Expert explains why it took 450 years to agree on a new world map

The world's countries have agreed on a new map after 457 years, but map expert Fredrik Davidsson says the delay reflects how difficult it is to agree on a projection of the planet.

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One simply has not been able to agree.

A majority of United Nations members voted on Friday to correct the common world map. The Mercator projection, created in 1569, will give way to the Equal Earth projection from 2018 as the model governments, schools and organizations are encouraged to use.

The change makes Greenland appear closer to its real size. On the old map, the island can look larger than the entire African continent, although Africa's area is actually 14 times greater. Europe and North America also appear smaller on the new projection.

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It is not accurate when it comes to the area of countries, but it does provide straight lines when you need to navigate.

Davidsson, chairman of the Cartographic Society, said the Mercator map remained useful for global shipping because it produces straight lines for navigation, even though it does not accurately represent the area of countries. He also said historic colonial powers had little interest in changing a map that made them appear larger than their colonies.

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It is about making it as good as possible. That is what people have been puzzling over for hundreds of years.

Choosing a projection is inherently difficult. Davidsson compared the problem with wrapping paper around an orange: it fits at some points but leaves larger gaps elsewhere. The goal, he said, is simply to make the representation as accurate as possible. The campaign began in 2025 and received support from the African Union, which encouraged Togo to present the proposal to the United Nations. The resolution calls the new map a "reasonable alternative for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world."

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Resolutions like this and the agenda they promote