The United Nations General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution calling for the use of a more accurate world map that properly reflects the size of Africa, replacing the long-criticised Mercator projection.
The resolution, titled “Correct the Map” and introduced by Togo with the support of the African Union, received 164 votes in favour. The United States was the sole country to vote against it, while Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, Moldova, Lithuania and Serbia abstained.
Critics have long argued that the Mercator map, created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, distorts the relative sizes of continents. Under the projection, Africa appears roughly the same size as Greenland, although the African continent is in reality about 14 times larger.
The new map aims to correct these distortions and present a more faithful representation of the world’s geography, particularly the true scale of Africa.
