Quick Summary of the Core Content
The Mercator projection world map, which we have all seen since childhood and which has been in use for 457 years, was created with specific intentions for navigation. It significantly reduces the size of the African continent near the equator and exaggerates the areas of Europe and America at high latitudes. Recently, local African non-profit organizations successfully pushed the United Nations to pass a resolution with an overwhelming vote of 164 in favor of replacing the Mercator map with an “equal Earth projection” that accurately reflects the relative sizes of continents and countries. This is not just a technical issue for cartographers; it aims to change the collective perception that has been ingrained in people’s minds for centuries—that Africa is small and unimportant. The goal is to unlock Africa’s vast economic potential and help future generations develop a geographical understanding that reflects the reality of the world.
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Four Simple Explainer Points
1. The world map we’ve known since childhood was never designed for modern use
Many people wonder how such obvious distortions have gone unnoticed for centuries. The Mercator projection was developed in 1569 as a navigation tool for sailors during Europe’s Age of Exploration. To flatten the spherical Earth onto a flat map while ensuring that straight lines on the map would lead directly to their destinations, the map had to distort the areas at high latitudes, making the equatorial regions appear smaller.
The result was absurd: Greenland appeared to be about the same size as Africa on the map, when in reality, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland. Africa could comfortably fit China, the United States, India, Japan, and most of Western Europe within its borders. Cartographers were aware of this flaw centuries ago, but since everyone was accustomed to it, no one bothered to make a change. It’s like continuing to use an outdated keyboard layout even when a more accurate one is available.
2. The “visual size” of a map subtly influences billions of dollars in investment decisions
The impact of a map is not negligible. Psychology and political geography have shown that people instinctively associate larger visual representations with greater importance. Those areas that occupy more space on a map are perceived as more significant.
Most of the people who make investment decisions today grew up looking at this distorted map and were taught that Africa is a remote and unimportant continent. As a result, they view the 54 sovereign countries in Africa as a single, high-risk market, lacking the motivation to conduct detailed research or explore individual opportunities. While the map is not the only reason for Africa’s underestimation, it has become an invisible factor that, combined with Western media’s focus on Africa’s conflicts and poverty, has erased the truth about its scale. Without this awareness, investment in Africa has remained limited.
3. Changing the map is about giving Africa a fair chance in the next round of global development
The push to replace the Mercator map is about practical economics. Africa’s fundamentals are ripe for growth: it has the world’s youngest population, with a median age of less than 20. By 2050, one in every four people on Earth will be from Africa. It is the only continent that can provide a massive supply of young labor. Africa also holds most of the world’s reserves of essential minerals for the energy transition and has 60% of the world’s untapped arable land. The African Continental Free Trade Area, which includes 54 countries, is the largest in the world, with one of the fastest-growing consumer markets.
However, current direct investment in Africa is less than one-tenth of that in Europe. The problem lies in outdated perceptions that view Africa as a region in need of aid. Changing the map helps to align people’s expectations with reality. When people see that Africa’s actual size is larger than that of China, the United States, and India combined, they will start to consider specific opportunities, such as the potential of Nigeria’s consumer market, the mining industry in the Congo, or agricultural investments in Kenya. This shift in thinking can unleash significant investment opportunities.
4. The United Nations resolution, despite lacking legal force, is already making a difference
Some argue that the resolution is meaningless because it lacks legal binding power. However, the initiators never intended to completely replace the Mercator projection with administrative orders. Instead, their goal is to replace the “public map that shows the world’s areas inaccurately” with a new version that does so accurately. They have a practical plan: first, all UN reports and materials will use the new map; second, schools in Africa will start using it in textbooks; third, media outlets will be required to use accurate maps when comparing areas around the world; and finally, digital map platforms like Google and Baidu will update their default maps. With everyone accustomed to 3D Earth views on mobile phones, replacing the distorted 2D maps will gradually eliminate the outdated Mercator projection, providing Africa with a significant boost to its global perception at virtually no cost.