Many people have difficulty reading a physical map. Indeed, they can be a bit confusing, especially when it comes to comparing sizes. You see, the surface of a sphere cannot be represented as a plane without some form of distortion.
The reason why some countries appear larger or smaller than others is due to something called the Mercator projection. So for better navigation the globe was projected on a grid of perpendicular parallels and meridians. But since the real area between two meridians is decreasing near the poles, the projection is distorted, because on the map the distances are equal.
Australia
New Zealand
Russia
China
Brazil
Indonesia
Belgium
