The "Did You Know That A Globe Isn't An Accurate Depiction Of The World?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking out a story titled "5 Ways Maps Have Warped Your View of the World."  It was an article I found on the "Travel Trivia" website which somehow was deposited in my mailbox a few years ago, but one that I haven't deleted...yet.  

Logo for the Travel Trivia website.

The story told me that I tend to trust information that I get from educational settings and resources around me.  I thought for a minute or two and realized they were correct.  This is particularly true when I see the same images over and over again and realize that there must be agreement among experts on said topics, or they wouldn't continue to publish the same images.  This is especially true of the Mercator projection map which is a two-dimensional representation of Earth's geography created be 16th century Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.  

In 1569 he created a projection map that has had a lasting influence on how we all view the world.  Unfortu- nately, this two-dimensional rendering of the three-dimensional sphere we live on has some distortions.  Right?  Those distortions and the way Mercator chose to work within the limitations of the transfer from three dimensions to two dimensions have warped the way people view our globe.  Seems there are at least five misconceptions of a three dimensional globe then there are in real life.  #1 is that on a 3D globe, Africa is really bigger than we think.  On a globe Canada seems to take up quite a bit of the top of the globe and dwarfs many other countries and even whole continents.  Canada on a globe appears to be larger than Africa.  But, Africa is quite a bit larger than Canada.  Actually, Canada would fit three times inside Africa.  Try taking a globe apart and flattening it and see if that's the case.  Seems mapmakers wanted more space to add details to their land, while the intricate portrayal of African countries and their inter-locking roadways, waterways and geological features was simply less important to those who had the power over such decisions.  So, today most people think Africa is much smaller than it is in real life.  #2 is that Africa appears to be divided in half by the equator on a globe when in fact Africa is primarily in the Southern Hemisphere.  #3 is that Mexico appears to be smaller than Alaska. A fact that, too, is untrue.  Seems that land masses on the top portion of the map, such as Alaska, got an extra boost in size.  The single state known as Alaska dwarfs Mexico and makes it seem like Mexico could easily fit inside Alaska.  Once again...not so!  Mexico takes up 758,450 square miles while Alaska is 663,300 square miles in size.

Globe of the world. Is it accurate?

 #4 is that Greenland is much smaller than you may think according to a globe.  Greenland is geographically located in North America and on a globe receives a stretched distortion that makes it look huge.  On a globe, Greenland looks longer than Africa  and wider than South America.  The truth is Greenland is only 836,330 square miles making it smaller than not only the entire continent of Africa, but also a single country within it (Algeria).  Actually Greenland is not much more than a large island off the coast of Africa if placed next to it.  #5 is that Antarctica Isn't as massive as it looks on a globe.  Seems the South Pole received the same treatment on the globe as the North Pole.  It looks massive and it really isn't.  The South Pole doesn't stretch from edge to edge around the bottom of the globe as it looks as if it does.  While it is 5.4 million square miles in size, it is not the gigantic presence it seems to be on a three-dimensional globe.  Actually, Russia is larger at 6.5 million square miles even though it doesn't look to be on a globe.  Asia is the largest continent on the planet and is three times the size of Antarctica, but a globe doesn't appear to show it that way.  The first known terrestrial globe that has survived was made by Martin Behaim at Nürnberg in 1492.  Many others have followed with much the same sizes for most of the parts of the world.  I have been searching for a globe to put in my office for...well, lets say most of my lifetime.  But, I have never purchased one...yet.  And, now that I know it shouldn't look as is does, perhaps I'll just forget buying one.  The last thing I need now is more fake facts in my life.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.