| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
| Åland Islands | 761 km² | 3,082 km² | 4.1× |
| Greenland | 2,154,754 km² | 25,447,645 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | — | 1× |
Old maps drew Åland Islands at about 3,082 km² km². The truth is 761 km² km² — a difference of 305%% that school atlases carried for centuries.