Nothing is certain in this life.
For example, we go to school and learn geography,
without realising that what we see in world
maps may not be always the truth.
And how could it be true, since it is not possible to
represent the earth, which is
roughly a sphere, onto a flat piece of paper without error.
Okay, we certainly expect some error, but what
kind of error?
Is it possible that school world maps could represent
the earth so inaccurately, showing
country A as bigger than country B, when in fact country B is actually bigger
than country A?
But that’s precisely what happens!
One of the most common map projections, the Mercator projection, distorts the
countries’ surfaces according to their distance from the equator. This leads to
Greenland being shown as bigger than
Africa, when in fact Africa is much much bigger.
These problems can be solved by using a different kind of map projection, which
is called the equal-area projection. The Gall-Peters projection is a good
example of this.
Nevertheless, if you come across a map made like this,
you will find it both awkward and
disorientating.
Maybe it is better sometimes to look at the numbers, which never lie – almost:
Greenland: Total Area: 2,166,086 km2
Africa: Total Area: 30,221,532 km2
References
Wikipedia contributors. "Gall–Peters
projection." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,
27 Sep. 2012. Web. 3 Oct. 2012.
