Togo Calls on UN to Replace Mercator Projection with Accurate World Map
The West African nation of Togo has launched a diplomatic initiative urging the United Nations to abandon the traditional Mercator projection in favor of a world map that more accurately reflects the true size of continents, particularly Africa. Foreign Minister Robert Dussey argued that the current standard, developed in the 16th century for navigation, significantly distorts geographical reality by shrinking equatorial regions while exaggerating the size of areas near the poles, such as Greenland and North America. This distortion creates a misleading perception where Greenland appears comparable in size to Africa, despite the latter being approximately fourteen times larger in reality. Togo’s campaign, titled 'Correct the Map,' asserts that this visual misrepresentation reinforces narratives of Africa's marginality in global media, education, and politics. By demanding 'scientific truth' from the UN, Togo aims to rectify what it views as a colonial-era bias embedded in modern cartography. The initiative highlights long-standing criticisms from geographers and activists who argue that map projections are not neutral tools but shape geopolitical perceptions. If adopted, a new standard could alter how global audiences visualize international relations and the relative importance of different regions, challenging the entrenched dominance of Eurocentric mapping traditions.
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Togo Calls on UN to Replace Mercator Projection with Accurate World Map
The West African nation of Togo has launched a diplomatic initiative urging the United Nations to abandon the traditional Mercator projection in favor of a world map that more accurately reflects the true size of continents, particularly Africa. Foreign Minister Robert Dussey argued that the current standard, developed in the 16th century for navigation, significantly distorts geographical reality by shrinking equatorial regions while exaggerating the size of areas near the poles, such as Greenland and North America. This distortion creates a misleading perception where Greenland appears comparable in size to Africa, despite the latter being approximately fourteen times larger in reality. Togo’s campaign, titled 'Correct the Map,' asserts that this visual misrepresentation reinforces narratives of Africa's marginality in global media, education, and politics. By demanding 'scientific truth' from the UN, Togo aims to rectify what it views as a colonial-era bias embedded in modern cartography. The initiative highlights long-standing criticisms from geographers and activists who argue that map projections are not neutral tools but shape geopolitical perceptions. If adopted, a new standard could alter how global audiences visualize international relations and the relative importance of different regions, challenging the entrenched dominance of Eurocentric mapping traditions.
spiegel