The United Nations will vote on a resolution sponsored by Togo that calls for the gradual elimination of the traditional world map, the one that uses the Mercator projection and depicts Africa as roughly the same size as Greenland, when in reality the African continent is much larger. The vote is expected to take place soon.
The Mercator projection, developed in the 16th century by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, distorts the dimensions of territories as they move away from the equator, making regions closer to the poles proportionally larger than they actually are. Thus, Greenland appears on the map with a size similar to that of Africa, although the African continent is in fact about 14 times larger.
Togo's ambassador to the United Nations, Kodjo Menan, argued that the traditional map perpetuates a Eurocentric view of the world and that its replacement would contribute to a fairer and more accurate representation of global geographical reality.
The resolution is not legally binding, but aims to encourage member countries to progressively adopt more rigorous cartographic representations, promoting a more correct understanding of world geography in schools, media, and official documents.
