| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
| Netherlands | 37,132 km² | 99,142 km² | 2.7× |
| Greenland | 2,154,754 km² | 25,447,645 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | — | 1× |
Old maps drew Netherlands at about 99,142 km² km². The truth is 37,132 km² km² — a difference of 167%% that school atlases carried for centuries.