Graphic detail | Cartography

The true true size of Africa

Africa is bigger than it looks on most maps of the world

By G.D.

LAST month Kai Krause, a computer-graphics guru, caused a stir with a map entitled "The True Size of Africa", which showed the outlines of other countries crammed into the outline of the African continent. His aim was to make "a small contribution in the fight against rampant Immappancy"—in particular, the fact that most people do not realise how much the ubiquitous Mercator projection distorts the relative sizes of countries.

More from Graphic detail

After Dobbs, Americans are turning to permanent contraception

More young women are tying their tubes

Five charts that show why the BJP expects to win India’s election

Narendra Modi’s party is eyeing another big victory


By 2100 half the world’s children will be born in sub-Saharan Africa

Fertility rates are falling faster everywhere else