Kenya on five projections
Kenya covers 593,466 km² of ground. Mercator draws it 1.00 times over. Area and shape readings on all five projections, each one measured.
This object
- True area
- 593,466 km²
- Anchor latitude
- 0.6° N
- Angular radius
- 5.5°
- Draggable latitude range
- -80.0° … 80.7°
On five projections
Each number is measured against its own projection's equator, not against another projection. These five rows do not share an axis - they are five answers to the same question: what did this map give up to lay this place flat?
| Projection | Area distortion | Shape distortion |
|---|---|---|
| Equirectangular | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Mercator | 1.00 | 1.00 constant |
| Natural Earth | 1.00 | 1.16 |
| Equal Earth | 1.00 constant | 1.35 |
| Gall-Peters | 1.00 constant | 2.00 |
Mercator inflates it most, 1.00 times over. Gall-Peters stretches it most: its long axis is 2.00 times its short one.
The same size, drawn otherwise
These are within 5 percent of Kenya's true area, and sit at a very different latitude. It is a fact about the Earth, and it is interesting because most projections disagree with it.
- Ukraine: Ukraine covers 570,725 km²; this covers 593,466. They sit 49 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 2.34 times the other.
- Morocco: Morocco covers 592,511 km²; this covers 593,466. They sit 29 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 1.33 times the other.
- Botswana: Botswana covers 593,438 km²; this covers 593,466. They sit 21 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 1.16 times the other.
- Madagascar: Madagascar covers 591,065 km²; this covers 593,466. They sit 19 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 1.12 times the other.
Bigger than the map admits
Mercator draws nothing larger than Kenya smaller than it.
On an equal-area projection this section is empty, for every object there is. An equal-area map draws in proportion to true area, so it cannot draw a larger thing smaller. That is a definition, not a coincidence.
Open it in the tool
Drag Kenya across the latitude bands and the readout follows.