They included New Zealand.
They're already leagues ahead of most US primary education text books
this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2025
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It makes sense they’d centre the Gulf Of Korea though.
Maps with New Zealand.
And Tasmania!
Most maps in Asia are like this. That’s why growing up I was confused why the US was called the west and East/Southeast Asia was called the far east.
edit: Oops, didn't realize the credit wouldn't be obvious. It's xkcd #503.
I guess it kinda makes sense if you draw the line right down the middle of Germany. Weird, I wonder if there's any historical precedent for that...
Its almost as if some country thinks they are the center of the world.
Well, specifically a couple of countries on either side of the Atlantic.
It’s more like most countries. Maps like the one shown in this post that place Asia as a central focus are common in Asia.
Maybe it’s not national narcissism, rather just focusing on what’s most relevant to any one people.
Fun fact: Whether North or South are "up" on a map is also completely arbitrary.
Or left right
Should have rotated the other way so the sun scrolls satisfyingly top-to-bottom.
This looks like a fantasy world map wtf.
They undercut the message buy putting upside down at the top.
I had a teacher in high school who always set his globe that had the text oriented to the nearest pole to have the south pole on top. Anyone switching it would start a conversation about how there isn't a 'correct' up direction.
There is only a "correct" up direction if it has words. The "correct" up would be the direction of the letters.
Oh god why Mercator?
Mercator really starts to shine when you rotate it by 90 degrees.
At this point, Africa is almost represented at its actual size.
This is cursed enough to be an SCP
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That is common in east Asia in general, and I don't see why not 🤷
What do you mean america is not the center of the universe?
Exactly, no one here played Street Fighter 2 on SNES?!
I'm no map understander, but I think the projection choice might have not been the best cause it seems to skew edges, while the part that it maintains has a lot of empty space (or maybe I'm just used to other maps). Though this is just a random map on a wall so 🤷
The solution is to create a new continent in the Pacific.
I'm trying but they keep cleaning up my plastic
You are used to other maps. Yours are skewed the same way, at least when referencing the versions with curved edges (Robinson), but you just see the same anglo-centric projections, being centered on the prime meridian from the northern hemisphere. The USA is a little bigger than shown on the "normal" map. Greenland is quite smaller than represented. South America/Africa/Australia are significantly undersized. And there's no hope for understanding Antarctica in either version.
Yes, but the maps we're more used to split in the middle of the Pacific, far from all land, more or less at Point Nemo. That minimizes the visual distortion since the land is further from the edges of the map.
Splitting through the Atlantic makes it trickier, because the ocean is significantly narrower, meaning that the land masses are all closer to the edges.
Positioning the map with North at the top is truly arbitrary, but splitting the map in the Pacific actually makes a lot of sense from a usability perspective.
Less land? Sure, but not away from all land. Less people, debatable. The Atlantic split makes it hard to notice Alaska and Russia are miles apart. It also makes it seems like hundreds of pacific islands are at the edge of the world, isolated. It presents the Americas and Asia as, literally, a world apart. No matter where you draw your centerline, the edges have greatly distorted distances. It's not just continental mass that's important, but aquatic distances as well.
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I like it, if only because it places Oceania at the center. They're always pushed aside and it's big sad.
It makes as much sense as any other 2D projection of the globe.
In this map's defense, it really highlights the value of a northwest passage and all the canals.
I like this one
Maybe a little more than this one...
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Doesn’t the US sometimes use one that puts America in the center and cuts Eurasia in half? Can we agree this one is definitely stupid?
This unlocked some memories, wow.
I've never seen that in the US. That is extremely stupid. Typically maps in the US center around the Atlantic/Europe.
From the US: I grew up with a map like this in the dining room. It was super confusing as s a little kid.
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At least it has New Zealand.
Seems odd to me to want to put the largest ocean in the world as the focus. Yes, let's put most of the useful information around the edge of the map. Brilliant idea.
Let's draw maps with Antarctica in the middle instead.
north korea is pretty lose to center on the map.
That's just the back of the UN logo
Don't the rest of the countries in the region use similar maps? South Korea, Australia, Japan...? I would expect that to be the case, it seems more natural.
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There is no North Korea in North Korea. There is only Korea.
Nerd sniped me enough to look it up. Both countries use different names for "all of korea." While the north generally refers to itself with the same term as all of korea, there are some contexts where there is a "north Korea" used.
Nerd sniped me
The fuck's wrong with you? Look at the pic, all of Korea is red.
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