Boxi Learn › Geography › Stage 3 · Structure and Evidence
Is Greenland as big as Africa?
GEO-1 A map is the world made smallX-3 Look from another sideX-2 Evidence outweighs opinion
What many people think
Countries on a world map are shown at their true relative sizes.
The idea
A round Earth cannot be flattened without stretching; the Mercator map keeps directions true but blows up areas near the poles, so Greenland looks like Africa although Africa is about 14 times larger.
Explain it
A friend says Greenland is about as big as Africa, because that is how it looks on the classroom map. Explain why the map makes it look so big, and how many Greenlands really fit into Africa.
Try at home
Draw a few same-size circles on an orange: one near the “equator”, one near the top. Peel it and press the peel flat. Which circle tears or stretches more?