What is the true size of Greenland?
2 million square kilometres
“On the Mercator projection Greenland appears to be roughly the same size as Africa. In reality, Greenland is 2 million square kilometres and Africa is 30 million square kilometres, nearly 14 and a half times larger.” The tool allows users to search for a country and then move it around the map.
Is Greenland as big as it looks on the map?
This 1912 map uses the Mercator projection, which inflates the size of land near the poles such that Greenland appears to be the same size as South America when in fact it is only one-eighth as big. Mercator maps distort the shape and relative size of continents, particularly near the poles.
Why does Greenland look bigger than Australia?
While Australia is significantly larger than Greenland, Greenland often appears larger on maps because of the distortion caused by proximity to the North Pole. A similar effect can be observed with Alaska.
Is Greenland really as big as Africa?
Look at the usual flat map of the world and it appears that Greenland is nearly as big as Africa. But it’s not even close. Africa is 14 times larger….Top 15 countries.
| (Africa) | 30.4 |
|---|---|
| Greenland | 2.2 |
| Saudi Arabia | 2.1 |
| Mexico | 2.0 |
| Indonesia | 1.9 |
Is Canada larger than USA?
Yes, the land area of Canada is bigger than that of the United States. Canada occupies a total area of about 3,855,100 sq miles making it the second biggest nation in the world while the United States occupies an area of approximately 3,796,742 sq miles. Canada has a longer coastline than the United States.
Is Greenland bigger than UK?
United Kingdom is approximately 243,610 sq km, while Greenland is approximately 2,166,086 sq km, making Greenland 789% larger than United Kingdom. Meanwhile, the population of United Kingdom is ~65.8 million people (65.7 million fewer people live in Greenland).
Why do maps show Greenland so big?
In Mercator maps, the Earth’s surface is projected on a cylinder that surrounds the globe (Fig. 4). The cylinder is then unrolled to produce a flat map that preserves the shapes of landmasses but tends to stretch countries towards the poles. This is why the size of Greenland is exaggerated in many world maps.
What country is the same size as Greenland?
Africa
For example, Greenland and Africa are shown as roughly the same size, although in reality Africa is about fourteen times larger. In contrast, the regions along the equator—Africa, India, and South America, to name a few—appear smaller, especially when seen next to the distorted northern half of the map.