Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

ELI5: Why is Russia so fucking big?
submitted 3 months ago by Aruma47

http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1k4i9u/eli5_why_is_russia_so_fucking_big/

.. some tidy info re Napoleon in there, too .. the globe perspective you covered in your 2nd one .. lol, there are so many maps about here, without going back to them all, i'm not sure if 'other countries size vs Africa' below is among them ..

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The True Size of Africa An Erroneous Map Misled Us For 500 Years

posted on Jul, 30 2013 @ 07:33 PM

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The map shows how Africa (30,3 million km²) is larger than the combination of China (9,6 million km²), the US (9,4 million km²), Western Europe (4,9 million km²), India (3,2 million km²) and Argentina (2,8 million km²), three Scandinavian countries and the British Isles (map gives no surface for these last two areas).

The Peters Projection World Map is one of the most stimulating, and controversial, images of the world. When this map was first introduced by historian and cartographer Dr. Arno Peters at a Press Conference in Germany in 1974 it generated a firestorm of debate. The first English-version of the map was published in 1983, and it continues to have passionate fans as well as staunch detractors.
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[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM ]

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INSERT:

Gall–Peters projection .. excerpt from Controversy ..

Cartographers had long despaired over publishers' inapt use of the Mercator. As a 1943 New York Times editorial states, "...The time has come to discard [the Mercator] for something that represents the continents and directions less deceptively... Although its usage... has diminished... it is still highly popular as a wall map apparently in part because, as a rectangular map, it fills a rectangular wall space with more map, and clearly because its familiarity breeds more popularity." Because of the lack of novelty both in the projection Peters devised or in the rhetoric surrounding its promotion, the cartographic community had no reason to think Peters would succeed any more than Edwards or his predecessors had.[citation needed]

Peters, however, launched his campaign in a different world than Edwards had. He announced his map at a time when themes of social justice resonated strongly in academia and politics. Suggesting cartographic imperialism, [ SEE VIDEO ] Peters found ready audiences. The campaign was bolstered by the claim that the Peters projection was the only "area-correct" map. Other claims included "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and "totally distance-factual."

All of those claims were erroneous. Some of the oldest projections are equal-area (the sinusoidal projection is also known as the "Mercator equal-area projection"), and hundreds have been described, refuting any implication that Peters's map is special in that regard. In any case, Mercator was not the pervasive projection Peters made it out to be: a wide variety of projections has always been used in world maps. Peters's chosen projection suffers extreme distortion in the polar regions, as any cylindrical projection must, and its distortion along the equator is considerable. Several scholars have remarked on the irony of the projection's undistorted presentation of the mid latitudes, including Peters's native Germany, at the expense of the low latitudes, which host more of the technologically underdeveloped nations. The claim of distance fidelity is particularly problematic: Peters's map lacks distance fidelity everywhere except along the 45th parallels north and south, and then only in the direction of those parallels. No world projection is good at preserving distances everywhere; Peters's and all other cylindric projections are especially bad in that regard because east-west distances inevitably balloon toward the poles.

The cartographic community met Peters's 1973 press conference with amusement and mild exasperation, but little activity beyond a few articles commenting on the technical aspects of Peters's claims. In the ensuing years, however, it became clear that Peters and his map were no flash in the pan. By 1980 many cartographers had turned overtly hostile to his claims. .. .. more .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection#Controversy
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Traditional world maps such as the Mercator often exaggerate the scale towards the poles, giving an erroneous picture of the relative sizes of different countries. For example, Mercator maps show Greenland to be roughly the same size as Africa, when, in reality, Africa is actually fourteen times larger. Africa also looks considerably smaller than Russia on a Mercator map, even though Africa is actually 33% larger. However, generations of navigators weren't bothered much by Mercator's misrepresentations, since they cared most about longitude and latitude, which the Mercator projection handles rather well.
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We all know this;



[ INSERT: your 1st link .. http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-map-image.html ..
which imo is the BEST MAP i've ever seen for reviewing where countries are ]

But, in proper proportions, this one is much, much more accurate;



[ INSERT: your 2nd link .. http://world-political-map.com/world_largest_8.png ]

And just to throw you for a loop; .. [ lol, this one is not as clear as the one we've seen in the bunch here ]



Now, I just learned all of this not too long ago, and to some of you this might be common information, but to see the proper proportions on a real map is amazing.

I don't know why, I just never thought it would be that drastic of a change, if any. To see how big the western countries have become, it's hard to see how this has nothing to do with suppression; to make us believe we are 'bigger' and 'on top'.

Anyway, I hope I taught you something today, because I just thought this information was crazy. [smiling image i can't copy]

Any thoughts?

Pred... .. http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread962280/pg1