TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Greek student created this map on Sept. 16 to visually demonstrate how much larger the U.S. state of Florida is compared to the country of Taiwan.

The map's creator, who attends middle school in Greece and goes by the Reddit handle Turtelious, told Taiwan News the inspiration behind the map was a parody of posts on the subreddit "mapporn" talking about the inaccuracy of the Mercator projection. Turtelious said the post's title, "China may seem huge on a map, but it's actually smaller than Florida!" was political commentary meant to favor Taiwan.

Florida is actually over 4.7 times the size of Taiwan with an area of 170,309 square kilometers, compared to Taiwan's 35,974 square kilometers. On the map, Taiwan has been significantly rotated counterclockwise to fit within Florida's peninsula.

Taiwan's southernmost tip of Eluanbi falls in the Everglades to the northwest of Miami and New Taipei City is near the city of Ocala in central Florida. Although Taiwan and Florida are frequently compared as they both have humid, subtropical climates and are subject to typhoons and hurricanes, Taiwan is significantly further south with its lower third is located below the Tropical of Cancer, while Key West sits well north of the tropic's line.

Taiwan seen fitting within lower two-thirds of Florida peninsula. (Turtelious image)