哪个国家比普通人想象的要大得多？
正文翻译
Which country is underestimated in size?
哪个国家的面积被低估了？
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.
多亏了我们许多人在成长过程中一直使用的老地图，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.
这幅地图显示了一个国家在赤道上的面积与在标准墨卡托投影上的面积。地图来自 Brilliant Maps 的地图投影： 墨卡托投影与各国真实面积对比。
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.
地图上浅蓝色的区域代表我们许多人熟悉的大小，这些地图显示格陵兰岛与南美洲一样大。深蓝色表示实际大小，因此格陵兰实际上比阿根廷小。
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.
墨卡托投影显示，刚果民主共和国比阿拉斯加小得多。但实际上它更大，而且路况也没那么好。越南通常看起来比芬兰小很多，但实际上它只比芬兰大一点点。
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.
对我来说，问题并不在于国家比我们想象的要大，而是大多数非热带国家比我们想象的要小得多。加拿大、俄罗斯和格陵兰岛绝对是大国，但并不像许多地图上标注的那样巨大。如上图深蓝色所示，加拿大和美国并不比巴西大多少，但根据浅蓝色，我们会认为它们会让巴西相形见绌。
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.
墨卡托投影法可以帮助船只保持在一条纬线上。此外，墨卡托投影还能让欧洲和北美洲看起来比非洲、南亚和拉丁美洲更加突出。因此，我们许多美国人往往意识不到许多赤道国家有多大。
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.
这是我在 20 世纪 80 年代长大的地图。它歪曲了靠近两极的国家的大小，使它们看起来比真正精确的地图上的要大。Map from Pinterest Image result for High Resolution World Map PDF | 世界地图壁纸, Dnd 世界地图, 地图.
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.
编辑：感谢那些指出我的错误的人，我说越南比芬兰大得多，而它们的面积大致相同（芬兰的土地比越南略多，而越南的人口比芬兰多）。我已经纠正了错误，并删除了一些离题内容。
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.
第二次编辑：这篇文章获得了比我想象中更多的浏览量和投票数（谢谢大家！）。有很多评论说 "为什么不直接用地球仪呢？地球仪很棒，但也有缺点。拿起地球仪。看看巴西。现在转过来看看澳大利亚。哪个更大？你可以整天转动地球仪，但你永远无法同时看清楚澳大利亚和巴西。地图的好处是可以让我们同时看到整个世界。地球仪做不到这一点。无论是地图、地球仪还是谷歌地球，任何观察世界的方式都无法在同一时间真实、准确地显示地球上每一部分的相对大小和位置。因此，我们最好利用各种工具来对抗自己的无知。不幸的是，2020 年，无知者似乎正在获胜。
Indonesia.
印度尼西亚。
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.
它的最远处与俄罗斯一样宽，或相当于从伦敦到喀布尔的距离。距离相当于从新德里到北极的距离。
The biggest difference with Russia, though, Indonesia is 76% ocean.
但与俄罗斯最大的不同是，印尼有 76% 的面积是海洋。
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.
这个国家实际上有 5500 公里宽（我就住在那个蓝点上）。就像从伦敦到喀布尔。或者从新德里到北极。
In almost any maps, Indonesia looks like a small archipelago.
在几乎所有的地图上，印尼都像一个小群岛。
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.
但实际上，印尼的幅员与美国一样宽广，而且都拥有大量人口（美国是人口第三多的国家，而印尼紧随其后，排名第四）。其中，爪哇岛的人口超过 1.4 亿，是地球上人口最多的岛屿。
Indonesia is the world’s 7th biggest economy (PPP), according to the World Bank.
根据世界银行的数据，印度尼西亚是世界第七大经济体（购买力平价）。
Indonesia is also among world’s largest democratic countries.
印度尼西亚也是世界上最大的民主国家之一。
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，一位巴勒斯坦人问我 2004 年亚齐海啸的情况。“当海啸袭击亚齐时，雅加达人是如何幸存下来的？他不知道，亚齐和雅加达相隔 2500 公里。就像纽约和海地。
It is like asking how the New Yorkers survive during 2010 Haiti earthquake.
这就好比问纽约人在 2010 年海地地震中是如何幸存下来的。
Interestingly, such misunderstandings are pretty common.
有趣的是，这种误解很常见。
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.
一位在万隆工作的比利时朋友曾问我，她是否有可能在周末开车去巴厘岛享受海滩。
Well, to drive from Bandung to Bali alone requires your whole weekend.
从万隆开车到巴厘岛需要整个周末。
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.
