Hudson Bay Is Bigger Than France
767,887 km² of Canadian inland sea against 635,073 km² of France. A bay most atlases treat as a dent out-areas the largest country in the EU.
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True Size Insights
True-size map comparisons. Countries, oceans, empires and rainforests without the Mercator lies.
How Many United Kingdoms Fit Inside Russia?
About seventy. France fits twenty-six times. The biggest country on Earth against the countries that fill European news, measured without the Mercator padding.
Read article →Ottoman vs Roman Empire: Which Was Actually Bigger?
Rome at its peak: 5.27 million km². The Ottomans at theirs: 4.26 million. The empire that outlasted Rome on the same stage never quite out-measured it.
Read article →The Sahara Is About the Size of the Entire United States
Roughly 9.2 million km² of desert. The USA is 9.4 million. Africa's 'empty bit at the top' is a country-scale fact the wall map never bothered to teach.
Read article →Black Sea vs Caspian Sea: One of These Is Secretly a Lake
The world's largest lake wears the name 'sea' and nearly outgrows the real one next door. Plus the deep of the Black Sea preserves shipwrecks like a museum vault.
Read article →The Caribbean Is Nearly Twice the Size of the Mediterranean
2.84 million km² against 1.57 million. Europe's famous sea against the one with 7,000 islands and a trench deeper than any water Europe owns.
Read article →The Sargasso Sea Has No Coastline and It's the Size of India
A sea bounded by four currents instead of land, three million km² big, guarding a mystery about eels that embarrassed Freud. The Atlantic's strangest room.
Read article →The Largest Sea on Earth Is Bigger Than the Roman Empire
The Philippine Sea: 5.5 million km², nearly two Indias, home to the deepest point on the planet. And most people couldn't point to it on a map.
Read article →The Spanish Empire: The First on Which the Sun Never Set
11.8 million km², more than twice the Roman Empire, the first global currency and a treasure fleet that ran for 250 years. Britain borrowed the slogan later.
Read article →The Russian Empire Was a Third Bigger Than Russia Today
22.9 million km² at its peak, a sixth of all land on Earth. Modern Russia is the biggest country alive and it's still six million km² short of its own past.
Read article →Rome vs Persia: Which Empire Was Actually Bigger?
The Achaemenid Empire beat Rome to the tape by roughly a Germany, five centuries earlier. History's most famous empire wasn't even the biggest of its neighbourhood.
Read article →The True Size of Africa: The USA, China and India Fit Inside
Three giants totalling 22 million km², dropped into one continent of 30 million. They all fit, with room left over for two more Indias. The map never mentioned it.
Read article →Why Is Greenland an Island but Australia a Continent?
Australia is 3.6 times bigger, sits on its own tectonic plate and has 26 million people. Greenland has ice, 56,000 people and a map that flatters it rotten.
Read article →How Big Is Australia Really? Wider Than the Moon, for a Start
7.7 million km², nearly the whole contiguous USA, wider than the Moon. And the wall map still draws it as a footnote. Time to fix the record.
Read article →The Mongol Empire Made Modern Russia Look Small
Today's biggest country is 17.1 million km². The khans held 27.4 million, on horseback, seven centuries ago. And for 240 years they were Russia's landlords.
Read article →British Empire vs Mongol Empire: Settling It by Area
28.9 million km² against 27.4. One ran on the navy, one ran on horses, both owned a fifth of the world's land. The oldest argument in history, measured.
Read article →Amazon vs Congo: Earth's Two Great Rainforests, Side by Side
6.8 million km² against 1.9 million. One has the deepest river on Earth, the other has no bridges at all. The planet's two green giants, measured properly.
Read article →The Amazon Rainforest, Measured Against the Entire USA
One forest, 6.8 million km², roughly 70 per cent of the United States, 390 billion trees and not a single bridge over its river. Time it met a superpower on equal terms.
Read article →The Mediterranean Is Two and a Half Frances
Europe's holiday sea against Europe's famous hexagon. 1.57 million km² of water, 635,000 km² of France. It's not close, and the sea's backstory is wilder than the result.
Read article →The Indian Ocean Is Two Africas Wide
You finally learnt that Africa is huge. Bad news. The ocean next door is 60.5 million km², double the continent, and it's only the third biggest.
Read article →Drop the USA on Europe and Count What Fits Underneath
France, Germany, Spain, Poland, the UK and Italy together make 2.35 million km². The United States is 9.4 million. Watch six famous countries disappear under one outline.
Read article →Put Russia on the Equator and Watch It Shrink
Largest country on Earth, no argument. Also drawn several times too big across its top half. One drag south settles what's real and what's cartography.
Read article →Why the Mercator Map Lies About Almost Every Country
It's a 457-year-old navigation chart doing a job it was never hired for. Here's who it flatters, who it robs and how to catch it in the act.
Read article →Greenland Isn't Bigger Than Brazil. Your Map Has Been Lying.
The wall map says Greenland is a continent. The measurements say Brazil is nearly four times bigger. Somebody's wrong, and it's not the measurements.
Read article →The South Pacific Alone Is Half of All Land on Earth
75 million km² of water. All the world's land is about 149 million. One ocean basin, southern half only, and the continents start looking like debris.
Read article →Canada vs USA: The Quiet Neighbour Is Slightly Bigger
9.87 million km² against 9.44 million. Canada edges the United States, beats China, and still gets drawn like a hat on America's head.
Read article →Texas Is Bigger Than France. California Tops Germany.
688,751 km² against 635,073. One American state out-areas the largest country in the EU, and California quietly does the same to Germany.
Read article →How Big Is Antarctica Really? Bigger Than China and India Combined
12.3 million km² of ice at the bottom of the map, drawn as a decorative strip on Mercator and treated like a footnote. It isn't.
Read article →China vs USA: Which Country Is Actually Bigger?
9.37 million km² against 9.44 million. Two superpowers, a photo finish, and a map that has been picking sides for centuries.
Read article →Alaska vs Texas: Which US State Is Actually Bigger?
Texas talks a big game. Alaska has 1.5 million km² and a Mercator costume that makes it look like half the continent. One drag south settles the bragging rights.
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