| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Australia | 7,706,009 km² | 9,478,391 km² | 1.2× |
| Greenland | 2,154,754 km² | 25,447,645 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | — | 1× |
Old maps drew Australia at about 9,478,391 km² km². The truth is 7,706,009 km² km² — a difference of 23%% that school atlases carried for centuries.