印度尼西亚是一个多元化的大国，比一般人想象的要大得多。然而，时至今日，它似乎仍是地球上最鲜为人知的国家之一。
哪个国家的面积被低估了？
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.
多亏了我们许多人在成长过程中一直使用的老地图，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.
这幅地图显示了一个国家在赤道上的面积与在标准墨卡托投影上的面积。地图来自 Brilliant Maps 的地图投影： 墨卡托投影与各国真实面积对比。
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.
地图上浅蓝色的区域代表我们许多人熟悉的大小，这些地图显示格陵兰岛与南美洲一样大。深蓝色表示实际大小，因此格陵兰实际上比阿根廷小。
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.
墨卡托投影显示，刚果民主共和国比阿拉斯加小得多。但实际上它更大，而且路况也没那么好。越南通常看起来比芬兰小很多，但实际上它只比芬兰大一点点。
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.
对我来说，问题并不在于国家比我们想象的要大，而是大多数非热带国家比我们想象的要小得多。加拿大、俄罗斯和格陵兰岛绝对是大国，但并不像许多地图上标注的那样巨大。如上图深蓝色所示，加拿大和美国并不比巴西大多少，但根据浅蓝色，我们会认为它们会让巴西相形见绌。
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.
墨卡托投影法可以帮助船只保持在一条纬线上。此外，墨卡托投影还能让欧洲和北美洲看起来比非洲、南亚和拉丁美洲更加突出。因此，我们许多美国人往往意识不到许多赤道国家有多大。
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.
这是我在 20 世纪 80 年代长大的地图。它歪曲了靠近两极的国家的大小，使它们看起来比真正精确的地图上的要大。Map from Pinterest Image result for High Resolution World Map PDF | 世界地图壁纸, Dnd 世界地图, 地图.
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.
编辑：感谢那些指出我的错误的人，我说越南比芬兰大得多，而它们的面积大致相同（芬兰的土地比越南略多，而越南的人口比芬兰多）。我已经纠正了错误，并删除了一些离题内容。
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.
第二次编辑：这篇文章获得了比我想象中更多的浏览量和投票数（谢谢大家！）。有很多评论说 "为什么不直接用地球仪呢？地球仪很棒，但也有缺点。拿起地球仪。看看巴西。现在转过来看看澳大利亚。哪个更大？你可以整天转动地球仪，但你永远无法同时看清楚澳大利亚和巴西。地图的好处是可以让我们同时看到整个世界。地球仪做不到这一点。无论是地图、地球仪还是谷歌地球，任何观察世界的方式都无法在同一时间真实、准确地显示地球上每一部分的相对大小和位置。因此，我们最好利用各种工具来对抗自己的无知。不幸的是，2020 年，无知者似乎正在获胜。
Indonesia.
印度尼西亚。
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.
它的最远处与俄罗斯一样宽，或相当于从伦敦到喀布尔的距离。距离相当于从新德里到北极的距离。
The biggest difference with Russia, though, Indonesia is 76% ocean.
但与俄罗斯最大的不同是，印尼有 76% 的面积是海洋。
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.
这个国家实际上有 5500 公里宽（我就住在那个蓝点上）。就像从伦敦到喀布尔。或者从新德里到北极。
In almost any maps, Indonesia looks like a small archipelago.
在几乎所有的地图上，印尼都像一个小群岛。
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.
但实际上，印尼的幅员与美国一样宽广，而且都拥有大量人口（美国是人口第三多的国家，而印尼紧随其后，排名第四）。其中，爪哇岛的人口超过 1.4 亿，是地球上人口最多的岛屿。
Indonesia is the world’s 7th biggest economy (PPP), according to the World Bank.
根据世界银行的数据，印度尼西亚是世界第七大经济体（购买力平价）。
Indonesia is also among world’s largest democratic countries.
印度尼西亚也是世界上最大的民主国家之一。
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，一位巴勒斯坦人问我 2004 年亚齐海啸的情况。“当海啸袭击亚齐时，雅加达人是如何幸存下来的？他不知道，亚齐和雅加达相隔 2500 公里。就像纽约和海地。
It is like asking how the New Yorkers survive during 2010 Haiti earthquake.
这就好比问纽约人在 2010 年海地地震中是如何幸存下来的。
Interestingly, such misunderstandings are pretty common.
有趣的是，这种误解很常见。
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.
一位在万隆工作的比利时朋友曾问我，她是否有可能在周末开车去巴厘岛享受海滩。
Well, to drive from Bandung to Bali alone requires your whole weekend.
从万隆开车到巴厘岛需要整个周末。
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.
印度尼西亚是一个多元化的大国，比一般人想象的要大得多。然而，时至今日，它似乎仍是地球上最鲜为人知的国家之一。
评论翻译
Which country is underestimated in size?
