UN votes to adopt new map that makes our world look very different

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to adopt a new world map that accurately represents countries' sizes, after African nations called for a change to rectify historical inaccuracies. The "Correct the Map" resolution, proposed by African Union member states and the Bahamas, received overwhelming support with 164 member states voting in favor, six abstaining, and only the United States voting against it.

The resolution aims to provide a more equitable representation of global regions, particularly Africa, which has been disproportionately minimized in people's imaginations due to distortions in the current world map. Most world maps use the Mercator projection, created in 1569 by European cartographer Gerardus Mercator, which, while useful for navigation, distorts the size of landmasses, especially those far from the equator.

For instance, Greenland appears larger than South America on a Mercator map, when in reality, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland. The UN resolution criticizes this distortion for perpetuating ideas of European superiority and minimizing the socioeconomic realities and development potential of Southern regions, including Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

As a "gesture of cognitive justice," the resolution suggests replacing the Mercator projection with the Equal Earth projection, which more accurately depicts the relative surface areas of world regions. France plans to abandon the Mercator projection, replacing it with the Equal Earth projection, and urges tech platforms like Google Maps to adopt the more accurate projection.