Buzz
No matter where you are on the planet, your mental map of the world is probably quite similar to that of others (unless your high school geography lessons were radically different). Naturally, we know more about our local area – like our own country and its neighboring nations – than about distant places, yet our global perception tends to be fairly consistent.
It turns out that many of the assumptions we have about the world are simply incorrect, but we rarely bother to fix them, since they don’t directly impact us. Some of these misconceptions include:
8. Brazil Is Larger Than The Entire Continental United States
Brazil may seem like a fairly large country by global standards, but we often don’t realize just how vast it is compared to the enormous size of the United States. Anyone who has driven across the U.S. coast-to-coast can attest to its immense size (and it truly is). Meanwhile, Brazil seems to fit neatly alongside its neighbors, making it hard to imagine it rivaling the USA in scale. Just take a look at the map.
In fact, Brazil's size isn't just comparable to the USA's; it is also the fifth largest country globally. When comparing it to the contiguous United States (excluding its offshore territories), Brazil is actually 11% larger. We can’t exactly make a straightforward east-to-west comparison like the U.S., as Brazil's road network is not nearly as developed. Moreover, much of the country is taken up by the Amazon, rendering large portions of the land inaccessible by road.
7. South America Is Nearly Entirely East of North America
Though it may seem a bit America-focused, this is a misconception that extends beyond just Americans. Many of us – at least in our mental maps – place North America and South America at nearly the same longitudinal position. This seems logical since South America appears to be directly beneath North America on most maps, even though that’s not actually the case.
The issue lies with the most common world map we all imagine. It’s called the Mercator Projection, and it’s only one of many map projections available. It’s also the most widely used, as nearly every nation relies on it for official purposes.
The problem with the Mercator Projection is not just that it's inaccurate, but that it perpetuates serious distortions as truth (for example, Greenland isn’t nearly as large as Africa by a massive margin). This projection is heavily Eurocentric, greatly inflating the size of countries in the northern hemisphere while minimizing those in the southern hemisphere. In reality, the continents in the global south are far larger than we realize.
This explains why South America often appears more compact and situated further east than it really is. Not only is it much larger than we generally think, but almost the entire continent is positioned to the east of the USA – and thus North America. Still, for some reason, most world maps continue to show it directly below.
6. The Third Route Around The World
If you're in the USA and want to fly to a country on the opposite side of the world, you're likely to choose one of two routes. Depending on where you are in the USA, you'll either cross the Atlantic or travel westward via the Pacific. The Pacific route is usually the longer one, as the Pacific Ocean is enormous (we’ll discuss this soon).
If we asked you whether there's another, faster way to travel, your immediate response would likely be 'no'. After all, when you look at the map, those two routes seem to be the only viable options, and no other route could possibly be shorter than these, right?
The reason we think this way is that the map is in two dimensions, and our brains aren’t built to easily translate 3D to a flat surface. However, if you’ve ever experienced it, you’d know there’s another route that might even be – depending on your destination – shorter than the two familiar ones: the path that crosses the Arctic.
Imagine the Earth as a sphere, rather than how we usually see it – as a flat, cylindrical map. Many flights, such as Cathay Pacific’s direct route from New York to Hong Kong, fly over the Arctic because it turns out to be two hours faster than alternative routes. Additionally, it offers one of the most visually stunning journeys, providing a rare opportunity to witness the vast, untamed wilderness of the Arctic.
5. Everything About Africa
In common perception, the Equator is viewed as a simple divider between the southern and northern halves of the world. This is mostly accurate for places like South America and Australia, with a few exceptions, but when it comes to Africa, this idea couldn't be further from the truth.
Looking at a map, you might assume that most of Africa lies in the southern hemisphere, but in reality, the Equator almost perfectly splits the continent into two equal parts. However, the northern section is a bit larger due to the western bulge of the continent.
But that’s not the only misconception we have about Africa. We also vastly underestimate its size. Whether it’s the Mercator projection or the fact that Africa isn't often central in global discussions, the truth is Africa is immense. It’s bigger than China, India, the contiguous U.S., and nearly all of Europe combined. Yet, for some reason, we still imagine it as being roughly the same size as the USA (or even Greenland, depending on the map).
