Devolution: A beginner's guide. Since 1999, the way the United Kingdom is run has been transformed by devolution-a process designed to decentralise government and give more powers to the three nations which, together with England, make up the UK. The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Definition of MERCATOR PROJECTION. : a conformal map projection of which the meridians are usually drawn parallel to each other and the parallels of latitude are straight lines whose distance from each other increases with their distance from the equator.ADVERTISEMENT. a conformal map projection of which the meridians are usually drawn parallel to each other and the parallels of latitude are straight lines whose distance from each other increases with their distance from the equator. ADVERTISEMENT.
In the Mercator projection (c. 1569), Greenland, which has 0.8 million square miles, is shown as being equal to Africa, which has 11.6 million square miles. The Mercator projection creates increasing distortions of size as you move away from the equator. As you get closer to the poles the distortion becomes severe.