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🇩🇿 Algeria /Culture & Society

The United States and Russia shrink, Africa grows: The UN takes on the world map

From Algérie360 · () French

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

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • Togo has submitted the “Correct the Map” resolution at the UN General Assembly, seeking to replace the Mercator projection with one that better represents continental areas.
  • The campaign promotes the Equal Earth projection, which shows Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania at proportions closer to their actual size.
  • African campaigners say Mercator’s distortion has historically minimized the continent, while Togo’s foreign minister calls the initiative a scientific rather than political debate.

Africa looks roughly the same size as Greenland on many familiar maps. In reality, the continent is 14 times larger than the Danish island. The European Union also appears almost as large as Africa, even though Africa is seven times bigger.

That gap lies at the heart of a proposed United Nations resolution titled “Correct the Map.” Togo submitted the proposal to the General Assembly on Friday, September 4, with backing from the African Union. It calls for replacing the Mercator projection with a representation that more faithfully reflects the actual size of the world’s continents.

The Mercator projection, created in the 16th century for navigation, enlarges areas near the poles and compresses regions around the Equator. As a result, Europe and North America appear far larger than they are, while Africa is reduced visually. The campaign says this distortion reflects a historical imbalance in how the continent is represented.

one of the greatest disinformation campaigns in the world

· Fara Ndiaye and Moky MakuraThe initiators of the Correct the Map campaign describe the historical distortion of Africa’s size on maps.

The proposed alternative is Equal Earth, a projection created in 2018 by cartographers Tom Patterson, Bojan Savric and Bernhard Jenny. It seeks a compromise among shape, proportion and scale, giving Africa and other regions, including Latin America, South Asia and Oceania, a size closer to their real area.

Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter launched the “Correct the Map” campaign in April 2025. Its initiators, Fara Ndiaye and Moky Makura, argue that shrinking Africa on maps relegates the continent to the background and amounts to “one of the greatest disinformation campaigns in the world.” Togo is presenting the initiative at the UN after the African Union took it up in August 2025. Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said the issue is “a scientific debate and not a political one.”

a scientific debate and not a political one

· Robert DusseyTogo’s foreign minister describes the proposed UN resolution and its purpose.
About this summary

Originally published by Algérie360 in French. 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.

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