UN approves new map showing Africa’s true size
The UN General Assembly has backed a resolution to change to maps that more accurately show the true size of Africa.
The United Nations General Assembly recently approved a new world map that more accurately reflects the true size of Africa compared to other landmasses, such as Greenland. The Equal Earth cartographic projection, proposed by several African countries, received 164 votes in favor, while the United States was the lone dissenting voice.
The resolution aims to replace the traditional Mercator projection, which was created in 1569 and distorts the relative sizes of landmasses, making Greenland appear nearly as large as Africa when it is actually about 14 times smaller. Togo's foreign minister, Robert Dussey, emphasized that maps shape our understanding of the world and that distorted representations can perpetuate inaccurate perceptions.
The French government also announced it would abandon the Mercator projection, stating that correcting a distorted representation is an act of truth. While the UN vote is not legally binding, the US representative argued that the resolution pushed an ideological agenda and distracted from genuine international issues.
Written by urgent.news from Tempo.co English's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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