In the end, Thomas included 1,642 species — but no humans. "It's a physical world map with no international borders, no cities, really very little sign of humanity at all," he said.

When you look at a map of the world, it makes sense to assume that Greenland and Africa are similar in size. But in reality, the African continent is 14 times as big as the icy northern land mass.

Are you sitting down? The world map you’re probably most familiar with has been misleading you in a subtle but important way: many land masses appear either smaller or larger than they actually are.

Read Story Transcript An extremely rare and massive 16th-century map has been been fully assembled and digitized for the first time ever. "It's the largest map of the world made during the ...

Because previous world maps depicted only Europe, Asia, and Africa, this discovery warranted a new map. In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller published one that included—and named ...