Both maps below show Botswana highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates Botswana about 1.2× at 22°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 582,000 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.2× inflation is why Botswana dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover Botswana on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
Botswana: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Botswana | 582,000 km² | 678,612 km² | 1.2× |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 km² | 25,576,494 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | n/a | n/a |
Old maps drew Botswana at about 678,612 km². The truth is 582,000 km², a difference of 17% that school atlases carried for centuries.