哪个国家的面积被低估了？
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.
多亏了我们许多人在成长过程中一直使用的老地图，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.
这幅地图显示了一个国家在赤道上的面积与在标准墨卡托投影上的面积。地图来自 Brilliant Maps 的地图投影： 墨卡托投影与各国真实面积对比。
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.
地图上浅蓝色的区域代表我们许多人熟悉的大小，这些地图显示格陵兰岛与南美洲一样大。深蓝色表示实际大小，因此格陵兰实际上比阿根廷小。
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.
墨卡托投影显示，刚果民主共和国比阿拉斯加小得多。但实际上它更大，而且路况也没那么好。越南通常看起来比芬兰小很多，但实际上它只比芬兰大一点点。
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.
对我来说，问题并不在于国家比我们想象的要大，而是大多数非热带国家比我们想象的要小得多。加拿大、俄罗斯和格陵兰岛绝对是大国，但并不像许多地图上标注的那样巨大。如上图深蓝色所示，加拿大和美国并不比巴西大多少，但根据浅蓝色，我们会认为它们会让巴西相形见绌。
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.
墨卡托投影法可以帮助船只保持在一条纬线上。此外，墨卡托投影还能让欧洲和北美洲看起来比非洲、南亚和拉丁美洲更加突出。因此，我们许多美国人往往意识不到许多赤道国家有多大。
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.
这是我在 20 世纪 80 年代长大的地图。它歪曲了靠近两极的国家的大小，使它们看起来比真正精确的地图上的要大。Map from Pinterest Image result for High Resolution World Map PDF | 世界地图壁纸, Dnd 世界地图, 地图.
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.
编辑：感谢那些指出我的错误的人，我说越南比芬兰大得多，而它们的面积大致相同（芬兰的土地比越南略多，而越南的人口比芬兰多）。我已经纠正了错误，并删除了一些离题内容。
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.
第二次编辑：这篇文章获得了比我想象中更多的浏览量和投票数（谢谢大家！）。有很多评论说 "为什么不直接用地球仪呢？地球仪很棒，但也有缺点。拿起地球仪。看看巴西。现在转过来看看澳大利亚。哪个更大？你可以整天转动地球仪，但你永远无法同时看清楚澳大利亚和巴西。地图的好处是可以让我们同时看到整个世界。地球仪做不到这一点。无论是地图、地球仪还是谷歌地球，任何观察世界的方式都无法在同一时间真实、准确地显示地球上每一部分的相对大小和位置。因此，我们最好利用各种工具来对抗自己的无知。不幸的是，2020 年，无知者似乎正在获胜。
Indonesia.
印度尼西亚。
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.
它的最远处与俄罗斯一样宽，或相当于从伦敦到喀布尔的距离。距离相当于从新德里到北极的距离。
The biggest difference with Russia, though, Indonesia is 76% ocean.
但与俄罗斯最大的不同是，印尼有 76% 的面积是海洋。
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.
这个国家实际上有 5500 公里宽（我就住在那个蓝点上）。就像从伦敦到喀布尔。或者从新德里到北极。
In almost any maps, Indonesia looks like a small archipelago.
在几乎所有的地图上，印尼都像一个小群岛。
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.
但实际上，印尼的幅员与美国一样宽广，而且都拥有大量人口（美国是人口第三多的国家，而印尼紧随其后，排名第四）。其中，爪哇岛的人口超过 1.4 亿，是地球上人口最多的岛屿。
Indonesia is the world’s 7th biggest economy (PPP), according to the World Bank.
根据世界银行的数据，印度尼西亚是世界第七大经济体（购买力平价）。
Indonesia is also among world’s largest democratic countries.
印度尼西亚也是世界上最大的民主国家之一。
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，一位巴勒斯坦人问我 2004 年亚齐海啸的情况。“当海啸袭击亚齐时，雅加达人是如何幸存下来的？他不知道，亚齐和雅加达相隔 2500 公里。就像纽约和海地。
It is like asking how the New Yorkers survive during 2010 Haiti earthquake.
这就好比问纽约人在 2010 年海地地震中是如何幸存下来的。
Interestingly, such misunderstandings are pretty common.
有趣的是，这种误解很常见。
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.
一位在万隆工作的比利时朋友曾问我，她是否有可能在周末开车去巴厘岛享受海滩。
Well, to drive from Bandung to Bali alone requires your whole weekend.
从万隆开车到巴厘岛需要整个周末。
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.
印度尼西亚是一个多元化的大国，比一般人想象的要大得多。然而，时至今日，它似乎仍是地球上最鲜为人知的国家之一。
哪个国家的面积被低估了？
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.
