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UN General Assembly approves map reflecting true size of Africa, other continents
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to adopt a map that accurately depicts the size of the continents.
The bid to change the default view of the Earth was voted on at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, with 164 countries voting in favor of a new map.
According to the UN resolution, the new map “offers a more accurate representation of the sizes of continental landmasses and to this end is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,”
Togo’s foreign minister, Robert Dussey, addressing the UN, said that maps “shape our understanding of the world. They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.
“They are, therefore, never neutral. When they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representation that are passed down through generation.”
He stated that Togo aims to replace the maps used in its schools by the end of the year, noting that the Mercator projection is used as a result of colonization.
“The world is changing. Africa also is changing,” he said.
Countries were encouraged by the resolution to adopt the Equal Earth projection rather than the traditional Mercator projection, created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.
The Mercator projection distorts the relative sizes of landmasses, though it accurately depicts their shapes and angles. This had in the past made Greenland appear almost as big as Africa, even though the continent is about 14 times larger.
France on Friday said it would also abandon the Mercator projection. French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in statement: “The United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or southeast Asia, [while] Greenland appears almost as big as Africa.
“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”
The United States however voted against the resolution while six other countries, namely, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Morocco, Serbia and Ukraine abstained from voting.
The US said the Equal Earth projection is driven by an “ideological agenda” distracting attention from “genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations.”
According to US representative Yaryna Ferencevych, “Instead of focusing on genuine problems… this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice.”
