What world maps look like in different countries. New Japanese world map

The maps of the world that we see from childhood — especially those that are shown to us in school — shape our understanding of how the world works. There would be nothing wrong with this if we did not forget that a flat map is just a conditional and distorted representation of a round world.

However, many of us transfer the stereotypes learned through the map to our personal attitude towards real world. We are beginning to believe that there are countries that play a dominant role in the world, located in its center, and there are those that play a subordinate role, located on its periphery.

As will be seen below, in different countries- Russia, Europe, USA, China, Australia, Chile, South Africa- World maps are very different. It all depends on what the map author chooses in each of the following three conditions: 1) how to center the map relative to West and East; 2) how to center the map relative to North and South; 3) what projection method to use.

World map for Russia

The vertical axis of the world (centering the West and the East) passes through Moscow. Both America and Australia find themselves on the periphery of the world. Pacific Ocean is not perceived as a complete space.

World map for Europe

The vertical axis of the world passes through London. As with the Russian map, here both America and Australia find themselves on the periphery of the world, and the Pacific Ocean is not perceived as an integral space. Additionally, the equator (centering North and South) is shifted toward the bottom half of the map, making Africa, South America, and Australia appear smaller relative to North America and Eurasia than they actually are.

World map for USA

The vertical axis of the world passes through the USA. America turns out to be an “island” washed by the Pacific Ocean from the west and the Atlantic Ocean from the east. As in the European map, here the equator is shifted to the lower half of the map, which makes the dimensions North America and Eurasia are much larger in relation to the size of South America, Africa and Australia than they are in reality. In addition, the perception of Russia, India and China becomes more complicated for an American: these countries are present to an American twice — in the west and in the east.

World map for China

On its map, China is located on the western coast of the Pacific Ocean. All continents have access to this ocean, except Africa and Europe, which thus find themselves on the periphery of the world.

World map for Australia

There is a general stereotype that what is above dominates, and what is below is in a subordinate position. Australians are not only spending vertical axis world through their continent, they also place it on top of all the others, turning the map 180 degrees. Like the USA, they find themselves as an island lying between three oceans: the Pacific, Indian and Southern. More important role Antarctica, hidden at the very bottom on all other maps, begins to play.

World map for South Africa

South Africa, like Australia, appears at the top rather than at the bottom of the map, which makes it perceived as a country that dominates all others. South Africa turns out to be a peninsula wedged between two oceans: the Indian and Atlantic. The Pacific region and Russia are moving to the periphery of the world.

However, many of us transfer the stereotypes learned through the map to our personal attitude towards the real world. We are beginning to believe that there are countries that play a dominant role in the world, located in its center, and there are those that play a subordinate role, located on its periphery.

As will be seen below, in different countries - Russia, Europe, the USA, China, Australia, Chile, South Africa - world maps are very different. It all depends on what the map author chooses in each of the following three conditions: 1) how to center the map relative to West and East; 2) how to center the map relative to North and South; 3) what projection method to use.

The vertical axis of the world (centering the West and the East) passes through Moscow. Both America and Australia find themselves on the periphery of the world. The Pacific Ocean is not perceived as a coherent space.

The vertical axis of the world passes through London. As with the Russian map, here both America and Australia find themselves on the periphery of the world, and the Pacific Ocean is not perceived as an integral space. Additionally, the equator (centering Server and South) is shifted to the bottom half of the map, making Africa, South America, and Australia appear smaller in relation to North America and Eurasia than they actually are.

The vertical axis of the world passes through the USA. America turns out to be an “island” washed by the Pacific Ocean from the west and the Atlantic Ocean from the east. As in the European map, the equator is shifted to the lower half of the map, which makes the size of North America and Eurasia much larger in relation to the sizes of South America, Africa and Australia than it actually is. In addition, for an American, the perception of Russia, India and China becomes more complicated: for an American, these countries are present twice? - in the west and in the east.

On its map, China is located on the western coast of the Pacific Ocean. All continents have access to this ocean, except Africa and Europe, which thus find themselves on the periphery of the world.

