UN Votes to Retire Map That Shrinks Africa

The Mercator map was made in 1569 by Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator to help sailors cross the oceans. Any flat picture of a round planet must distort something, and Mercator chose to distort size. Land near the poles looks too big, while land near the equator looks too small. On this map Greenland seems as large as Africa, although Africa is fourteen times bigger. Historians have complained for years that this makes northern countries look more important, and some campaigners call it colonialism through maps. The African Union's 54 member states approved Equal Earth in February. Robert Dussey, the foreign minister of Togo, said before the vote that the question was scientific, not political.

France supported the change. Its foreign minister said his ministry would stop using Mercator and switch to a similar map called Eckert IV. The American representative called the resolution unnecessary. Yaryna Ferencevych, a US representative, said the Assembly should work on peace and prosperity, not 16th-century maps. Togo plans a meeting in Lome early next year with UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and companies such as Google Maps. An online campaign has collected about 11,000 signatures.