Both maps below show Malta highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates Malta about 1.5× at 36°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 315 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.5× inflation is why Malta dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover Malta on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
Malta: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Malta | 315 km² | 480 km² | 1.5× |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 km² | 25,576,494 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | n/a | n/a |
Old maps drew Malta at about 480 km². The truth is 315 km², a difference of 52% that school atlases carried for centuries.