There is a general stereotype that what is above dominates, and what is below is in a subordinate position. Australians not only draw the vertical axis of the world through their continent, but also place it on top of all others, turning the map 180 degrees. Like the USA, they find themselves as an island lying between three oceans: the Pacific, Indian and Southern. Antarctica, hidden at the very bottom on all other maps, begins to play an important role.

South Africa, like Australia, appears at the top rather than at the bottom of the map, which makes it perceived as a country that dominates all others. South Africa turns out to be a peninsula wedged between two oceans: the Indian and Atlantic. The Pacific region and Russia are moving to the periphery of the world.

This world map was developed by order of the Military Geographical Institute with the aim of further implementation in school textbooks. Similar to the Australian map, this one is also upside down, giving Chile an immediate dominant position in the world. The Pacific Ocean is in the center of the map, and this is directly related to the stated policy of modern Chile, which wants to become one of the important business centers in the Pacific region. In this regard, Chile is somewhat similar to China. In the same way, Africa and Europe find themselves on the periphery of the world.

The world map that we have become accustomed to since childhood and which we use almost daily Google Maps, - not quite correct. Russia is gigantic in size; Greenland is larger than South America; The equator is not located in the middle, and the continents are elongated at the poles. This is the Mercator conformal projection.

The projection was invented in the Middle Ages by Gerard Mercator (1512-1594), a Belgian geographer and cartographer, to represent the round Earth on a two-dimensional plane for the needs of navigation. It preserves the angles between the directions (whatever that means), but the sizes of the continents are distorted.

After 500 years, two smart guys made the map interactive, opening people's eyes to the real world. amazing world. The result is a cooler toy than Pockemon Go, where you can rearrange countries and compare them. The author of the article left to play at 12, returned only at five in the evening...

While Hillary Clinton accuses Russian hackers of hacking the mail of the US Democratic Party, let's compare Russia and America. More Russia.

But only one and a half times...

Russia could fit two Europes and two Australias, South America, Africa and Asia almost entirely... Why does Russia look smaller when it “moves”? This is the Mercator projection. When moving countries, you can compare them, but we must not forget that this is just a game of imagination. In other words, Russia would be of this size if it were in the place of Africa, Australia, and so on...

Australia looks tiny on the map - somewhere on the outskirts of the world. But it's the size of America.

Larger than Europe and only slightly inferior to China.

The USA, Australia and India are located in Africa. By the way, on interactive map You can not only move countries, but also rotate them 360 degrees. Very comfortably.

What is Greenland? I used to think that this was a huge icy continent, which for some reason was called an island.

Approximately from European part Russia...

But this is the real Greenland! By area - how Democratic Republic Congo. In the Mercator projection, the land area stretches across the Northern and South Pole and, conversely, it narrows slightly at the equator.

By the way, about the poles. Antarctica doesn't even fit on the map. The poles cannot be depicted on it - it is flat.

But what happens if you place it in the Atlantic Ocean? We have found Atlantis!

Let's move it to Russia and Antarctica again goes beyond the edges, stretching to infinity. This is what the Ice Continent would look like in place Russian Federation.

The largest countries in Africa...

Let's imagine Africa is trying to take over the world. It looks like M&M's spilled on the table.

America is taking over the world...

Russia... I just moved them to the North Pole area.

Place the United States in the Mediterranean Sea and you get the Roman Empire. This is how she once was. Another interesting point: American cities The climate is exactly the same as in Europe. After all, the weather in Chicago is similar to that in Bulgaria, Florida is similar to Egypt, and California can easily be confused with Spain...

On the contrary: six large European countries(Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Romania) in the United States. Conclusion: Europe can move entirely to America. And there will still be room.

Another former empire is the British. The small island country has managed to leave its legacy all over the world.

I read somewhere that 78 Italys can fit on Russian territory. I checked: 23 fit. But this is because Italy has become larger.

Japan is shaped like Baikal.

There are only four places in the world where you can admire geysers: Iceland, Kamchatka, New Zealand and Yellowstone national park in USA. This is what happens if you put Iceland in each of them... It's tiny.

"Moscow region" in Spain.

