Which country is underestimated in size?

哪個國家的面積被低估了？


Thanks to the old maps that many of us grew up with, just about anything near the equator is bigger than the average person thinks it is.

多虧了我們許多人在成長過程中一直使用的老地圖，赤道附近的任何地方都比普通人想象的要大。

This is a map that shows the size a country would be if it were on the equator, versus the size it is on a standard Mercator projection. Map is from Brilliant Maps at Map Projections: Mercator Vs The True Size of Each Country.

這幅地圖顯示了一個國家在赤道上的面積與在標(biāo)準(zhǔn)墨卡托投影上的面積。地圖來自 Brilliant Maps 的地圖投影： 墨卡托投影與各國真實面積對比。

The areas in light blue on this map represent the sizes many of us are familiar with from maps that show Greenland as large as South America. The dark blue shows actual size, so that Greenland is actually smaller than Argentina.

地圖上淺藍(lán)色的區(qū)域代表我們許多人熟悉的大小，這些地圖顯示格陵蘭島與南美洲一樣大。深藍(lán)色表示實際大小，因此格陵蘭實際上比阿根廷小。

The Mercator projection shows the Democratic Republic of the Congo being much smaller than Alaska. In reality it’s larger, and the roads aren’t as good. Vietnam usually looks much smaller than Finland, when in reality it’s only a little bit bigger.

墨卡托投影顯示，剛果民主共和國比阿拉斯加小得多。但實際上它更大，而且路況也沒那么好。越南通常看起來比芬蘭小很多，但實際上它只比芬蘭大一點點。

For me, the problem isn’t so much that countries are bigger than we think, but that most non-tropical countries are a lot smaller than we think. Canada, Russia, and Greenland are definitely large countries, but not as huge as many maps would lead us to believe. As the dark blue above shows, Canada and the USA aren’t much larger than Brazil, but going by the light blue we would expect them to dwarf Brazil.

對我來說，問題并不在于國家比我們想象的要大，而是大多數(shù)非熱帶國家比我們想象的要小得多。加拿大、俄羅斯和格陵蘭島絕對是大國，但并不像許多地圖上標(biāo)注的那樣巨大。如上圖深藍(lán)色所示，加拿大和美國并不比巴西大多少，但根據(jù)淺藍(lán)色，我們會認(rèn)為它們會讓巴西相形見絀。
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The Mercator projection is great for helping ships stay on one line of latitude. They’re also convenient at making Europe and North America seem much more prominent than Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Thus, many of us in the USA tend not to realize how large many equatorial countries are.

墨卡托投影法可以幫助船只保持在一條緯線上。此外，墨卡托投影還能讓歐洲和北美洲看起來比非洲、南亞和拉丁美洲更加突出。因此，我們許多美國人往往意識不到許多赤道國家有多大。

This is the kind of map I grew up with in the 1980’s. It skews the sizes of countries closer to the poles to make them look larger than they would be on a truly accurate map. Map from Pinterest Image result for High Resolution World Map PDF | World map wallpaper, Dnd world map, Map.

這是我在 20 世紀(jì) 80 年代長大的地圖。它歪曲了靠近兩極的國家的大小，使它們看起來比真正精確的地圖上的要大。Map from Pinterest Image result for High Resolution World Map PDF | 世界地圖壁紙, Dnd 世界地圖, 地圖.

Edit: Thanks to those who pointed out my mistake in saying that Vietnam is much larger than Finland when they are roughly the same size (Finland has slightly more land than Vietnam, while Vietnam has more people than Finland) . I have corrected my error and removed some off-topic content.

編輯：感謝那些指出我的錯誤的人，我說越南比芬蘭大得多，而它們的面積大致相同（芬蘭的土地比越南略多，而越南的人口比芬蘭多）。我已經(jīng)糾正了錯誤，并刪除了一些離題內(nèi)容。

Second edit: This has gotten way more views and upvotes than I ever imagined (thanks everyone!). There have been a lot of comments along the lines of “well why not just use a globe?” Globes are great but they have drawbacks too. Pick up a globe. Look at Brazil. Now turn it around and look at Australia. Which is bigger? You can spin the globe all day long but you’ll never be able to get a good view of Australia and Brazil at the same time. Maps give us the benefit of allowing us to look at the whole world at once. Globes can’t do that. No way of looking at the world, whether it’s a map or a globe or Google Earth, will tell a true and accurate story of the relative size and location of every part of the planet at the same time. That’s why it’s best to use a wide variety of tools to fight our own ignorance. Unfortunately in 2020 ignorante seems to be winning.

