No one claimed people do this. You have created a straw man-ception. Our awareness of the world is informed by distorted maps, even if it only impacts us subconsciously.

No it’s not. Nobody cares about Greenland despite it being larger than all of Europe on the projection.

Greenland is not Africa. But you don't sound like you are interested in civil, fair discussion so I won't bother wasting more time than this. Look up Critical Cartography if you want to learn.

> if you want to learn.

Consider saying "If you want to learn more about it".

Saying only "if you want to learn" is condescending and patronizing and is a thing those imperialists living in the northern hemisphere do.

> Greenland is not Africa.

I don’t think you are getting what I’m saying. Greenland is larger than countries we spend far more time obsessing over with history lessons.

Importance in education and subsequently people’s mental models is not at all driven by size on the projection. It’s a dumb theory not backed by any real research.

Well I actually used to think - before being educated about map constraints and the Mercator projection - that "Wow Greenland is HUGE".

How old were you when you learned that though? I thought the same thing until we were shown why it’s misleading in like the 4th grade.

Obviously not. And nobody said that. Talk about straw men.

People have internalized a sense of the relative sizes of different countries, and that internal representation is what they refer to.