How it works
Drag, rotate, time-travel, share
Everything the map can do, in two minutes.
- 1
Search
Type a country, US state or historical empire. Each result shows which years it appears in.
- 2
Drag
Grab the shape and move it. It shrinks toward the equator and grows toward the poles, showing how big it really is that far from the equator.
- 3
Rotate
Select a shape, then turn the compass rose in the bottom-left corner (or press [ and ]).
- 4
Travel in time
Use the timeline at the bottom, or press play. Shapes you haven't moved update to their borders in each era.
- 5
Ask “who ruled here?”
Click any land to see who controlled that spot in every era, plus the events that changed it. On today's map, any border dispute is shown first.
- 6
Try a comparison
Open the Comparisons tab for the most surprising sizes and the most controversial borders, loaded in one click.
- 7
Share
The Share button copies a link to exactly what you see, or downloads a PNG.
Why maps lie about size
Almost every web map uses the Mercator projection. It keeps shapes and directions right locally, which is great for navigation. The cost is size: the further from the equator, the more it inflates area. At 60° north (Oslo, Anchorage) land looks four times bigger than it is. Greenland, centred near 72° north, looks roughly ten times too big.
| Latitude | Example | Looks bigger by |
|---|---|---|
| 0° | Quito, Singapore | ×1.0 |
| 30° | Cairo, New Orleans | ×1.3 |
| 45° | Milan, Minneapolis | ×2.0 |
| 60° | Oslo, Anchorage | ×4.0 |
| 72° | central Greenland | ×10.5 |
| 80° | Svalbard | ×33.2 |
Keyboard and mouse
- Arrow keys
- Pan the map, or move the selected shape (Shift = faster)
- + / −
- Zoom in / out
- [ / ]
- Rotate the selected shape
- Delete
- Remove the selected shape
- Esc
- Deselect / close panels
- Right-click a shape
- Remove it
- Double-click
- Zoom in
Try these
- Greenland vs DR CongoOn most maps Greenland looks several times bigger. In reality DR Congo is slightly larger.
- Russia at the equatorStill the world's largest country, but watch how much it shrinks once you remove the polar stretch.
- Alaska vs TexasAlaska is more than twice the size of Texas.
- Greenland vs AustraliaAustralia is about three and a half times bigger.
- United Kingdom vs MadagascarMadagascar is more than twice the size of the UK.
- Mexico on EuropeMexico spans much of western and central Europe.
- Indonesia across the USIndonesia's islands stretch about as far as the US is wide.
- Lower 48 vs AustraliaThe contiguous United States and Australia are close in size.
- Roman Empire on the United StatesRome at its height (100 CE), dropped onto North America.
- Alexander's empire on the USEverything Alexander conquered by 323 BCE, laid over the United States.
- CrimeaSeized by Russia in 2014, recognized as Ukraine by most of the world. It's about the size of Belgium.
- Russian Empire 1914 vs Russia todayFinland, Poland, the Baltics, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia: everything Russia ruled and lost.
- TaiwanSelf-governing, claimed by Beijing, recognized by about a dozen countries. A little smaller than the Netherlands.
- New Spain 1815 vs Mexico todayCounting Texas, Mexico lost about half its territory to the United States between 1836 and 1848.
- German Empire 1914 vs Germany todayAlsace-Lorraine, West Prussia, Silesia, East Prussia: lost after two world wars.
- Poland moves westIn 1945 Poland lost its eastern lands to the USSR and gained German land in the west.
- Ottoman Empire 1600 vs TürkiyeFrom Algeria to Iraq and Hungary to Yemen, down to Anatolia and a corner of Europe.
- Western SaharaAfrica's last big unresolved territory, mostly held by Morocco since 1975. Bigger than the UK.
- KashmirIndia, Pakistan and China each control part of it, and claim more.
- How the United States grewPress play to go from the 13 colonies to coast-to-coast, taken from Native nations, Britain, Spain and Mexico.