Down Next To Australia Looks Unbelievably Small<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Russia On The Equator Is Not A Giant Bear Anymore<\/b><\/h3>\n

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If Romania Was An Island In The Arctic Ocean<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Australia Is Way Bigger Than You May Think \u2013 It Covers Almost The Whole Of Europe<\/b><\/h3>\n

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If Brazil Was In Asia It Would Be Massive<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Indonesia Would Spread Almost Across The Whole Of Russia<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Greenland Is Not So Big When Compared To USA And Brazil<\/b><\/h3>\n

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China Placed On Top Of Russia<\/b><\/h3>\n

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When You Move Canada To South America<\/b><\/h3>\n

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California Moved Onto The UK Shows They\u2019re Quite Similar In Size<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Australia Moved Onto North America Becomes REALLY Big<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Japan Can Stretch Almost Across Canada<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Antarctica Is Not So Much Larger Than Brazil<\/b><\/h3>\n

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This Is How India Changes As You Move It North<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Canada Moved Down Onto The US Reveals That Both Countries Are Pretty Much The Same Size<\/b><\/h3>\n

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The misperception of the sizes of countries on\u00a0\u00a0maps\u00a0is a common phenomenon that can be attributed to the Mercator Projection. The task of transforming a three-dimensional planet onto a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-after-seeing-these-15-maps-youll-never-look-at-the-world-the-same"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t