90
Map Lie (startrek.website)
submitted 2 weeks ago by pEg@startrek.website to c/memes@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 15 points 2 weeks ago

I mean it's greatly exaggerated on Mercator but it's definitely not tiny.

It's bigger than Australia

[-] Fleur_@aussie.zone 16 points 2 weeks ago

Fake map north should be pointing away from Antarctica dumbass. Read a book.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

That outline is like the entire continental shelf, or all the area where the glaciers are directly over rock (as opposed to having ocean in between), or something like that.

But if the ice weren't there, not all of it would actually be above sea level:

Might actually be smaller than Australia if the ice were gone, give or take things like sea level rise and isostatic rebound.

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

TIL that Antarctica is an archipelago.

[-] ryannathans@aussie.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

Does that mean Australia is not the biggest island

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 points 2 weeks ago
[-] ryannathans@aussie.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

There is no agreed upon definition or set of continents globally

It might as well be a made up word

[-] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

All words are made up words...

[-] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

By definition, a continent and an island are mutually exclusive. Nothing can be both.

Australia isn't a continent either. It's in the continent of Oceania, which includes New Zealand.

Antarctica is a continent in its own right. It's not a country and not a nation.

[-] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

The Australia thing is something we were taught in high school.

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think I remember being told Greenland was the largest island, while Australia was a continent

Something to do with tectonic plates

[-] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

Continents is a human made construct that's later rationalized with tectonic plates and other criteria. Basically, people around the Mediterranean Sea divided the Mediterranean Coast into 3 parts and later extended this concept.

[-] nightlily@leminal.space 1 points 2 weeks ago

If you go by the geological definition, Australia is a continent, as is Zealandia. That’s right, New Zealand has equal geological footing with the entirety of Eurasia.

[-] Zorque@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Probably why they keep getting left off maps, jealousy.

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

Not all continents, no. Islands are bodies of land surrounded by water on all sides, no? Wouldn’t Antarctica and Australia then qualify by that definition?

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 points 2 weeks ago

I mean every landmass is surrounded on all sides by water though

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

But most of the land that are considered continents are connected to one or kore other land, and thus couldn’t be defined as an island.

Though, after reading a few other comments, it seems the definition of what makes a continent a continent is apparently subject to debate.

~This is why we can’t have nice things.~

[-] lordbritishbusiness@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Apparently Greenland is considered the largest island. The difference between a continent and island is a little arbitrary.

[-] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

Hence "most other continents"

[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 weeks ago

Nice. What did you use for that one?

https://niy.ai/worldmap lets you reproject Mercator to put any landmass you want in the middle by clicking on it, but it doesn't have that overlay thing.

this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
90 points (97.9% liked)

memes

20858 readers
259 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/Ads/AI SlopNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live. We also consider AI slop to be spam in this community and is subject to removal.

A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

Sister communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS