Maps lie. Well, they don't exactly lie on purpose, but they definitely mislead. When you look at a map of world continents and countries, you’re seeing a 3D sphere flattened onto a 2D sheet of paper or a glowing glass screen. It’s a mathematical impossibility to do that perfectly. You've probably spent your whole life thinking Greenland is the size of Africa. It isn't. Not even close. Africa is actually fourteen times larger than Greenland.
Maps are basically just useful illusions.
Gerardus Mercator created the most famous map projection back in 1569. He wasn't trying to mess with your head; he was trying to help sailors navigate the oceans without crashing into rocks. If a sailor drew a straight line on a Mercator map, it stayed a constant compass bearing. That was a huge deal for the 16th century. But it came with a massive side effect: the further you get from the equator, the more "stretched" everything looks. That's why Europe looks huge and Antarctica looks like an infinite white void at the bottom.
The Seven Continent Model is Just One Option
We’re taught in school that there are seven continents. North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. Simple, right? Except it isn't. If you go to school in France, Russia, or Brazil, you might be taught something completely different.
Some geographers argue that Europe and Asia are just one giant landmass called Eurasia. There’s no water separating them—just the Ural Mountains, which, honestly, are more of a cultural border than a geological one. Then you have the "America" debate. Many Latin American countries teach that North and South America are a single continent. When you start looking at tectonic plates, the whole thing gets even messier. The Indian subcontinent is on its own plate, but we call it part of Asia.
Then there’s Zealandia. In 2017, a group of geologists published a paper in the Geological Society of America Journal arguing that New Zealand isn't just a group of islands. It’s actually the high point of a submerged eighth continent. It’s 94% underwater, but it meets all the criteria: high elevation compared to the ocean floor, distinct geology, and a thick crust.
Maps are messy because the Earth is messy.
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Defining the 195 Countries
How many countries are there? It depends on who you ask. The United Nations recognizes 193 member states. Add the Vatican City and Palestine as "observer states," and you get 195. But if you ask Taiwan, Kosovo, or Western Sahara, the answer changes.
Politics dictates the borders on your map of world continents and countries way more than geography does. Look at the border between Egypt and Sudan. There’s a tiny patch of land called Bir Tawil. Neither country wants it. It’s one of the few places on Earth that is "Terra Nullius"—land belonging to no one. Conversely, both countries claim the neighboring Hala'ib Triangle. Most maps just pick a side or draw a dotted line and hope nobody gets mad.
The Massive Scale of Africa
Most people have no idea how big Africa actually is. Because of that Mercator distortion I mentioned, Africa usually looks roughly the same size as Greenland or maybe a bit bigger than North America.
In reality? You can fit the United States, China, India, Japan, and most of Europe inside the borders of Africa, and you’d still have room left over. It covers about 30 million square kilometers. It’s the only continent that stretches from the northern temperate zone to the southern temperate zone. It has 54 countries, the most of any continent, and over 2,000 distinct languages. When we look at a map, we tend to oversimplify it as one cohesive place, but it’s the most diverse landmass on the planet.
Europe and the Border Confusion
Europe is tiny. It’s the second-smallest continent, barely larger than Australia. Yet, it has roughly 50 countries depending on how you count them. The borders here have shifted more than almost anywhere else in the last century.
If you look at a map from 1990, you won’t see South Sudan (the world’s youngest country, founded in 2011). You won’t see the Czech Republic or Slovakia; you’ll see Czechoslovakia. The dissolution of the Soviet Union alone redrew the map of world continents and countries more drastically than any event since World War II.
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The border between Europe and Asia is particularly weird. It runs through Turkey, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Istanbul is the only major city in the world that sits on two continents. You can take a ferry from Europe to Asia for the price of a bus ticket. It really makes you realize that "continents" are often just stories we tell ourselves to categorize the world.
The Pacific Paradox and Oceania
Is Australia a continent or an island? It’s both. But geographers usually use the term "Oceania" to describe the region that includes Australia, New Zealand, and the thousands of islands scattered across the Pacific.
The Pacific Ocean is terrifyingly large. It covers more than 60 million square miles. That is more than all the Earth's landmasses combined. If you stood on a boat in the middle of the Pacific, you could be closer to the International Space Station than to the nearest person on dry land. Maps often split the Pacific down the middle to put the Atlantic in the center, which makes the Pacific look like two separate edges. This is why many people don't realize that the distance from Australia to South America is nearly 11,000 kilometers.
Why the North is Always at the Top
There is no "up" in space. There is no physical reason why the North Pole should be at the top of a map of world continents and countries.
In the Middle Ages, many European maps (called Mappa Mundi) put East at the top because that’s where they believed the Garden of Eden was. Early Islamic maps often put South at the top. The modern "North-up" orientation is mostly a result of European explorers using the North Star for navigation. It’s a habit, not a law of physics. If you turn a world map upside down, it’s still 100% accurate. It just looks "wrong" because our brains are conditioned to see the Northern Hemisphere as the "top" of the world.
Real-World Consequences of Map Distortion
This isn't just about trivia. How we see the world affects how we treat it.
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The Gall-Peters projection is an "equal-area" map. It makes the continents look stretched and "long," but it shows their actual relative sizes accurately. When you see a Gall-Peters map, the Global South—South America, Africa, South Asia—suddenly looks massive, while Europe looks like a tiny peninsula.
Some educators argue that using the Mercator projection creates a "power bias." By making northern, wealthier nations look larger than they are, we subconsciously perceive them as more important. When you see the true scale of India or Brazil compared to the UK or Germany, your perspective shifts.
Moving Forward: How to Actually Read a Map
If you want to understand the world, stop looking at just one map. Every projection has a bias.
- For navigation: Use Mercator (like Google Maps). It keeps angles consistent.
- For size comparisons: Use the Gall-Peters or the Mollweide projection.
- For general accuracy: The Winkel Tripel projection is what the National Geographic Society uses. It’s a compromise that minimizes distortion in size, direction, and distance.
Check out the "True Size Of" interactive tool online. It lets you drag countries around the map to see how they grow or shrink based on the projection. Dragging the Democratic Republic of the Congo over to Europe is a mind-blowing experience—it covers almost the entire Western half of the continent.
Geography is a living thing. Borders change. Islands emerge from volcanic activity. Countries rename themselves (like Turkey becoming Türkiye or Swaziland becoming Eswatini). The map of world continents and countries you see today is just a snapshot. To truly understand it, you have to realize that every line drawn on it is a mix of history, politics, and a little bit of mathematical guesswork.
Get a globe. It’s the only way to see the world without the "map lie." If you can’t do that, at least remember that the world is a lot bigger, and a lot more crowded, than that flat piece of paper makes it seem.
The next step is to look up the "AuthaGraph World Map." It’s arguably the most accurate flat map ever made, designed by Hajime Narukawa. It folds the sphere into a tetrahedron before flattening it. It’s weird, it’s non-rectangular, and it finally gives Antarctica the respect it deserves.