UN Set to Vote to Scrap Century-Old World Map and 'Shrink' Britain to Combat 'Western Biases'
UK city at breaking point as asylum seekers 'exploit' local housing policy
TL;DR
- The UN General Assembly is set to vote on a resolution to phase out the Mercator projection map.
- The Mercator projection distorts the relative sizes of landmasses, making countries far from the Equator appear larger.
- The Equal Earth design, which shows continents at their true geographical scale, is proposed as a replacement.
- Togo is sponsoring the resolution, with full backing from all 54 African Union member states.
- Critics argue the Mercator map reflects Western biases and diminishes the Global South.
- The campaign calls the Mercator projection "cartographic colonialism."
- A successful vote could influence school curricula and technology platforms like Google Maps.