The world map you grew up with is wrong. A 16th-century map designed for sailors ended up shipwrecking our minds, and shaping global superpowers, for centuries. The Mercator projection hugely distorts reality — making countries like Greenland and Europe look massive, while Africa and South America shrink. From the controversial Peters Projection sparking outrage in the 1970s to the African Union’s current "Equal Earth" campaign, it's clear that humans still don't agree on what the world even looks like. #makethismakesense #worldmaps #maps The New York Post is your source for breaking news, news about New York, sports, business, entertainment, opinion, real estate, culture, fashion, and more. Check out our two new podcasts: Pod Force One with MIranda Devine (weekly): https://www.youtube.com/@PodForce1 NY POSTcast (daily): https://www.youtube.com/@NYPOSTcast Get The Post’s latest headlines everyday with our Morning Report newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/NYPOSTSIGNUP Catch the latest news at http://www.nypost.com. Follow The New York Post on: Twitter - https://twitter.com/nypost Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/NYPost