Following President Trump’s announcement of a “framework of a future deal” with respect to Greenland, the world is looking north. 

But behind the headlines lies a massive geographical misconception.

Greenland isn’t nearly as large as your map suggests, yet its strategic value is bigger than ever.

TL;DR

• Greenland covers approximately 2.16 million square kilometers. Africa sprawls across 30 million square kilometers (nearly 14 times larger). 
• Greenland has the landmass of nearly three Texases but the population of a small U.S. town.

Using data and a table from Wikipedia, this visualization shows the world’s largest islands by area in square kilometers. 

World’s Largest Islands by Area

As you can see, Greenland covers approximately 2.16 million square kilometers. That makes it the largest non-continent island on earth. 

However, Africa sprawls across 30 million square kilometers (nearly 14 times the size of Greenland). 

• The Democratic Republic of Congo alone (2.34 million sq km) exceeds Greenland’s total area. 
• Algeria, Africa’s largest country, is roughly the size of Greenland at 2.38 million square kilometers.

Yet on most classroom maps and digital displays using Mercator projection, Greenland appears larger than the entire African continent. 

Pull up any world map on your wall or phone, and Greenland appears colossal (roughly the size of Africa), dwarfing India, and matching South America in scale. 

This is the Mercator Projection at work, a 16th-century mapping technique that distorts landmasses as they approach the poles. 

It was designed to help sailors navigate straight lines across oceans. 

That’s why the Mercator inflates northern territories to dramatic proportions.

The Island King

Despite the cartographic confusion, Greenland holds an undisputed title as the world’s largest island. 

At 2.16 million square kilometers, it dwarfs New Guinea (785,753 sq km), Borneo (748,168 sq km), and Madagascar (587,041 sq km). 

Greenland may be smaller than Africa, smaller than Saudi Arabia and Algeria, and barely larger than Congo. 

But in the emerging Arctic century, its strategic weight vastly exceeds its geographic footprint.

Trump Really Wants Ownership

Currently, the Pituffik base, situated in the far northwest, serves as a permanent station for over 100 American military members.

While the U.S. operates military installations in various nations (Germany being a prime example), these sites do not grant the U.S. any sovereign rights over the land. 

Donald Trump has argued that a mere lease of Greenland is inadequate. 

Two weeks prior, he stated that defense is tied to possession rather than rentals, asserting that, “Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don’t defend leases. And we’ll have to defend Greenland.” 

To facilitate the acquisition of the territory, he initially suggested military intervention, though he eventually abandoned that threat in Davos, much to the relief of his NATO partners.

Sources: 

Wikipedia | BBC News | World Atlas