The tiny island could be lost somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. And no one would notice.

Or in the Gulf of Mexico...

Madagascar fits perfectly into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

And Jamaica is in White... But they wouldn't like it.

Have you heard about the country of New Caledonia?

No surprise...

Finally the top ten big countries on the equator - this is the best way to compare their sizes. Russia, Canada, China, USA, Brazil, Australia, India, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Algeria. What is Algeria doing in the top ten? So I was surprised...

Many people know that the usual geographic map the world does not reflect too correctly real ratio areas of countries, and especially seas and oceans. Using the Mercator projection results in a lot of distortion when, for example, Greenland is viewed larger than Australia... A fundamentally new projection proposed by Japanese designers made it possible to build the most accurate map world that humanity has ever seen.

How did they do it?

Traditional world map being built the old fashioned way, in which the image from the surface of the globe is transferred to a flat map using the Mercator projection. As a result, we get Greenland on the map several times larger than Australia, while in reality Greenland is three times smaller...

But a map built according to the principles of the AuthaGraph projection can be called truly innovative! Here the proportions of land and water remain unchanged and correspond to what we see on the globe. For this development, AuthaGraph received a prestigious award - the Japanese Good Design Award.

Then comes the original process of transferring the image onto a plane by combining in various ways projection through intermediate objects. This "multi-layer display" reduces the number of errors and monstrous distortions that arise when traditionally unfolding the surface of a globe into a flat map.

Of course, it is impossible to achieve complete perfection, but the map from AuthaGraph comes as close as possible to it.

How do the authors of the new world map explain the need for its appearance?
“Antarctica was discovered in 1820, and the first man reached the North Pole in 1909. In the 20th century, relations between East and West and North-South problems came to the forefront of world politics. The main territorial interest was the land, which was the human habitat. But since the end of the twentieth century, dwindling resources and problems environment forced to pay attention to the polar regions and the territory of the oceans...
The AuthaGraphic World Map aims to support this new perspective and show what our world actually looks like. Earth and interests are distributed on it various countries and groups."

According to its creators, the new world map will allow you to look at the planet and its individual corners from a new angle and free yourself from ingrained stereotypes like “Western World”, “ Far East", "go north."

For comparison: a world map drawn in 1844

World map of the 1490s, with the help of which Columbus convinced Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile to support his expedition.

Sectors of the world economy.

How would you explain:

1. What changes and why have occurred in the structure of the world fuel and energy balance throughout the twentieth century?

In the first half of the twentieth century, the coal phase continued. Then came the oil and gas stage. This is explained by the many advantages of oil and gas as the most efficient energy carriers over solid fuels.

It was assumed that in the 80s the third stage in the development of world energy would begin - the transition from mineral fuels to nuclear energy, renewable and non-traditional sources energy. But this did not happen, largely due to the fact that oil prices fell again. Therefore, in the near future, there will apparently be no radical changes in the structure of global energy consumption.

2. Why did a particularly large territorial gap arise between the areas of oil production and consumption?

Because more than 4/5 of oil reserves and about ½ of oil production come from developing countries, and the main consumers of oil are developed countries. Mined by the countries of the Near and Middle East, Western and North Africa, Venezuela, Russia. The USA, Western Europe, and Japan consume more.

3. Why on the world map of mechanical engineering and chemical industry Do developing countries form an almost continuous “blank spot”?

The development of these industries depends on scientific and technological progress; they are knowledge-intensive and require highly qualified labor resources. All this is not enough in developing countries, and they cannot develop their own mechanical engineering and chemical industries.

4. What are the main features of crop placement?

The sowing of grain crops coincides with the settlement of people. Main wheat producers: USA, Canada, Australia, China, France, Russia, Ukraine, India; mainly steppe areas of the temperate zone.

Rice is mostly cultivated in China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam - in the tropical zone.

Corn crops mostly coincide with wheat crops. The main producers of corn are the USA, Brazil, and China.

How do you think;

1. What is the relationship between the preservation of a high share of extractive industries in the structure of the economy of developing countries and their sharp decline in the structure of the economy? developed countries West? What does it indicate?

