Cook Islands: old map vs new map

Both maps below show Cook Islands highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates Cook Islands about 1.2× at 21°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 236 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.

That 1.2× inflation is why Cook Islands dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover Cook Islands on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.

Cook Islands: key figures

	True area	On the old Mercator map	Distortion vs truth
Cook Islands	236 km²	272 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 Cook Islands at about 272 km². The truth is 236 km², a difference of 15% that school atlases carried for centuries.

Oceania on the old map vs the new map →Cook Islands country page: true area, rank and comparisons →The old world map vs the new world map →