Saint Martin: old map vs new map

Both maps below show Saint Martin highlighted. At 18° Mercator inflates Saint Martin by only about 11%, so the two maps largely agree on it. Watch what the old map does to Bahamas beside it. That contrast is why the new world map matters.

At 18°, Saint Martin sits in the band the old map drew almost honestly. It is one of the regions Mercator quietly under-represented, and that is exactly what the new Equal Earth map restores.

Saint Martin: key figures

	True area	On the old Mercator map	Distortion vs truth
Saint Martin	53 km²	59 km²	1.1×
Greenland	2,166,086 km²	25,576,494 km²	11.8×
Africa	30,370,000 km²	n/a	n/a

Old maps drew Saint Martin at about 59 km². The truth is 53 km², a difference of 11% that school atlases carried for centuries.

North America on the old map vs the new map →Saint Martin country page: true area, rank and comparisons →The old world map vs the new world map →