Just How Big Is Alaska? About the Area of 19 Other States

Click to enlarge. Image Credit: Metric Maps

Because maps of the world are inherently distorted, our ideas about geography and the relative size of countries and continents can be wildly different than reality. Greenland, for instance, appears monstrous on many maps, but is actually quite small, while Africa is huuuuge.

Alaska already looks massive on a map, but it’s hard to fathom just how it compares to other U.S. states in terms of land area. In this map by Metric Maps, spotted by Digg, 19 different U.S. states can fit into Alaska, the nation’s largest state by area. Not just the smaller states, either. Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia can all fit inside Alaska with room to spare. But as you might suspect, much of that landmass is virtually uninhabited. Alaska is the 47th most-populated state in the U.S.

[h/t Digg]

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