Gerardo Mercator was not an evil fellow. But, his famous
maps have given countless millions of students a distorted view of the world,
at least longitudinally. By making the areas furthest from the equator seem
disproportionately large, it also made the equatorial areas appear smaller than
they are. This seemed to suit those in the more northerly and more “civilized”
areas just fine. And the rectangular shape worked better for publishers. Only
those who owned the iconic globes knew the truth – that Greenland is only about the size of Mexico and Alaska
is just a fifth of Brazil.
This was not Mercator’s intent at all. He simply wanted to
make a map projection that was much more useful for navigation, not the study
of geography. At this, he succeeded brilliantly. Millions of explorers and
navigators owe this man deep debts of gratitude.
So, free your mind from the geographic prejudice you’ve
been taught and learn the truth, which shall, of course, set you free.
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