Both maps below show Argentina highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates Argentina about 1.5× at 35°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 2,780,400 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.5× inflation is why Argentina dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover Argentina on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
Argentina: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Argentina | 2,780,400 km² | 4,111,934 km² | 1.5× |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 km² | 25,576,494 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | n/a | n/a |
Old maps drew Argentina at about 4,111,934 km². The truth is 2,780,400 km², a difference of 48% that school atlases carried for centuries.