At 268,596 square miles, Texas is a big state — the second largest, of course, after Alaska. As it turns out, if Texas were a country it would also be one of the largest in the world, ranking as the 39th largest country by area our of around 200 countries, just a tad larger than Myanmar. However, those stats may not give you a great idea of how Texas’ girth actually compares to different countries, since size is often better understood visually.
But before you head off to Google Maps to see how Texas 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. I
n order to get around Mercator distortions, the team at Sparefoot used thetruesize.com, which corrects for Mercator distortions, to create our maps comparing Texas to countries around the world, then added some extra data around each country. Which is bigger: Texas or France? How about Texas or Madagascar? Check out the infographic to find out.
[Click image for full size version]
Co-founder and Vice President of SearchRank, responsible for many of the day to day operations of the company. She is also founder of The Arizona Builders' Zone, a construction / home improvement portal.
