How big is Greenland? Why maps make the island appear far larger than reality
The true size of Greenland in comparison to other countries as maps can be misleading
Donald Trump has stepped up his pursuit of Greenland, stating he "no longer feels an obligation to peace," and that countries opposing could face tariffs.
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The US president wrote a strongly-worded letter to the Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, which appeared to state that the Nobel Prize Committee's decision to give the peace award to María Corina Machado was his justification for the act of brinkmanship.
Sir Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that the threats were "completely wrong" and urged Mr Trump to step back.
"On Greenland, the right way to approach an issue of this seriousness is through calm discussion between allies," the prime minister said.
Greenland is mostly covered by a massive ice cap and has a population of only 56,000, but the US has stated its desire to take it from Danish control.
But while Greenland can appear massive on maps, it is not as big as it sometimes appears.
How big is Greenland?
Greenland measures at 836,000 square miles, which means that its land mass would be very nearly as large as Germany, France, Spain, the UK, Italy, and Poland if all of the countries' land were combined.
If Greenland was to be placed on top of the European map, it would cover nearly all of the western part of the continent.
Germany: 138,000 sq mi
France: 213,000 sq mi
Spain: 195,000 sq mi
UK: 94,000 sq mi
Poland: 21,000 sq mi
Italy: 116,000 sq mi
While this is still a huge piece of land, it is far smaller than it appears on some maps, where it can sometimes stretch out to approximate the landmass of Africa. In reality, Greenland is 14 times smaller.
Greenland appears far larger on a flat map than it is in real life, as these try to accommodate the curve of the Earth.
Some of the drawn map is distorted to fit it all in as accurately as possible, but the true scale of countries is often better projected on a globe.
Although smaller than it sometimes appears, Greenland is still the 12th largest nation and 20 times larger than Denmark, which governed the island for hundreds of years, until 2009 when it became self-governed.
Greenland is still part of the Kingdom of Denmark, with Copenhagen controlling its defence and foreign policy.