Down with cartographic colonialism: The UN considers maps deemed unfair to Africa

Africa looks much smaller than it really is on many of the world’s most commonly used maps. Togo wants that distortion addressed, and the United Nations is set to discuss its proposal on Friday.

The proposal calls for a more accurate world map and a gradual move away from the Mercator projection, a centuries-old mapping system still widely used today.

One of the projection’s most visible distortions is its treatment of Africa and Greenland. Although Africa is vastly larger in area, the two appear almost comparable in size on the map. Togo’s initiative frames that imbalance as part of a broader problem in how the world is represented geographically.