Peter's map vs Mercator map

Mercator Map- a map projection of which the meridians are usually drawn parallel to each other and the parallels of latitude are straight lines whose distance from each other increases with their distance from the equator

• presented by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 
• It became the standard map projection for navigation because of its unique property of representing any course of constant bearing as a straight segment

Misconceptions: 

• Alaska is nearly as large as the U.S.
• Greenland is about the same size as Africa
• Europe is only a bit larger than South America (not including Russia)

In reality: 

• Alaska can fit inside the U.S. about three times
• Greenland can fit inside Africa about 14 times
• South America nearly doubles Europe's land mass   

Peter's Map-  maps all areas so that they have the correct sizes relative to each other

• what we perceive as land mass in the "South" is nearly twice as big as the "North" 38.6 million square miles compared to 18.9 million square miles 
• named after James Gall and Arno Peters 
• described the projection in 1855 at a science convention 
• brought the projection to a wider audience beginning in the early 1970's