How big is Africa really? Why the UN voted to change the world map

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to backmost a resolution spearheaded by respective African countries to follow a representation that shows the continent arsenic overmuch bigger than it is connected accepted satellite maps.

On Friday, the solution aimed astatine “a much close representation” of continental landmasses connected the globe was supported by 164 countries, portion the United States voted against it and six different states abstained.

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The caller representation – known arsenic the Equal Earth cartographic projection – “is a applicable enactment for improving the accuracy of the cartographic practice of the world”, the solution stated.

Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, which drove the resolution, said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and power corporate perceptions”.

“The solution adopted contiguous reaffirms African reality,” helium added.

But however does the caller representation disagree from the accepted version, and wherefore did the US object?

What has the UN decided?

The UN has urged subordinate states to follow a caller representation successful spot of the centuries-old, accepted Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator successful 1569.

That projection focused connected close depictions of the shapes and angles of onshore masses, but their comparative sizes were often inaccurate – successful portion due to the fact that of the situation of rendering a three-dimensional globe onto a two-dimensional surface.

It inflated bluish regions and compressed equatorial ones, making Europe and North America look overmuch larger, portion shrinking Africa and South America.

(Al Jazeera)

How large are Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania?

It does not look similar it connected the accepted Mercator map, but Africa is simply a elephantine among the world’s continents astatine astir 30.3 cardinal quadrate kilometres (11.7 cardinal quadrate miles).

It is ample capable to incorporate the US, China, India and astir of Europe, yet connected a Mercator representation it looks astir the aforesaid size arsenic Greenland, which is really astir 14 times smaller than the continent.

Latin America covers astir 20 cardinal sq km (7.7 cardinal sq miles), of which South America accounts for 17.8 cardinal sq km (6.9 cardinal sq miles).

Oceania spans astir 8.5 cardinal sq km (3.3 cardinal sq miles), astir each of it Australia.

South Asia is the smallest of the 4 astatine astir 5.1 cardinal sq km (2 cardinal sq miles), though it is location to astir a 4th of the world’s population.

Combined, the 4 screen astir 64 cardinal sq km (24.7 cardinal sq miles), much than 40 percent of the world’s onshore surface.

Europe, by comparison, is 10.2 cardinal sq km (3.9 cardinal sq miles).

What has the effect to the alteration of maps been?

Largely positive.

France, which co-sponsored the solution successful enactment of the caller map, announced connected Friday that it would wantonness the Mercator projection.

In that map, “the United States, Russia and China instrumentality connected a disproportionate ocular prominence compared to Africa, Latin America oregon Southeast Asia”, portion “Greenland appears astir arsenic large arsenic Africa,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

“Changing maps evidently doesn’t alteration the world,” helium added. “But correcting a distorted practice is already an enactment of truth.”

Only the US voted against it, portion six different countries – Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine – abstained.

US typical Yaryna Ferencevych said earlier the ballot that the solution is “the crushed this instauration is losing its credibility”.

“Instead of focusing connected genuine problems … this assemblage is debating representation projects from the 16th century,” she said.

What is Equal Earth?

Equal Earth was launched successful 2018 by 3 cartographers – Bojan Savric of the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Tom Patterson of the US National Park Service, and Bernhard Jenny of Monash University.

“Equal Earth preserves the comparative aboveground areas of continents and, arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, shows their shapes arsenic they look connected a globe,” Savric told the AFP quality bureau successful 2025.

The UN solution encourages governments and institutions worldwide to follow the Equal Earth projection.

Will the satellite representation really change?

Friday’s solution is not binding, but is intended to promote changes to maps utilized by default astir the world.

The UN said successful its study that it is not banning the Mercator projection oregon imposing a replacement, but is simply encouraging the usage of the Equal Earth projection.