Both maps below show New Caledonia highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates New Caledonia about 1.2× at 21°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 18,575 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.2× inflation is why New Caledonia dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover New Caledonia on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
New Caledonia: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| New Caledonia | 18,575 km² | 21,398 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 New Caledonia at about 21,398 km². The truth is 18,575 km², a difference of 15% that school atlases carried for centuries.