The UN General Assembly has backed Equal Earth and other equal-area maps that show Africa at its true scale, with the US casting the only opposing vote

Snip:

The UN General Assembly has adopted a nonbinding resolution promoting world maps that show Africa at its true relative size, following longstanding objections that the 16th-century Mercator projection makes the continent appear disproportionately small.

The “Correct the Map” resolution, sponsored by Togo on behalf of the African Group, passed on Friday by 164 votes. The US voted against it, while Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine abstained.

The measure encourages governments, schools, publishers, international institutions, and digital platforms to use Equal Earth or other equal-area projections when comparing the size of countries and continents. It neither bans Mercator nor establishes a single official UN map. The resolution also states that it does not affect international borders or territorial claims.

Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said correcting the map would restore an accurate understanding of the continent’s true dimensions. “A more faithful representation can help better cover Africa’s real wealth and potential, particularly in global economy and commercial dynamics,” Dussey told reporters.

  • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    181·
    2 months ago

    I have always been skeptical of the idea that people’s perception of a land mass’ size was correlated to their racism. Westerners hate Russians. The mercator projection makes Russia look exceptionally massive. Westerners like Germans and Brits. Nobody thinks those people come from big countries. If people are interested for some reason in the relative size of countries, a map is a terrible way to display the information. A better way is a bar chart.

    That being said, the US no vote is probably motivated by the worst possible reasons.

    • Johnny_Arson [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      15·
      2 months ago

      I have always been skeptical of the idea that people’s perception of a land mass’ size was correlated to their racism. Westerners hate Russians.

      Easy answer, the majority of the US does not view Slavs as white, especially since the 2014 coup. Zelensky for a brief moment ran on normalizing relations with Russia but the Nazi faction basically took over.

    • Tubby6945@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      9·
      2 months ago

      Africa isn’t a country tho… This is about whole landmasses being distorted. No, it obviously won’t end racism overnight, but I also don’t see the harm in it.

    • demeritum@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Trump definitely wants Greenland because it looks astronomically large on the mercator map. BUT there a hundred different other reasons the empire wants Greenland.

      I also don’t really think there is that much western euro centrism involved in the mercator projection than what’s propagated.

      It makes the areas inhabited by native Siberians and Inuits most prominent and those ethnic groups aren’t the imperial upper crust.