1.Though you may think you know exactly where and how big Britain is, it turns out everything may not be as it seems. First let's take a look at Britain's latitude...
2.For example, let's take a look at where Britain lies relative to our North American cousins.
3.And when you compare Britain's location to Asia it's equally surprising.
4.Here's what happens when you zoom out and look at Britain's position relative to the rest of the northern hemisphere. In summary: Britain is a LOT further north than most people think.
5.But what about the southern hemisphere? Where would Britain be relative to other countries if it had the same latitude as it does now, but the other side of the equator? Well, here:
6.And if you look at the other reference points, you can see that any part of Britain north of Edinburgh would lie further south than every major landmass in the southern hemisphere.
7.Zooming in on Australia and New Zealand, the proximity of the Shetland line to parts of Antarctica is kind of startling.
8.Looking at some major US cities' latitudes compared to ours, it's clear why their summers are so much nicer than ours.
9.And here are the relative positions of some of east Asia's largest cities.
10.Finally, here are some of the southern hemisphere's major cities' latitudes, if they were flipped to the northern hemisphere.
So, now we've established exactly where Britain is, let's take a look at how big it is. Earlier this year we explained how the Mercator projection (which many maps use) makes countries near the poles look bigger than they actually are, and why this is problem.
11.Using the very clever website TheTrueSize.com it's possible to move countries around so you can see their relative size to other countries, if they were on the same latitude. Here's what happens if you move the US to where the UK is:
12.And if you move Australia to the UK's latitude, you can see that in actual fact it would cover almost all of Europe.
13.Comparing individual US states to the UK really puts our size in perspective.
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17.Countries that in your mind aren't too dissimilar in size to the UK actually loom large when put side by side.
18.Even what you may consider to be small island nations, such as Cuba, aren't a whole lot smaller than us.
19.The biggest problem with the Mercator projection is that it makes countries on the equator looks smaller relative to countries nearer the poles (like Britain). Central Africa in particular gets a bit of a bum deal.
20.Further along the equator, if you placed Britain in the middle of Southeast Asia it would be smaller than a number of the islands in the region.
21.And here is the clearest illustration of the effect the Mercator projection has on the perceived size of Britain.
22.As you move Britain north from the equator, you can see how quickly its apparent size increases once you hit western Europe.
23.And finally, here's how many UKs you can fit in the US.
