We’re all familiar with geography maps, but there’s a whole category of maps that go beyond the boundaries of conventional cartography, revealing hidden tidbits of knowledge that you won’t find in a textbook. From maps that showcase the quirkiest place names to those that humorously depict cultural stereotypes, these artistic creations challenge our perceptions and teach we won’t learn anywhere else but on the Internet!

Ever wondered why Greenland looks as big as Africa on the map? It’s because of something called the Mercator projection. Putting a 3-D planet on a two-dimensional world map was a challenge for early cartographers. So, a Flemish geographer and cartographer named Gerardus Mercator came up with a solution for the most accurate world map. In 1569, he designed an atlas that could be accurately used for navigation purposes. Still, the downside was that his system distorted the size of objects depending on their position relative to the equator. Because of this, landmasses like Antarctica and Greenland appear much bigger than they actually are. Though there are around 40 types of map projections, from conical to polyhedral and retroazimuthal, depicting the true size of the world, this one is still used the most because of its convenience and simplicity, even by Google Maps. None of these projections can be titled the real world map because they all depict the same Earth through a different lens.So, what does the real-world map look like? To show how incorrect our understanding of countries by size is, a website called thetruesize.com lets you move land masses into different locations. This helps you understand the true size of countries. We at Bored Panda played a bit with this tool, and what we found will change your perspective on our planet’s geography. The website lets you juxtapose two countries together to compare their relative size.Here’s what the real size of countries looks like.

The world map we know today owes its shape to the daring exploits of explorers who ventured into uncharted territories, forever pushing the limits of the known world. Intrepid figures like Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo shattered the myths of unreachable lands, offering a new understanding of global geography. Here's how maps have evolved through the ages.

In a video, Irving Finkel, a curator in the Middle East department of the British Museum, shares about the “oldest map of the world in the world.”