UN BACKS NEW WORLD MAP SHOWING AFRICA’S TRUE SIZE, US CASTS ONLY VOTE AGAINST
The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly backed a resolution promoting world maps that more accurately represent the true relative sizes of Africa and other continents, challenging the centuries old Mercator projection familiar to generations of schoolchildren.
The resolution was adopted in New York on Friday, September 4, with 164 countries voting in favour, six abstaining and the United States casting the only vote against.
Togo led the initiative on behalf of African states and the African Union as part of the Correct the Map campaign.
The resolution promotes greater use of the Equal Earth projection, which preserves the relative surface areas of countries and continents more accurately than the traditional Mercator projection.
WHY AFRICA LOOKS SMALLER ON MANY WORLD MAPS
The Mercator projection was developed in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.
Its design became particularly valuable for navigation because it preserves directions and angles, allowing sailors to plot courses using straight lines.
But that advantage comes with a major geographical distortion.
Land masses become increasingly enlarged as they move farther from the equator.
As a result, countries and territories in northern regions can appear dramatically larger relative to Africa, South America and other regions closer to the equator.
One of the most striking examples is Greenland.
On a Mercator map, Greenland can appear roughly comparable in size to Africa.
In reality, Africa is approximately 14 times larger.
Africa covers roughly 30 million square kilometres and is large enough to accommodate the combined land areas of several of the world’s biggest countries, including the United States, China and India, with considerable space remaining.
Supporters of the UN resolution argue that repeatedly viewing distorted maps can influence how generations of people perceive the geographical importance and scale of different regions.
TOGO LEADS AFRICAN PUSH TO CORRECT THE MAP
Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey has become one of the leading international voices behind the campaign.
“A fair world begins with a fair map,” Dussey said ahead of the vote.
Togo argues that the issue goes beyond geography and concerns education, historical perception and how Africa is represented internationally.
The country plans to update its own school geography materials and encourage other governments, international organisations, educational institutions and technology companies to consider similar changes.
The campaign is also expected to engage companies involved in digital mapping, GPS and other location based technologies.
UNITED STATES CASTS ONLY NO VOTE
The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution.
Washington argued that the initiative promoted what it described as an ideological agenda and distracted the United Nations from more urgent international challenges involving peace, prosperity and global relations.
Supporters rejected that criticism, arguing that accurately representing the physical size of continents is fundamentally a question of geographical accuracy.
France supported the resolution and has also announced plans to move away from Mercator for certain public uses.
MERCATOR MAP IS NOT BANNED
Despite some reports suggesting that the United Nations has replaced the world map, the resolution does not legally ban the Mercator projection.
It is not legally binding on governments, schools or technology companies.
Mercator can also continue to be used for maritime and aerial navigation, where characteristics of the projection remain useful.
Instead, the resolution encourages governments, schools, international institutions and technology companies to use Equal Earth or other appropriate equal area projections when the objective is to accurately compare the geographical sizes of countries and continents.
Equal Earth was introduced in 2018 and was specifically designed to provide an aesthetically familiar world map while maintaining accurate relative land areas.
The UN vote therefore represents a major symbolic victory for an African led campaign rather than an overnight replacement of every world map.
For supporters of the initiative, however, the message is simple.
Africa has not become bigger.
The map is finally being asked to show how big Africa has always been.
VNTV
