UN adopts new map making Africa bigger

The UN General Assembly on Friday voted to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe. Aimed at ‘a more accurate representation’ of continental land masses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries, while the US voted against it, and six other states abstained. The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – ‘is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,’ the resolution said. It urges member states to adopt the new map in place of the traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. News24 reports that Togo’s Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey said maps ‘guide education, nourish the imagination and influence collective perceptions.’ The Mercator projection focused on accurate depictions of the shapes and angles of landmasses, but its relative sizes were often inaccurate – in part due to the challenge of rendering a three-dimensional globe on a two-dimensional map. It inflated northern regions and compressed equatorial ones, making Europe and North America appear much larger, while shrinking Africa and South America.

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