A map is an image that gives a simplified, minimized view of a territory.

Things found in the terrain are represented on the map as symbols. The scale of a map portrays distances by telling you how many real-world centimeters one centimeter on the map represents. 

Because the planet Earth is round and maps are often two-dimensional, some amount of accuracy needs to be sacrificed when making a map. As a result, things like the shapes of the different continents and distances between them are often a little bit off on a two-dimensional world map. 

You can understand the difficulty of representing planet Earth on a two-dimensional map by peeling an apple and laying out the peel flat on a table. You will notice that the peel is not a uniform flat rectangle, but that it leaves empty spaces near its edges. However, such a problem is not found on globes, because they represent Earth by replicating the planet's globular shape. 
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