Final answer:
The greatest distortion in a Mercator projection occurs towards the poles, where it greatly exaggerates the size of landmasses compared to those near the equator, resulting in a distorted representation of true sizes and distances. Option number 1 is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The greatest distortion in a Mercator projection occurs towards the poles. Due to the Mercator projection's method of projecting the globe onto a cylinder, whereby each latitude line is made to have the same length as the equator, the scale of the map increases dramatically as one moves away from the equator toward the poles. This results in a significant distortion, making landmasses at high latitudes appear much larger than they actually are in comparison to those near the equator.
For example, the size of Greenland or Antarctica on a Mercator map is grossly exaggerated, suggesting these areas are much larger in comparison to countries closer to the equator, such as those in Africa or South America. Created by a Belgian mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator in 1569, the Mercator projection was useful for sailors because it allowed for straight line navigation. Despite its navigational benefits, this type of map projection distorts the true sizes of continents, especially as you move towards higher latitudes.