The United Nations General Assembly has voted to support a resolution championed by several African nations, advocating for the adoption of a new cartographic projection that depicts the continent of Africa with greater proportional accuracy. On Friday, 164 countries supported the measure, while only the United States voted against it and six others abstained.
The resolution encourages member states to transition from the centuries-old Mercator projection, designed in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator for maritime navigation. While the Mercator map accurately preserves shapes and angles, it significantly distorts size by inflating northern regions and compressing equatorial ones. This distortion makes Europe and North America appear larger while shrinking Africa and South America.
Under the traditional Mercator projection, Africa appears roughly the same size as Greenland, despite being approximately 14 times larger in reality. Africa covers about 30.3 million square kilometers (11.7 million square miles), an area sufficient to contain the United States, China, India, and most of Europe. In comparison, Europe spans just 10.2 million square kilometers.
The new map, known as the Equal Earth projection, was introduced in 2018 by cartographers Bojan Savric, Tom Patterson, and Bernhard Jenny. It aims to preserve the relative surface areas of continents while maintaining their recognizable shapes as seen on a globe. Robert Dussey, Togo’s Foreign Minister and a key driver of the resolution, emphasized the cultural impact of cartography. “Maps guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions,” Dussey said. “The resolution adopted today reaffirms African reality.”
About time! I remember being shocked by how huge Africa really is compared to Greenland in geography class.
Does the US opposition mean they won’t update their textbooks? That seems like a missed opportunity for accuracy.