His work became the standard map projection for sailing and sailors because it represented any course of constant bearing as a straight segment. The most famous map projection is the Mercator Projection, a cylindrical map created in 1569 by cartographer and geographer Gerardus Mercator. They illustrate geographic features such as mountains as well as countries and their borders.Ī world map is always designed using a projection to represent the Earth on a plane and will always distort directions and distances. The most relevant and popular general reference maps of the world are physical, political, and geological. Need a high-resolution world map image? Click on each map to enlarge. You can use it as a wallpaper or poster for taking a quick look at continents, countries, and regions of the world. The following printable world maps can only be used for educational purposes and never for commercial, advertising, or marketing purposes.

How many countries are there on the planet? What are the seven continents of the world, and where are they located? It is necessarily a distorted flat - printed (paper) or digital (Google Earth and Google Maps) - viewable representation of the globe. Explore our carefully curated atlas.Ī map is a graphical and visual depiction of the surface of planet Earth. It's not easy to find an accurate high-definition world map with countries, but we've got you covered.

Map of world countries outlined