| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
| Lebanon | 10,010 km² | 14,515 km² | 1.5× |
| Greenland | 2,154,754 km² | 25,447,645 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | — | 1× |
Old maps drew Lebanon at about 14,515 km² km². The truth is 10,010 km² km² — a difference of 45%% that school atlases carried for centuries.