The World as we see it.. or is it?

A lot of us assume what we know about the world to be true. And when new findings comes out in the open, the world as we know it changes. There are sometimes small new truths that change our view like 'daily flossing doesn't really help' or the bigger ones like 'Pluto is no longer a planet'. I recently read a book which describes how much more we have learnt about old American civilisations and how it has changed our view of the Americas.

In the same vein, I recently saw a show talking about the map of the world as we know it and the reality which is different. I had read about this difference many times before - how the relative size of the continents is not really accurate, and how that played into the hands of the imperialist powers. But somehow. I had never looked at the alternate 'more accurate' maps ever. Till I did!

It felt creepy and unnatural! Its not the same world view as we have seen and known for years, what we were taught at school and how we were expected to view everything around us! How could it be do different?

Gall-Peters projection of the world (Source: Wikipedia)

Isn't Africa too huge?
And Canada too squished?
Greenland has almost vanished!
And you can barely mark the European countries.
It looks stretched rather than accurate!

Well you see, it is the world how it really is and that freaks us out! Wonder when it becomes the norm and we don't treat it as an exception rather than the norm?