Do the land areas around North and South Poles appear smaller or larger in size than they really are?

larger

Explanation:

North and South pole almost always look larger on the flat maps than they are in real life when compared to other parts of the world. Antarctica – South Pole – is shown as stretching all across the downside of the map, but it is actually a circular continent, smaller than presented.

This is because from the beginning the main point of flat maps was to navigate, therefore the spaces between the continents needed to be good. Geographer Gerardus Mercator made an accurate navigation map in the 16th century, but the problem was that some elements weren’t well sized so they could be position well against the equator. Poles and their landmasses of Antarctica and Greenland were presented much larger than they are in reality. This phenomenon has a name – Mercator Projection.