The African Union (AU) has officially thrown its weight behind a growing global campaign to replace the 16th-century Mercator projection with a more accurate world map — one that finally reflects Africa’s true size.
While at first glance this might seem like a purely technical change in cartography, the decision carries deep symbolic and practical weight. It touches on education, identity, geopolitics, and Africa’s positioning in the global imagination. In effect, the AU’s stance is as much about geography as it is about reclaiming narrative power for the continent.
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The Problem with the Mercator Map
Created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, the projection was designed for maritime navigation, allowing sailors to plot straight-line courses. But its utility at sea came at a cost: it heavily distorts landmass sizes.
Regions closer to the poles — such as Europe, North America, and Greenland — appear far larger than they actually are, while equatorial regions, including Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia, are drastically reduced in scale.
In truth, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland and comfortably holds the landmass of the United States, China, India, and most of Europe combined. Yet, on the Mercator map, the visual distortion subtly reinforces the perception of Africa as smaller, less significant, and marginal—a perception that has persisted in classrooms, media, and even policy mindsets for generations.
Why the AU’s Endorsement Matters
The AU Commission’s deputy chairperson, Selma Malika Haddadi, framed the issue plainly: “It might seem to be just a map, but in reality, it is not.” A distorted map perpetuates distorted thinking. It shapes how children learn about the world, how policymakers frame global influence, and how media narratives reinforce hierarchies between regions.
By endorsing the campaign, the AU is taking a deliberate step to challenge centuries-old spatial bias. The move aligns with its broader vision of “reclaiming Africa’s rightful place on the global stage” — part of a wider push for colonial reparations, historical correction, and a reframing of Africa’s role in global affairs.
The Equal Earth Alternative
The campaign the AU supports — known as Correct The Map — is championed by advocacy groups Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa. It promotes the Equal Earth projection, introduced in 2018 to accurately portray the true proportions of continents and countries without the size distortions of the Mercator.
For Africa, adopting this projection would mean students, citizens, and the global community would see the continent at its real scale: vast, resource-rich, and central to the world’s future. As Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter, put it: “It’s the world’s longest-running misinformation and disinformation campaign, and it must stop.”
Cultural and Psychological Implications
Maps are not neutral — they are tools of storytelling and power. For centuries, the Mercator projection’s visual bias has worked hand-in-hand with colonial narratives, subtly reinforcing the dominance of the Global North. For African children seeing their homeland minimised, the effect can be internalised as a subconscious hierarchy of worth and potential.
Changing the map is about more than correcting a technical error; it’s about correcting the lens through which the world — and Africans themselves — perceive the continent.
Continental and Global Ripple Effects
The AU’s support could spark a wave of adoption across Africa’s 55 member states, potentially influencing curriculum reform, media graphics, and even international diplomacy.
It could also pressure global institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank — both of which still use Mercator in some formats — to switch to Equal Earth or similar accurate projections. If implemented widely, this would normalise Africa’s true scale in textbooks, news broadcasts, data visualisations, and digital maps, subtly reshaping global perception over time.
Furthermore, this movement ties into the continent’s broader political awakening — from pushing for fairer trade terms to demanding reparations for colonialism and slavery. Restoring Africa’s visual prominence on the map is a symbolic but powerful step in the same direction.
Why This Is an Evergreen Moment
Cartographic reforms are rare but transformative. Once educational systems, institutions, and digital platforms adopt Equal Earth, the change will ripple for decades, influencing how future generations think about geography, geopolitics, and Africa’s role in both.
In the same way the world eventually discarded inaccurate depictions of Earth’s shape centuries ago, replacing Mercator could become a defining milestone in reframing Africa’s global identity.
Final Word
The AU’s endorsement of the Correct The Map campaign is about more than fixing a centuries-old cartographic distortion. It’s about visibility, equity, and self-determination. By putting Africa back to scale, the continent isn’t just demanding accuracy — it’s demanding to be seen for what it truly is: vast, vital, and central to the future of the world.
If successful, the map on a classroom wall or a phone screen could quietly help dismantle centuries of bias — one accurate outline at a time.
