| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| United States | 9,439,424 km² | 18,690,060 km² | 2× |
| Greenland | 2,154,754 km² | 25,447,645 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | — | 1× |
Old maps drew United States at about 18,690,060 km² km². The truth is 9,439,424 km² km² — a difference of 98%% that school atlases carried for centuries.