The U.N. General Assembly has endorsed a new world map that represents Africa more accurately in its larger size, a culmination of a recent campaign led by African countries and advocacy groups — and one opposed solely by the United States.
Friday’s resolution, which was sponsored by Togo and backed by members of the African Union, was passed with 164 member states voting in favor. Only the U.S. voted against it, while six other countries — Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine — abstained.
The vote encourages governments and institutions around the world to replace the traditional Mercator map, commonly used since the 16th century, with the Equal Earth projection that advocates and geographers say shows locations more accurately.
The Mercator projection shows Greenland and Africa as appearing to be about the same size — enlarging the former while shrinking the latter relative to other countries — whereas in the Equal Earth projection, which depicts continents in their true proportions, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland.
Friday’s resolution does not ban the Mercator projection or impose a replacement, but only encourages the use of the Equal Earth projection, the United Nations said in its report.
“Maps shape our understanding of the world,” the global body quoted Togo Foreign Minister Robert Dussey as saying before the vote. “They guide education, nourish the imagination and influence collective perceptions.”
Africa No Filter, one of the lead campaigners for the adoption of the new map, hailed the resolution, saying: “We want to see accurate maps in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and on the digital platforms billions of people use every day.”
Several countries hailed the vote and urged the wide-scale adoption of the Equal Earth map. “Changing the map obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on social media after the vote.
The Mercator map was designed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to help European navigators at sea, but advocates note that it distorted landmasses by enlarging regions near the poles such as North America and Greenland while shrinking those straddling the equator, such as Africa and South America.
The 2018 Equal Earth projection follows the Earth’s curvature and shows continents in their true proportions.
Geographers say the traditional map is useful only for navigation.
“Outside of that very narrow navigation application, there is no point in using it,” according to Mark Monmonier, a Syracuse University professor of geography.
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