Both maps below show Egypt highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates Egypt about 1.2× at 27°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 1,001,450 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.2× inflation is why Egypt dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover Egypt on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
Egypt: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Egypt | 1,001,450 km² | 1,249,509 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 Egypt at about 1,249,509 km². The truth is 1,001,450 km², a difference of 25% that school atlases carried for centuries.