How To: Read a Map

       What image comes to mind when you picture the world? Is it a standard map such as the one below? This is the sort of generic world map that might be found in an elementary classroom, and is what most people tend to associate with the layout of the Earth.

        Pay attention to the difference in spacing of the latitude lines. Towards the top and bottom of the map, they are more spaced out. This causes the land farther away from the equator to appear stretched out and larger than it actually is.

      
       The map below is a Land Area Map, which shows each body of land on the same scale throughout. Look at the difference between the size of Greenland on this map and the one above.

          Stuart McArthur, a native Australian, devised the map below when he was 12 years old. It was later published after years of being told he was wrong, because this map is not "correctly drawn". This map, unlike most others, points out to the viewer that North is not necessarily synonymous with up.

       Cartographers have an unrecognized influence over our perception of the globe. Who's to say there is a correct way that the world should be depicted?

[In addition to the land area map above, different maps can be found at this link, such as a population map, an adult literacy map, a life expectancy map, etc.]