How big is South Georgia really?

South Georgia covers 4,066 km² (1,570 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 3 times bigger than it really is.

See South Georgia at its true size on the map →

True size vs the map

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

South Georgia in numbers

South Georgia is the 176th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
On the map South Georgia looks bigger than the Gambia, but the Gambia is really 2.8 times larger.
Countries of about the same true size: Cabo Verde (4,033 km²), French Polynesia (4,167 km²), Northern Cyprus (3,470 km²).
The United Kingdom is 60 times the size of South Georgia.

Why the map gets South Georgia wrong

South Georgia lies around 54°S. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.72 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 2.9 times too big near its middle. 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 South Georgia 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