多亏了我们许多人在成长过程中一直使用的老地图，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.
这幅地图显示了一个国家在赤道上的面积与在标准墨卡托投影上的面积。地图来自 Brilliant Maps 的地图投影： 墨卡托投影与各国真实面积对比。
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.
地图上浅蓝色的区域代表我们许多人熟悉的大小，这些地图显示格陵兰岛与南美洲一样大。深蓝色表示实际大小，因此格陵兰实际上比阿根廷小。
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.
墨卡托投影显示，刚果民主共和国比阿拉斯加小得多。但实际上它更大，而且路况也没那么好。越南通常看起来比芬兰小很多，但实际上它只比芬兰大一点点。
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.
对我来说，问题并不在于国家比我们想象的要大，而是大多数非热带国家比我们想象的要小得多。加拿大、俄罗斯和格陵兰岛绝对是大国，但并不像许多地图上标注的那样巨大。如上图深蓝色所示，加拿大和美国并不比巴西大多少，但根据浅蓝色，我们会认为它们会让巴西相形见绌。
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.
墨卡托投影法可以帮助船只保持在一条纬线上。此外，墨卡托投影还能让欧洲和北美洲看起来比非洲、南亚和拉丁美洲更加突出。因此，我们许多美国人往往意识不到许多赤道国家有多大。
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.
这是我在 20 世纪 80 年代长大的地图。它歪曲了靠近两极的国家的大小，使它们看起来比真正精确的地图上的要大。Map from Pinterest Image result for High Resolution World Map PDF | 世界地图壁纸, Dnd 世界地图, 地图.
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.
编辑：感谢那些指出我的错误的人，我说越南比芬兰大得多，而它们的面积大致相同（芬兰的土地比越南略多，而越南的人口比芬兰多）。我已经纠正了错误，并删除了一些离题内容。
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.
第二次编辑：这篇文章获得了比我想象中更多的浏览量和投票数（谢谢大家！）。有很多评论说 "为什么不直接用地球仪呢？地球仪很棒，但也有缺点。拿起地球仪。看看巴西。现在转过来看看澳大利亚。哪个更大？你可以整天转动地球仪，但你永远无法同时看清楚澳大利亚和巴西。地图的好处是可以让我们同时看到整个世界。地球仪做不到这一点。无论是地图、地球仪还是谷歌地球，任何观察世界的方式都无法在同一时间真实、准确地显示地球上每一部分的相对大小和位置。因此，我们最好利用各种工具来对抗自己的无知。不幸的是，2020 年，无知者似乎正在获胜。
Indonesia.
印度尼西亚。
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.
它的最远处与俄罗斯一样宽，或相当于从伦敦到喀布尔的距离。距离相当于从新德里到北极的距离。
The biggest difference with Russia, though, Indonesia is 76% ocean.
但与俄罗斯最大的不同是，印尼有 76% 的面积是海洋。
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.
这个国家实际上有 5500 公里宽（我就住在那个蓝点上）。就像从伦敦到喀布尔。或者从新德里到北极。
In almost any maps, Indonesia looks like a small archipelago.
在几乎所有的地图上，印尼都像一个小群岛。
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.
但实际上，印尼的幅员与美国一样宽广，而且都拥有大量人口（美国是人口第三多的国家，而印尼紧随其后，排名第四）。其中，爪哇岛的人口超过 1.4 亿，是地球上人口最多的岛屿。
Indonesia is the world’s 7th biggest economy (PPP), according to the World Bank.
根据世界银行的数据，印度尼西亚是世界第七大经济体（购买力平价）。
Indonesia is also among world’s largest democratic countries.
印度尼西亚也是世界上最大的民主国家之一。
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，一位巴勒斯坦人问我 2004 年亚齐海啸的情况。“当海啸袭击亚齐时，雅加达人是如何幸存下来的？他不知道，亚齐和雅加达相隔 2500 公里。就像纽约和海地。
It is like asking how the New Yorkers survive during 2010 Haiti earthquake.
这就好比问纽约人在 2010 年海地地震中是如何幸存下来的。
Interestingly, such misunderstandings are pretty common.
有趣的是，这种误解很常见。
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.
一位在万隆工作的比利时朋友曾问我，她是否有可能在周末开车去巴厘岛享受海滩。
Well, to drive from Bandung to Bali alone requires your whole weekend.
从万隆开车到巴厘岛需要整个周末。
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.
印度尼西亚是一个多元化的大国，比一般人想象的要大得多。然而，时至今日，它似乎仍是地球上最鲜为人知的国家之一。
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