The United Nations General Assembly on Friday endorsed a new world map designed to depict the size of Africa more accurately.
The resolution, which was sponsored by Togo, passed the international body with 164 member states voting in favor. The United States voted against the measure.
Why It Matters
Most traditional world maps rely on the Mercator projection, a 16th-century cartographic design that significantly distorts the relative sizes of landmasses. Because this projection stretches areas further from the equator, it makes northern regions like Europe and North America appear disproportionately large while shrinking equatorial regions. In reality, Africa's actual landmass is vast enough to fit the contiguous United States, China, India, and much of Europe combined. Geographers and educators have long criticized these standard maps for perpetuating a distorted worldview that visually minimizes the global South.
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