The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution requesting replacement of the predominant Mercator projection with an alternative map that provides more accurate representation of continental landmasses. The Mercator map, created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, depicts Africa as roughly equivalent in size to Greenland, despite Africa being approximately 14 times larger in reality.
Mercator’s original design prioritized navigation accuracy for European sailors, requiring straight lines on the map to correspond with compass bearings. To achieve this on a two-dimensional surface, Mercator stretched the grid lines increasingly toward the poles, resulting in significant distortion of landmass sizes. This technical compromise has persisted for more than 450 years, forming the basis for maps used in classrooms, television, and online platforms such as Google Maps.
The Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018 by a team of cartographers and inspired by the 1963 Robinson projection, aims to represent landmass sizes and shapes more accurately. The projection was adopted by African Union members in February. Critics argue that the psychological effect of viewing certain regions as smaller than reality—particularly Africa—has implicitly diminished perceptions of the continent’s resources, population, and economic potential. However, the Equal Earth projection sacrifices the navigational straight lines of the Mercator map and cannot accurately measure distances between locations.
Other projection alternatives exist with varying strengths and limitations. The Peters map, designed in the early 1970s, preserves area and longitude-latitude accuracy but severely distorts landmass shapes. The azimuthal equidistant projection maintains correct distances from a central point, as demonstrated by the United Nations flag. Additionally, some cartographers employ south-up orientations that reverse traditional north-up perspectives. According to cartography specialists, no single projection can simultaneously preserve area, shape, distance, and direction with perfect accuracy due to the fundamental challenge of representing a sphere on a flat surface.
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