Extractive industries are pioneer sectors of the economy. The economies of all developed countries began to develop with the development of the mining industry, but now the resources are already depleted. And in developing countries, the extraction of natural resources began later.

Many developing countries are rich in Natural resources. And many developed countries, for example, countries Western Europe Japan is poor in natural resources.

2. Is it possible to say that a large, especially global, port is a kind of barometer that reflects the state of the country’s economy, and indeed the world economy?

Yes, a large, especially global port, with a large cargo turnover, indicates active trade relations between states.

3. Why did the Atlantic Ocean become, in the words of F. Engels, “the great route of world trade”?

On the shores of this ocean there are 70 countries with a population of 1.5 billion people; More than ½ of all maritime transport is carried out along the routes of this ocean. In the basin of this ocean there are also 2/3 of all sea ports in the world, including the third of them in terms of cargo turnover (after Singapore and Shanghai) - Rotterdam.

Did you know:

1. Which of the following countries occupy the top 2 places in the world in coal production: Canada, China, Great Britain, Russia, Poland, USA? (China, USA)

2. Which of the following countries have significant smelting of: a) ferrous metals,

b) non-ferrous metals, c) ferrous and non-ferrous metals – Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Zambia, Chile, Malaysia, Japan, USA?

A) Ukraine, Canada

B) Zambia. Chile, Malaysia

B) Russia, Japan, USA

3. Which of the countries marked with letters on this map are the world's largest producers: 1) potatoes - d) China; 2) soybeans - c) USA; 3) sunflower – a) Ukraine;

4) sugar beets – f) Russia; 5) sugar cane – h) Brazil; 6) tea – b) India;

7) coffee – g) Brazil; 8) cocoa – e) Ghana; 9) cotton fiber - d) China.

4. Which five of the following countries are the most important exporters of wheat to the world market: Argentina, Great Britain, USA, India, France, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt?

(Argentina, USA, France, Canada, Australia)

5.For which type of livestock do the countries listed below rank first in the world: China - pigs; India - large cattle; Australia - sheep.

6. Which of the following countries fly the largest flags in the world? sea ​​fleets: USA, UK, Greece, France, Japan, Liberia, Panama, Norway? (Panama and Liberia)

Can you:

2. Define the terms:

"newest industry"- an industry that arose in the era of scientific and technological revolution, mostly related to knowledge-intensive industries or high technology industries.

« non-traditional (alternative) energy source» - energy sources that are still little used by humans, but the future belongs to them; they are inexhaustible.

"containerization"- the use of containers for the transportation of general cargo - finished products and semi-finished products.

« free economic zone » - unique key areas; they are provided with customs and tax benefits to attract the activities of foreign firms and funds for organizing highly efficient production with the latest technologies.

3. Arrange the 5 main oil-producing countries by production volume (in descending order): 1) Mexico, 2) Iran, 3) Russia, 4) USA, 5) Saudi Arabia. (Saudi Arabia, Russia, USA, Iran, Mexico)

4. Rank the top 5 electricity producing countries (in ascending order):

1. Russia, 2) Japan, 3) USA, 4) China, 5) India. (USA, China, Japan, Russia, India).

5. Give two examples each of countries with high, medium and low level mechanical engineering industry?

High: USA, Japan

Medium: Brazil, Mexico

Low: Afghanistan, Mozambique.

6.Name and show on map largest port world and two world ports in Europe, Asia and North America?

The largest port in the world is Singapore;

Europe: Rotterdam and London

Asia: Shanghai, Yokahama

North America: Vancouver, Tampa.

7.Check how true the following statements are and, if necessary, give the correct answer:

1) most of the oil produced in the world is consumed by countries that produce this type of fuel. (no, developing countries produce more, and developed countries consume more).

2) Japan is the largest steel producer among economically developed countries.

(no, China)

3).Approximately 9/10 of the world's rice harvest comes from Asian countries. (Yes)

4).The total length of the world's railway network is growing very quickly. (no, stable)

5).Australia's exports are dominated by machinery and equipment. (no, resources) Forward