Greenland, despite its modest population, has emerged as a hotspot in the geopolitical landscape, drawing attention from both the United States and Europe.

As a Danish territory, Greenland is at the center of a controversial move by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has expressed interest in acquiring the island for the United States.

The island’s strategic importance is undeniable, not only because of its advantageous location but also due to its rich reserves of rare earth elements, which have largely remained untapped.

This brings us to an intriguing question: why does Greenland appear so different on maps?

The explanation lies in the complexities of cartography. Accurately representing a three-dimensional, spherical object like Earth on a two-dimensional map is a geometric challenge.

“Imagine you managed to take your peel off the orange only ripping at one place,” she said.

“If you tried to flatten it, what would happen? You’d get more rips in it near the edge.”

On a world map with the North Pole up top and the South Pole at the bottom, the distortions also happen at the edge.

The further north and further south you are on a flat map, the more stretched out it appears.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, which is situated right on the equator, is bigger than Greenland, though it doesn’t appear that way on the map.

The classic culprit is a map called the Mercator Projection, designed by Gerardus Mercator in 1569.

“It was actually a really revolutionary projection for its time,” Griffin said.

In the days before GPS, navigators could draw a line on a Mercator Projection map and get from point A to point B with just a compass bearing.

“It wouldn’t be the shortest way of getting there. It would be a fairly significant detour, but you’d be sure that you’d get there,” Griffin said.

“When faced with the choice of taking longer or being lost in the middle of the ocean – which one would you pick?”

Though at the time it was first drawn, Mercator did not know about Australia and instead drew a large blob where it was assumed another continent was.

By contrast, the Robinson Projection devised in 1963 stretches the world map less for a more accurate look at the world.