Africa is far bigger than you may think.
Credit: IFLScience Dispatches From external sources, fact checkers, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current.
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Context This chapter deals with how maps are made and how they are distorted.
Modern maps use a projection method called the Mercator projection, which was originally used for nautical navigation.
However, because the projection was intended for navigation, rather than accurate geography, land masses nearer the poles are stretched and distorted.
This makes them appear larger than they really are.
Africa in particular appears large on the map but is actually very small.
Want to see the world shrink to its true scale?
Climate data scientist Neil Kaye has created a gif that reduces the inflated continents to their actual proportions.
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