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How Equal Earth is challenging 500 years of Mercator's projection
Africa Confidential
The success of the ‘Correct the Map’ resolution, sponsored by Togo and backed by the AU, was a diplomatic triumph for the continent. The United States was the only nation to vote against the resolution – compared with 164 votes in favour at the UN General Assembly on 4 September – which recommends the use of the Equal Earth map, drawn up by a group of cartographers in 2018. Equal Earth more accurately reflects the size of Africa, particularly its countries around the equator, than the widely used Mercator map.
But the resolution is non-binding. While the UN is likely to move to using Equal Earth in its own institutions, talk of a ‘ban’ on the use of Mercator is overblown. Vice-President of Ghana’s Imani Centre, Bright Simons, has played down the significance of the vote, pointing out that the UN resolution states that ‘no single projection can perfectly represent the curved surface of the Earth on a plane, and that each projection is therefore suited to particular purposes’. It also describes Equal Earth as a ‘relevant option’ rather than mandating its use.
The Mercator map, which has been the standard since 1569, when it was drawn up to help European explorers, makes Greenland similar in size to Africa. But the latter is 14 times larger. That inconvenient cartographical fact may cause Africa to replace Greenland as a target of US territorial ambition. No map is perfect, but Mercator is now a relic.
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