The African Union joined the growing campaign to question centuries of cartographic distortion, which has long reduced the African scale on world maps. The Block 55 nations have recently supported the use of alternatives to the widely taught screening of Mercator and claimed that the shift is about the dignity, power and regeneration of the African legitimate place in global imagination.
Why is the Mercator map so distorted?
Mercator map showing Africa (left) and map from the EQUE Earth Campaign campaign (right). Composite: Equal-earth.com, Getty Images
Gerardus Mercator (1512–94), a mathematician and engraver, created his famous map in 1569 to help sailors navigate all over the world. The first version was a huge mosaic of 18 leaves measuring 48 inches by 80 inches. By projecting the ground on the cylinder, Mercator invented a grid with longitudinal and widths that passed at right angles.
Genius of his design was that direct lines on the map were real compass directions, a breakthrough for navigation. Although it distorted the mainland, especially near poles, the map revolutionized sea travel and the 19th century became the standard for atlases and classrooms around the world.
It has been designed for navigation and ensured that sailors can portray direct courses across the oceans. But this navigation comfort came at the price: The projection distorts the size of the soil when it moves from the equator.
When Mercator depicted almost spherical ground as a rectangle on a flat surface with an equator in the center, he left large, confusing gaps near the poles. So he stretched the northern and southern ends of the world to fill them – and thus created a usable map.
As a result of this maneuver, however, the areas are closer to poles – such as Canada, Russia, the United States and Europe – look greater than they are. And Africa – which will straddle the equator – looks smaller than it is.
Even tropical countries like India seem to be smaller than they really are.
Regions near poles such as Greenland or Northern Canada seem to be significantly widespread, while the equatorial regions – including Africa, India and South America – are compressed.
This distortion leads to an interference with incorrect ideas. Africa, 30.3 million square kilometers, is more than 14 times larger than the Greenland 2.1 million square kilometers. On most Mercator maps, however, Greenland, which is the size of a democratic Congo, seems to be greater than the African continent.
How does this distortion affect Africa’s image?
In activists, the impact of the Mercator projection exceeds geography. Selma Malika Haddadi, Vice -President of the Powerful African Union, told Reuters that the map supports the impression of Africa as “marginal”.
Groups of civil society, such as Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa, launched the “Repair Map” campaign and urged global organizations – including the BBC and UN – to accept more accurate alternatives such as the 2018 -equal projection.
“It’s more than geography, it’s really about dignity and pride,” said Fara Ndiay, co -founder Speak Up Africa. “Maps form, as we see the world and how power is perceived.”
Why does Greenland look bigger than Africa?
The explanation lies in the latitude.
The distortion increases closer to the poles. Greenland, located near the Arctic Circle, is unnaturally stretched on the Mercator map and visually inflates its mainland. Africa, situated closer to the equator, suffers from minimal distortion, which means that its size is relatively reduced when viewed next to the northern territories.
As a result, a mainland with less than 60,000 people is made to look comparable to a continent of 1.5 billion.
How big is Africa compared to Greenland?
The difference is stunning. The African mainland is about 30.3 million square kilometers – more than 14 times the size of Greenland, which covers only 2.1 million square kilometers.
This has long contributed to misconceptions of the importance and size of Africa. In fact, Africa can easily contain the United States, China, India, Japan and a large part of Europe together.
Why does India look smaller than he really is?
India is another victim of Mercator distortion. It is located near the equator and decreases in visual comparison with northern countries such as Canada or Russia. As a result, India seems to be less than it really is, despite its huge mainland and population.
India covers 3.29 million square kilometers, but on many school maps it looks saled countries with much smaller real areas.
It’s just about maps – or strength?
The campaign claims that the problem is not just geographical. Maps shape stories. By distortion of solid Mass in the global south, the projection of Mercator helped strengthen the Eurocentric worldview, where Europe and the north seemed dominant.
As Selma Malika Haddadi from the African Union noted: “It might only seem a map, but it is not.”
How does perception change today?
Alternatives such as Earth 2018 are gaining dynamics. Unlike Mercator, the Earth’s projection retains the relative size of the continents. On this map, Africa appears on its right scale, dwarves of Europe and North America.
As you say, Africa: “By repairing the map we will also correct the global narrative about Africa.”
What happens next?
The African Union is expected to formize its decision to accept the design of the same country at the leaders’ summit in Ethiopia in February. The campaigns hope that this will create a precedent and push international institutions to replace the centuries of the old Mercator projections of accurate areas that better reflect global reality.
Au also combined the initiative with its theme 2025 “Justice for Africans and People of African origin through reparations”, framed the campaign in a wider project to dismantle the narrative about the colonial era.
(Tagstotranslate) African Union
