DIRECTIONS: Two maps of the same world, Greenland and Africa shaded. One lies about size. Which?
the same coastlines both times · only the way of flattening them is different
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Looking at…
Which looks bigger, Greenland or Africa?
By roughly how much?
1.
Map A
2.
Map B
3.
a globe, if you have one
4.
which map do you think is right?
Africa really is about 14 times the size of Greenland. Map A draws it 0.9 times. Say what Map A has done.
Why Anybody Would Draw Map A
The Shape of the World · Page 2 of 3
DIRECTIONS: Map A is not a mistake. Read what each map is for, then answer.
Map A is a Mercator map, drawn in 1569 for sailors: a compass
bearing is a straight line on it. To do that it stretches everything more and more toward the poles, until
Greenland looks the size of a continent.
Map B is an equal-area map: sizes are honest, but shapes near the poles
get squashed.
A ship's navigator in 1600 and a child learning which countries are big both need a map. Say which map each of them should use, and why the other one would be worse.
Map A is still what most phones and websites show you. Suggest why it stuck, given that almost nobody navigating a ship uses paper any more.
Neither map is wrong. Write the sentence that says what a map has to do to a round planet, whichever one you choose.
Where the Stretch Goes
The Shape of the World · Page 3 of 3
DIRECTIONS: Look back at Map A. Work out the stretching rule, then use it.
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Place
Near the equator, or far from it?
Blown up a little, a lot, or hardly at all?
9.
Greenland
10.
Kenya
11.
Indonesia
12.
Canada and Russia
Antarctica is drawn as an enormous white band across the bottom of Map A. Using the rule, say why — and say what it is really more like.