Greenland, a vast, icy island, often appears enormous on world maps, leading many to believe it rivals continents in size. This perception is largely due to the common Mercator projection used in many maps. But how does the size of Greenland truly compare, especially when we consider the United States? Let’s explore the reality behind Greenland’s dimensions and understand why maps can be deceiving when it comes to size comparisons.
Unpacking Greenland’s Actual Size
While often visually dominating maps, Greenland’s actual landmass is around 2.166 million square kilometers (approximately 836,000 square miles). This is undeniably large, making it the world’s largest island. However, to put this into perspective, consider the United States. The US boasts a land area of roughly 9.834 million square kilometers (about 3.797 million square miles). This means the United States is more than 4.5 times larger than Greenland.
To further grasp the scale, Greenland is only slightly larger than a collection of major European countries combined. As illustrated, Greenland’s area is comparable to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom put together.
In other global comparisons, Greenland is roughly the size of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It would fit approximately 1.4 times into India, and about 3.5 times into Australia. These comparisons highlight that while Greenland is a significant landmass, it is considerably smaller than continents and even several individual countries.
The Mercator Projection and Size Distortion
The reason for this widespread misperception of Greenland’s size lies in map projections, particularly the Mercator projection, which is frequently used in online mapping services like Google Maps and traditional world maps. The Mercator projection, designed for nautical navigation, projects the spherical Earth onto a cylinder. While it accurately preserves angles and shapes locally, it severely distorts areas, especially towards the poles.
In the Mercator projection, Greenland, located at high latitudes, is stretched significantly. This stretching effect exaggerates its size relative to countries closer to the equator, such as those in Africa or South America. Conversely, areas near the equator appear smaller than they are in reality on a Mercator map.
This distortion is not a flaw of the Mercator projection but a consequence of representing a curved surface on a flat plane. All map projections introduce some form of distortion, whether in area, shape, distance, or direction. The Mercator projection prioritizes shape and angle preservation, crucial for navigation, but sacrifices accurate area representation.
Why Mercator Persists
Despite the size distortion, the Mercator projection remains popular, especially for online maps, because of its unique property of preserving angles. This is highly beneficial for street-level navigation and maintaining the familiar rectangular grid of city layouts. For local scales, the distortion is minimal, ensuring that right angles on the ground appear as right angles on the map.
However, for understanding global size comparisons, especially between regions at vastly different latitudes, it’s crucial to be aware of the distortions introduced by the Mercator projection. Tools like The True Size website offer a valuable way to visualize and compare the true sizes of countries, correcting for the distortions inherent in map projections and providing a more accurate understanding of geographical scales, including the real size of Greenland in relation to the US and the rest of the world.
