The African Union has endorsed the #CorrectTheMap campaign, a call for the United Nations and the wider global community to use a different kind of world map. The campaign currently has more than 4,500 signatures.
The map most commonly used is called the Mercator projection. Map projections are how cartographers (mapmakers) “flatten” the three-dimensional earth into a two-dimensional map.
The Mercator projection was created over 450 years ago, designed for colonial exploration and maritime trade. But over the centuries, it has become an all-purpose projection for many governments, educators and companies.
Chancellor’s Professor of Geography Derek Alderman and Assistant Professor of Geography and Sustainability Jack Swab explain that flat drawing inflates the size of countries closer to the north or south pole. It exaggerates the area of North America and Eurasia while underrepresenting the size of much of South America and Africa. Read more at The Conversation.
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