Both maps below show San Marino highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates San Marino about 1.9× at 44°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 61 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.9× inflation is why San Marino dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover San Marino on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
San Marino: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| San Marino | 61 km² | 118 km² | 1.9× |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 km² | 25,576,494 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | n/a | n/a |
Old maps drew San Marino at about 118 km². The truth is 61 km², a difference of 93% that school atlases carried for centuries.