Why was the Mercator Map created?

The Mercator map was created in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. The projection's creator wanted to create a map that would be helpful in navigating the world's seas. The map is set up on a useful grid. However, the map is clearly distorted! At the north and south ends of the map, Antarctica and Greenland are just two examples of landforms that appear far bigger than they should. Areas and distances are not portrayed accurately on this map