How big is Guyana really?

Guyana covers 214,970 km² (83,000 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn close to its true size: it lies near the equator, where the usual world map stretches little.

See Guyana at its true size on the map →

True size vs the map

True sizeOn a Mercator map

Both drawn at the same scale. The map keeps shapes but swells everything away from the equator.

Guyana in numbers

Why the map gets Guyana wrong

Guyana lies around 5°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.0 times in every direction, which barely changes its size. Most web maps use this projection because it keeps angles and shapes right for navigation, not because it shows sizes fairly.

In Globegami you can drag a copy of Guyana anywhere on Earth: it keeps its true size and grows or shrinks on the map as it moves, and you can fold the map back into a globe.

Areas: official totals including inland water (UN Statistics Division via Wikidata). Outlines: Natural Earth. How Globegami works