| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Canada | 9,872,102 km² | 40,475,618 km² | 4.1× |
| Greenland | 2,154,754 km² | 25,447,645 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | — | 1× |
Old maps drew Canada at about 40,475,618 km² km². The truth is 9,872,102 km² km² — a difference of 310%% that school atlases carried for centuries.