第二次編輯：這篇文章獲得了比我想象中更多的瀏覽量和投票數(shù)（謝謝大家?。?。有很多評論說 "為什么不直接用地球儀呢？地球儀很棒，但也有缺點。拿起地球儀?？纯窗臀鳌，F(xiàn)在轉(zhuǎn)過來看看澳大利亞。哪個更大？你可以整天轉(zhuǎn)動地球儀，但你永遠(yuǎn)無法同時看清楚澳大利亞和巴西。地圖的好處是可以讓我們同時看到整個世界。地球儀做不到這一點。無論是地圖、地球儀還是谷歌地球，任何觀察世界的方式都無法在同一時間真實、準(zhǔn)確地顯示地球上每一部分的相對大小和位置。因此，我們最好利用各種工具來對抗自己的無知。不幸的是，2020 年，無知者似乎正在獲勝。

Indonesia.

印度尼西亞。

It is as wide as Russia at its farthest points, or equal to the distance from London to Kabul. The distance is equal to the distance from New Delhi to the North Pole.

它的最遠(yuǎn)處與俄羅斯一樣寬，或相當(dāng)于從倫敦到喀布爾的距離。距離相當(dāng)于從新德里到北極的距離。

The biggest difference with Russia, though, Indonesia is 76% ocean.

但與俄羅斯最大的不同是，印尼有 76% 的面積是海洋。

The country is actually 5,500 kilometers wide (I live on that blue dot).Just like from London to Kabul.Or New Delhi to the North Pole.

這個國家實際上有 5500 公里寬（我就住在那個藍(lán)點上）。就像從倫敦到喀布爾?；蛘邚男碌吕锏奖睒O。
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In almost any maps, Indonesia looks like a small archipelago.

在幾乎所有的地圖上，印尼都像一個小群島。

But Indonesia is actually stretched as wide as the United States and both have huge number of population (the USA is the 3rd most populous country, while Indonesia is following at the 4th). One of the island, Java, is populated by more than 140 million people, which also makes it the most populated island on Earth.

但實際上，印尼的幅員與美國一樣寬廣，而且都擁有大量人口（美國是人口第三多的國家，而印尼緊隨其后，排名第四）。其中，爪哇島的人口超過 1.4 億，是地球上人口最多的島嶼。

Indonesia is the world’s 7th biggest economy (PPP), according to the World Bank.

根據(jù)世界銀行的數(shù)據(jù)，印度尼西亞是世界第七大經(jīng)濟(jì)體（購買力平價）。

Indonesia is also among world’s largest democratic countries.

印度尼西亞也是世界上最大的民主國家之一。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處


I was once asked by a Palestinian, about the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. “When a tsunami hits Aceh, how did the people of Jakarta survive?”. Well, little did he knew, Aceh and Jakarta are separated by 2,500 kilometers. Almost like New York to Haiti.

有一次，一位巴勒斯坦人問我 2004 年亞齊海嘯的情況?！爱?dāng)海嘯襲擊亞齊時，雅加達(dá)人是如何幸存下來的？他不知道，亞齊和雅加達(dá)相隔 2500 公里。就像紐約和海地。

It is like asking how the New Yorkers survive during 2010 Haiti earthquake.

這就好比問紐約人在 2010 年海地地震中是如何幸存下來的。

Interestingly, such misunderstandings are pretty common.

有趣的是，這種誤解很常見。

A friend from Belgium that worked in Bandung, once asked me whether it is possible for her to drive to Bali on weekends and enjoy the beaches.

一位在萬隆工作的比利時朋友曾問我，她是否有可能在周末開車去巴厘島享受海灘。

Well, to drive from Bandung to Bali alone requires your whole weekend.

從萬隆開車到巴厘島需要整個周末。

Indonesia is diverse and massive, way bigger than average person think it is.Yet, even today, it seems to be among least-known countries on Earth.

印度尼西亞是一個多元化的大國，比一般人想象的要大得多。然而，時至今日，它似乎仍是地球上最鮮為人知的國家之一。