The African Union (AU) has endorsed a global campaign to replace the 16th-century Mercator map with more accurate projections, such as the Equal Earth projection, to reflect Africa’s true size and importance.
The Mercator map distorts continent sized, inflating regions near the poles like North America and Greenland while reducing the size of Africa and South America.
The Mercator projection, designed for navigation, has been criticised for perpetuating harmful stereotypes and misinformation about Africa.
Despite being the world’s second-largest continent with over one billion people, Africa appeared marginal on the Mercator map.
The distortion affected not only the continent’s perceived size but also its importance in global media, education, and policymaking.
The Correct the Map campaign, led by advocacy groups Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa, aimed to promote the adoption of the Equal Earth projection in schools, governments, and international organizations.
The campaign argued that the Mercator map damages Africans’ identity and pride, especially among children exposed to it in classrooms.
The AU has thrown its weight behind the campaign, urging its 55 member states to push for alternatives that present Africa more fairly.
These advocacy groups are championing the Equal Earth projection and working to promote a curriculum that adopts this projection in African classrooms.
The commission has expressed support for the campaign, describing the Equal Earth projection as a rejection of the Mercator map’s “ideology of power and dominance”.
The organization has already started using the Winkel-Tripel or Equal Earth projections for static maps and is phasing out Mercator from its web platforms.
The UN has received a formal request to adopt the Equal Earth projection, but the proposal required review and approval by a committee of experts.
While Google Maps has replaced Mercator with a 3D globe view on its desktop platform, the mobile application still defaults to the traditional projection.
The African Union’s endorsement of the Correct the Map campaign marked a significant step towards promoting a more accurate representation of Africa’s size and importance.
By adopting the Equal Earth projection, governments, schools, and international organisations could help reshape the world’s imagination and promote a more inclusive and accurate understanding of the continent.
