By 164 votes to one, Member States on Friday endorsed a resolution promoting map projections that more accurately reflect the true size of continents ¨C the culmination of an African-led campaign against the 16th-century Mercator projection, still the most widely used map in the world.
The United States cast the sole vote against, dismissing the initiative as part of a ¡°radical ideological project.¡±
Six countries ¨C Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine ¨C abstained.
The resolution does not ban the Mercator projection or impose a replacement. Instead, it encourages governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to use the Equal Earth projection and other so-called equal-area maps when relative size matters, and to teach the limitations of any flat map in representing a spherical planet.
Behind that seemingly technical debate lies a larger argument about history and power: whether a map designed for European sailors in the 16th century has, over generations, distorted not only geography but perceptions of a whole, vast and complex continent.
¡°Maps shape our understanding of the world,¡± Robert Dussey, Togo¡¯s foreign minister, said before the vote. ¡°They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.¡±
Made small
Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish cartographer, devised his projection in 1569 to solve a practical problem of maritime navigation. Because straight lines on his map correspond to constant compass directions, sailors could use it to plot their courses.
But preserving direction came at the expense of area. Landmasses appear increasingly enlarged the farther they are from the Equator.
Greenland for instance can look roughly comparable in size to Africa, even though Africa is about 14 times larger. Northern Europe and North America are similarly magnified, relative to equatorial regions.
