South America on five projections
South America covers 17,815,855 km² of ground. Mercator draws it 1.17 times over. Area and shape readings on all five projections, each one measured.
Near the equator, the area survives
South America covers 17,815,855 km², anchored at 14.2° S, and Mercator inflates it only 1.17 times. It is 73 percent of North America's true area but looks far smaller on that map - not because it shrank, but because North America was blown up 4.64 times.
The equal-area maps take its shape instead
Gall-Peters stretches South America's shape to 1.88. To hold area at low latitudes a cylindrical equal-area projection has to squeeze east-west and stretch north-south, and the closer to the equator the harder it pulls. South America sits right in that band.
This object
- True area
- 17,815,855 km²
- Anchor latitude
- 14.2° S
- Angular radius
- 41.8°
- Draggable latitude range
- -44.9° … 60.3°
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 | 1.07 | 1.03 |
| Mercator | 1.17 | 1.00 constant |
| Natural Earth | 1.05 | 1.16 |
| Equal Earth | 1.00 constant | 1.33 |
| Gall-Peters | 1.00 constant | 1.88 |
Mercator inflates it most, 1.17 times over. Gall-Peters stretches it most: its long axis is 1.88 times its short one.
The same size, drawn otherwise
Nothing in the catalogue is close to South America's area at a far enough latitude to be worth the comparison.
Bigger than the map admits
Mercator draws nothing larger than South America 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 South America across the latitude bands and the readout follows.