The UN General Assembly voted on Friday to shift away from the 16th-century Mercator map, designed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in favor of one that more accurately reflects the true size of continents. Sponsored by Togo and spearheaded by African states, the resolution aims to counter perceptions that the continent is peripheral and address distortions that make Africa appear smaller than it is, such as being depicted as a similar size to Greenland.
The resolution was backed by 164 countries, including the African Union’s 54 other member states, and was co-sponsored by France. The United States voted against the measure, while six other states abstained.
The Africa-led campaign encourages governments, schools, and tech firms to move toward projections such as the Equal Earth projection, which displays countries' true size relative to one another. As part of this movement, France announced it will abandon the Mercator projection to better reflect the physical reality of the planet, resulting in France appearing smaller on world maps.