UN General Assembly Adopts Resolution for More Accurate World Map Proportions
2 sources across 2 countries · India · United Kingdom
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- Scroll.in
- Financial Times
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The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted the Correct the Map resolution, which calls for world maps that represent the relative size of regions, particularly Africa, more equitably. Led by Togo and the African Union, the initiative challenges the dominance of the Mercator projection created in 1569. While the Mercator projection is effective for nautical navigation, it distorts the size of landmasses toward the poles, making Africa appear smaller than it is. In reality, Africa is approximately 30.3 square million kilometers, which is larger than the United States, China, India, and much of Europe combined. A center leaning source frames the event as a correction of a map that has made the continent seem smaller than it is for centuries. A left leaning source frames the resolution as a campaign to decolonise world maps, arguing that the power to represent territory has historically been linked to the power to rule it.
How each side framed it
- Left
- The event is framed as a political struggle against Eurocentric distortions and a tool for decolonization.
- Centre
- The event is presented as a straightforward update to achieve more accurate geographic proportions.
Sources
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