If you like geography and maps, then you might have heard about Mercator Projection, right? It was introduced by a Flemish cartographer, geographer and mathematician named Gerardus Mercator in 1569 and, in fact, what this guy did was brilliant: he created a map so that navigators of the time could explore our planet without fear of getting lost in the world. way.

Map based on Mercator Projection

The problem with Mercator's system, however, is that when projecting the earth - which is spherical - on a flat surface, the size of the continental masses eventually became distorted, depending on their location relative to the equator line.

See how distortion happens

This is why, by the way, Antarctica and Greenland, for example, look much larger than they actually are on maps created from the Mercator Projection. It turns out that these representations have become so incredibly popular that our perception of the true size of countries, continents, and oceans has also been distorted.

Because the people at The True Size Of have created an interactive map that allows us to find out what the true dimensions of the different continental masses are - by the way, be sure to access the site through this link to play dragging countries back and forth. here to see your sizes! We at Mega Curioso play a little bit and save some examples for you to check:

1 - Look at Brazil next to the United States

2 - And next to Canada

3) On the African side, he gets tiny

4 - Already on the side of Europe, Brazil becomes a giant

5 - And near Greenland, then!

6 - Russia is really huge ...

7 - How about compared to China and Japan?

8 - And he there, next to Australia and Oceania?

9 - Brasilzão compared to Asian countries

10 - And with Antarctica

11 - By the way, look how it looks if we pull Antarctica to the side of Brazil

12 - USA next to Russia

13 - Spain near Brazil

14 - Greenland between Africa and our country

15 - Canada in the South Atlantic