4. Only A Small Portion of Iran is a Dry, Arid Desert
There are countless misconceptions about the Middle East, and they could fill up an entire list. We often view this vast region, with its many ethnicities, cuisines, and lifestyles, as a singular, unified entity with a uniform culture. While it’s understandable – especially since traveling there to understand the reality may not be the most practical choice right now – it’s the misconceptions about countries we interact with regularly that tend to trouble us.
Take Iran, for instance. For some reason, it continues to be perceived as a desert country in the popular imagination. Many people picture endless sand dunes and camel rides leading to distant oases when they think of Iran, an image still perpetuated by Western media.
It’s not that Iran doesn’t have deserts – it does, and two of them, in fact – but they’re far smaller than most people think. Only about 22% of Iran is desert. For comparison, around 28% of China is desert, yet no one has ever called China a desert nation.
The rest of Iran is surprisingly diverse, boasting a range of landscapes including rangelands, wetlands, glaciers, and even tropical beaches. Snow-capped mountain peaks – features many don’t expect to find in Iran or the Middle East – serve as the stunning backdrop to daily life in Tehran, a city that could easily be considered one of the most picturesque in the world.
3. Australia Is Surprisingly Empty
Australia is like that cool older sibling who moved out of the house early for a job and we rarely hear from them. It’s one of the five major English-speaking nations (excluding autonomous overseas territories) and a prosperous country by most standards.
What we often overlook, however, is that Australia has achieved all of this while being so sparsely populated that it could be compared to some of the world’s most desolate and unwelcoming regions, like Mongolia and Namibia. Despite being as vast and developed as the contiguous United States (it ranks as the sixth largest country), Australia has a population density of just 5 people per square mile. This is because nearly the entire population lives along the coasts, with most of the country’s interior too harsh for human habitation. Even along the coasts, most people are concentrated around major urban centers on the eastern side.
The government has recognized that the country’s low population density is a challenge, as many areas remain underdeveloped and could flourish as towns and cities with more targeted investment and development.
2. We Don’t Grasp the Immensity of the Pacific Ocean
When cartographers were first charting the world, many made adjustments to their calculations, influenced by factors like cultural biases, limited tools, or simply a lack of expertise. While most of these errors have been corrected, we still tend to overstate the size of Earth’s landmass when compared to its oceans.
This distortion is most evident with the Pacific Ocean, which remains one of the least explored bodies of water on Earth. While we know it’s the largest ocean on paper, the true scale of its vastness is difficult to comprehend. To put it into perspective, the Pacific covers more than a third of the planet’s surface. Yes, roughly 33% of the Earth’s 70% water-covered surface is just the Pacific Ocean.
The sheer size of the Pacific Ocean creates real challenges for exploration and mapping. It’s so immense that new discoveries are still being made within it (like a 3-million-year-old volcano recently uncovered near Minamitorishima Island, Japan). It also holds the title of the deepest ocean, with its lowest point having only been visited – not even fully explored – on four occasions. For comparison, humans have traveled to space more than 500 times.
1. Europe Is Much Closer to the Arctic Than the USA
If you ask someone whether New York is closer to the Arctic than London, they’ll likely say yes without hesitation. This seems logical, considering New York's average winter temperatures are about 10°C lower than London’s, which suggests it must be nearer the Arctic. It would be completely absurd to think that Europe’s counterpart might be a country farther south, one whose territory extends into Asia, such as Azerbaijan.
It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds once you look at the map. New York is located nearly on the same latitude as Azerbaijan, which, as you may have realized, is quite far from London. The European equivalent of Miami (or more accurately, the African counterpart) can be found in Egypt. If you were to fold the map horizontally, you’d notice that the northernmost point of the United States aligns closely with the southernmost point of Europe.
This misconception likely stems from the aforementioned Mercator map, which exaggerates the size of certain regions to make them appear larger than they actually are, creating distortions in the overall positioning of places.
