Both a method of mapping a large area and the result of doing so. The term 'projection' comes from Mercator's projection, which was drawn as the shape and size of the shadows which opaque landmasses and transparent seas, lit from the centre of the earth, would throw onto a cylinder of paper encircling the earth and touching it at the equator. Mercator's projection exaggerates the size of the northern continents and, relatively speaking, diminishes the size of tropical areas. Consequently, it has been criticized as over-emphasizing the importance of Europe and North America, although such was not Mercator's intention.
Interrupted projections show the earth as a series of segments joined only along the equator.
Details of the projection used are given below each map in a good atlas. The New Penguin Dictionary of Science 4. The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001 5. All rights reserved.