I’ve seen a (non) literal billion maps with different depictions of how large Africa is. I gather that it is actually far larger than the United States, but it doesn’t usually seem to be depicted that way. This seriously confuses me. ISS flyovers give a good idea of the difference. Why are so many maps disproportionate?
In: Technology
The problem is that the world is not in fact flat.
The only way to accurately represent the world without distortions is a globe.
Any 2D map will have some distortions when trying to represent the surface of a 3D sphere.
Many of the more common types of world map come from use in navigation and similar and compromised in areas such as showing equal sized areas equally sized.
Other types of maps try to not distort areas, but end up being horribly distorted in other ways.
You can’t have a 100% accurate world map.
Since there is little demand for maps accurately comparing the unihabitated frozen wastes of Greenland with the size of the uinhabitaded Sahara desert most common maps get that wrong.
The solution is not to blame imperialism for purposefully trying to downplay the size of Africa, but to choose the right tool for the right job.
If you want a map that shows everything the correct size use something like Gall-Peters, just don’t act surprised if a square plot of land looks like a squashed rectangles on it.
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