Did you ever take a moment to appreciate the true size of Africa?

Courtesy of io9: 

We've seen this comparison made before, albeit never as lucidly as this. Behold: major countries of the world, overlaid atop an outline of the positively giant African continent. 

If this is your first time seeing this comparison, you might be surprised by Africa's immensity. If that's the case, there's a decent chance you can trace your warped view of geographic scale back to a "compromise projection" – map projections so-named for their tendency to sacrifice things like accurate geographic size and shape in exchange for, say, nice, straight lines.

Oh and it's a continent too, not a country. Just in case you were confused by that like somebody we could mention. 

Just a reminder that often things are simply not as they seem.

For instance that is NOT where Alaska is located.

Nor Hawaii for that matter.