At 71,297 square miles, Washington is a mid-sized state, ranking as the 18th largest in the US. Surprisingly enough, were Washington a country, it would also be considered mid-sized, ranking as the 88th largest country by area, just a tag larger than Cambodia. However, those stats may not give you a great idea of how Washington’s girth actually compares to different countries, since size is often better understood visually.
But before you head off to Google Maps to see how Washington compares to other countries, keep in mind that Google Maps uses the Mercator projection, a 2D map projection that sacrifices size in order to maintain shape. These map distortions warp landmasses to make them look larger the further they are from the equator.
In order to get around Mercator distortions, we used thetruesize.com, which corrects for Mercator distortions, to create our maps comparing Washington to countries around the world, then added some extra data around each country. Ever wondered if Iceland is bigger than Washington, as it appears on most maps? Check out the infographic to find out.
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