DistantNews
Support us
🇫🇮 Finland /Culture & Society

African countries urge the world to show the continent at its true size on maps

From Helsingin Sanomat · () Finnish

Translated from Finnish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Togo and 54 other African Union member states are backing a proposal to encourage the U.N. to move away from the Mercator projection.
  • The countries support the Equal Earth projection, which shows Africa’s area more accurately, although no two-dimensional map can eliminate all distortion.
  • A University of Turku professor said more accurate maps could help prevent false political perceptions about the size of countries and continents.

On the world map most people use, Africa can appear roughly the size of Greenland. In reality, its area is about 14 times larger than the northern island. African countries now want that difference to be visible.

They are asking the U.N. General Assembly to formally move away from the traditional Mercator projection and adopt a map that presents Africa’s size more accurately. Togo, in West Africa, submitted the proposal, which is backed by the other 54 African Union member states, according to South African broadcaster SABC.

The preferred alternative is the Equal Earth projection, developed by an international group of cartographers in 2018. It corrects some of the distortions of the Mercator projection, including the way the areas of North America and Europe appear enlarged. Equal Earth cannot show a spherical Earth on a flat surface without any distortion, however. Around 200 different map projections exist.

I consider it very well justified that we should primarily move to the Equal Earth projection, so that the map conveys a more truthful picture of the size of continents and countries.

· Niina KäyhköThe University of Turku professor supports replacing the Mercator projection with a more area-accurate map.

Niina Käyhkö, a professor of applied digital geospatial research at the University of Turku, said, "I consider it very well justified that we should primarily move to the Equal Earth projection, so that the map conveys a more truthful picture of the size of continents and countries." She said accurate representation could help prevent people from forming false political impressions of the world.

Gerardus Mercator developed the projection still most widely used in 1569 for navigation. It preserves angles and local shapes, which helps with sailing, but greatly distorts areas near the poles. The African proposal is supported by the #CorrectTheMap campaign. Togolese officials hope a vote could produce a result similar to a resolution backed by the African Union earlier this year, when the U.N. adopted Ghana’s description of the slave trade as "the most serious crime against humanity."

the most serious crime against humanity

· United Nations resolutionThe phrase appeared in a Ghanaian resolution on the slave trade that the U.N. adopted earlier in the year.
About this summary

Originally published by Helsingin Sanomat in Finnish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog