UN Changes Map Projection to More Accurately Depict Africa

For approximately 450 years, the Mercator projection map, widely adopted and used globally, has presented Africa as significantly smaller than its true landmass. This distortion has influenced global perceptions of continents and countries for centuries. The United Nations has now officially endorsed and begun utilizing the Gall-Peters projection, a different map projection that aims to represent the relative sizes of countries and continents more accurately. This shift is intended to correct the visual misrepresentation that has become ingrained in global understanding.

The Mercator projection, developed by Gerardus Mercator in 1569, was originally designed for navigational purposes. Its primary function was to preserve local shapes and angles, making it useful for plotting straight-line courses on a compass. However, this projection distorts areas, particularly as one moves away from the equator towards the poles. Consequently, landmasses closer to the poles, such as Greenland and parts of North America and Europe, appear disproportionately larger, while equatorial regions, including Africa and South America, appear smaller. Africa, for instance, is approximately 14 times larger than Greenland, yet on a Mercator map, Greenland can appear larger than Africa. This visual discrepancy has been a subject of criticism and academic discussion for decades.

The Gall-Peters projection, developed by Arno Peters in 1973, is a type of equal-area cylindrical map projection. Unlike the Mercator projection, it preserves the relative areas of landmasses, meaning that the size of a country or continent on the map is proportional to its actual surface area on the globe. While the Gall-Peters projection achieves greater accuracy in representing area, it does so at the expense of shape distortion. Continents and countries appear stretched vertically or horizontally, deviating from their true forms. Despite these shape distortions, the UN's adoption of this projection signifies a prioritization of accurate area representation over shape fidelity, aiming to foster a more equitable global perspective.

The implications of this change extend beyond cartography. Maps are powerful tools that shape our understanding of the world, influencing perceptions of size, power, and importance. The historical underrepresentation of Africa's vastness on widely used maps may have contributed to a diminished perception of its significance and potential. By adopting the Gall-Peters projection, the UN seeks to provide a more accurate visual foundation for discussions on global development, resource allocation, and international relations, potentially fostering a more balanced and informed global outlook. This move by the United Nations is a significant step in acknowledging and rectifying a long-standing cartographic bias.