René's URL Explorer Experiment


Title: 5 Things the Mercator Map Gets Wrong

Open Graph Title: 5 Things the Mercator Map Gets Wrong

X Title: 5 Things the Mercator Map Gets Wrong

Description: The Mercator map, which most of us grew up with, makes Africa look smaller and Greenland much larger than they are—but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Open Graph Description: The Mercator map, which most of us grew up with, makes Africa look smaller and Greenland much larger than they are—but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

X Description: The Mercator map, which most of us grew up with, makes Africa look smaller and Greenland much larger than they are—but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Opengraph URL: https://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong

X: @mental_floss

direct link

Domain: www.mentalfloss.com


Hey, it has json ld scripts:
{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong"},"headline":"5 Things the Mercator Map Gets Wrong","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1200,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01m21d231kax3t6m6gcn.jpg","width":1200,"height":1200},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1200,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01m21d231kax3t6m6gcn.jpg","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1200,ar_4:3,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01m21d231kax3t6m6gcn.jpg","width":1200,"height":900}],"datePublished":"2026-09-10T01:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-09-10T01:00:00Z","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Mental Floss","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1541941289/frontier/sites/logos/mental-floss-logo-120px-height.png"}},"description":"The Mercator map, which most of us grew up with, makes Africa look smaller and Greenland much larger than they are—but that's just the tip of the iceberg. ","articleSection":"MAPS","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Eden Gordon","url":"https://www.mentalfloss.com/authors/eden-gordon"}}
{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.mentalfloss.com"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MAPS","item":"https://www.mentalfloss.com/section/maps"}]}

fb:app_id350309542584520
fb:pages10974002364
og:site_nameMental Floss
og:image:width1440
og:image:height810
twitter:urlhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong
twitter:cardsummary_large_image
twitter:image:width1440
twitter:image:height810
theme-color#000000
og:typearticle
og:imagehttps://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_169,w_3681,h_2070/c_fill,w_1440,ar_1440:810,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01m21d231kax3t6m6gcn.jpg
article:published_time2026-09-10T01:00:00Z
article:modified_time2026-09-10T01:00:00Z
article:sectionMAPS
article:tagmap
twitter:imagehttps://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_169,w_3681,h_2070/c_fill,w_1440,ar_1440:810,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01m21d231kax3t6m6gcn.jpg

Links:

Skip to main contenthttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong#main
NEWSLETTERhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/mental-floss-newsletters
THANKSGIVINGhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/holidays/thanksgiving
AMAZING FACTShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/amazingfactgenerator
ENTERTAINMENThttps://www.mentalfloss.com/entertainment
GEOGRAPHYhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography
HISTORYhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/history
LANGUAGEhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/language
QUIZZEShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/quizzes
BIG QUESTIONShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/big-questions
ALL STORIEShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/all
https://www.facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine
Share on Xhttps://twitter.com/mental_floss
https://www.instagram.com/mental_floss/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mental_floss
https://www.youtube.com/c/MentalFloss
https://www.mentalfloss.com
NEWSLETTERhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/mental-floss-newsletters
THANKSGIVINGhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/holidays/thanksgiving
AMAZING FACTShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/amazingfactgenerator
ENTERTAINMENThttps://www.mentalfloss.com/entertainment
LITERATUREhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/literature/
MOVIEShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/movies
MUSIChttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/music
TVhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/tv
GEOGRAPHYhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography
WANDERLUSThttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/wanderlust
HISTORYhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/history
LANGUAGEhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/language
WORDShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/words
QUIZZEShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/quizzes
BIG QUESTIONShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/big-questions
ALL STORIEShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/all
https://www.facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine
Share on Xhttps://twitter.com/mental_floss
https://www.instagram.com/mental_floss/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mental_floss
https://www.youtube.com/c/MentalFloss
Eden Gordonhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/authors/eden-gordon
Share on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/dialog/share?app_id=350309542584520&display=popup&href=https:%2F%2Fwww.mentalfloss.com%2Fgeography%2Fmaps%2Fthings-mercator-map-gets-wrong
Share on Xhttps://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=5%20Things%20the%20Mercator%20Map%20Gets%20Wrong&url=https:%2F%2Fwww.mentalfloss.com%2Fgeography%2Fmaps%2Fthings-mercator-map-gets-wrong
Share on Reddithttp://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https:%2F%2Fwww.mentalfloss.com%2Fgeography%2Fmaps%2Fthings-mercator-map-gets-wrong&title=5%20Things%20the%20Mercator%20Map%20Gets%20Wrong
Add us as a preferred sourcehttps://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=mentalfloss.com
maphttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/27-facts-about-maps
votedhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce30vp55dnlo
NPRhttps://www.npr.org/2026/09/04/nx-s1-5958611/africa-world-map-un-vote
saidhttps://www.npr.org/2026/09/04/nx-s1-5958611/africa-world-map-un-vote
Africa is not the same size as Greenlandhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong#inline-text-7
Areas near the poles are not that bighttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong#inline-text-11
Europe is not the same size as South Americahttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong#inline-text-17
Alaska is not larger than Mexicohttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong#inline-text-20
Europe is not in the center of the globehttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/things-mercator-map-gets-wrong#inline-text-23
11.7 million square miles https://www.britannica.com/place/Africa
14 times https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce30vp55dnlo
1.77 times https://www.mapfight.xyz/compare/africa-vs-ru/
size of Australiahttps://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/047D4BA4016F7A0BCA25773700169C25?opendocument
size of Africahttps://www.britannica.com/place/Africa
BBChttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5r60v4mro
South America has a surface areahttps://www.britannica.com/place/South-America
Europe’s surface areahttps://www.worldatlas.com/geography/are-the-usa-and-europe-the-same-size.html
665,384 square mileshttps://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/null
Mexico, meanwhile, is substantially largerhttps://www.worldometers.info/geography/largest-countries-in-the-world/
two-dimensional mapshttps://theconversation.com/five-maps-that-will-change-how-you-see-the-world-74967
MAPShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/maps
EUROPEhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/europe
ANTARCTICAhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/antarctica
EDUCATIONhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/education
Homehttps://www.mentalfloss.com
MAPShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/section/maps
https://www.mentalfloss.com
ABOUThttps://www.mentalfloss.com/about-us
CONTACT UShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/contact-us
NEWSLETTERShttps://www.mentalfloss.com/mental-floss-newsletters
PRIVACY POLICYhttps://www.minutemedia.com/policies/privacy-policy
COOKIE POLICYhttps://www.minutemedia.com/policies/cookie-policy
TERMS OF SERVICEhttps://www.minutemedia.com/policies/terms-and-conditions
ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENThttp://minutegroup.com/policies/accessibility-statement
SITEMAPhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/sitemap
A-Z Indexhttps://www.mentalfloss.com/index
Minute Grouphttps://www.minutegroup.com/

Viewport: width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0

Robots: max-image-preview:large


URLs of crawlers that visited me.