| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Cabo Verde | 3,587 km² | 3,874 km² | 1.1× |
| Greenland | 2,154,754 km² | 25,447,645 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | — | 1× |
Old maps drew Cabo Verde at about 3,874 km² km². The truth is 3,587 km² km² — a difference of 8%% that school atlases carried for centuries.