You may want to ask a cartography subreddit. The shapes of continents changes a lot based on map projections. Nations near the equator are shown in truer scale while they;re expanded and distorted near the poles.

^^do ^^we ^^even ^^have ^^a ^^cartography ^^subreddit?

Edit: /r/Maps

One of the most common map projections is the Mercator projection: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection

This specific projection distorts the map the most near the poles, which makes equatorial areas smaller than areas near the poles. Countries like Mexico or continents that are close to the equator like Africa will therefore be closer to their "true" scale.

but /r/maps may be able to better explain the history of the projection.

At it's core, the most basic reason for map distortion is that the globe is round. Because it's not possible to make a perfect scale transfer to a flat surface, all maps have some level of distortion. Where the distortion happens, and its severity, will depend on the type of map you are using.

One thing virtually all global maps have in common is that they use the equator as their baseline, which means that landmasses close to the equator suffer a lower rate of distortion. The net effect of this is that a Mercator Projection (one of the two map projections with which most people are familiar) will show Greenland as being the same size as Africa, even though Greenland has less than a fifth as many square miles.

You might be interested to note that this particular distortion is far less evident on a Robinson Projection. The Robinson projection has it's own flaws, such as the extreme distortion of the polar regions.

Edit: (My apologies. Toddler-wrangling led to the submit button being pressed on an incomplete response.)

You might contrast these projections to one that attempts to remove land-mass distortion, such as Goode's Homolosine Interrupted Projection. The landmass ratios have a far more accurate scale, but sacrifice distance accuracy in exchange.

I can't definitively say that there have never been maps that were distorted based on racial or ethnic discrimination or ideas that the land of a "superior people" must be greater than other lands. I can say with certainty that the map projections currently accepted for scientific purposes are based on attempts to render a more accurate translation of the globe, whether they focus on rendering accurate landmasses, distances, navigation routes, or strive for a point in between.

The reason is not racism. The reason is that the Mercator Projection is the most popular method of portraying the spherical globe on a flat map.

The Mercator projection became the most popular map of the world because it was useful, not because it was racist.

The useful feature of the Mercator projection is that on this projection, the bearing between any two points on the map is accurately preserved. If the bearing from point A to point B on the map is East North East, then if you sail East North East from point A in the real world, you will reach point B.

This very useful feature (especially for maritime navigation) was more important to the users of the maps than the drawback that the sizes of areas nearer the poles were depicted as larger than areas nearer the equator.

Because Mercator projection maps were more useful than other projections, they became familiar and ubiquitous.