US opposes Africa-backed Equal Earth map as 164 countries vote in favour

NAIROBI,Kenya, Sep 5— The United States was the lone country to reject an African-led campaign to change how the world is depicted on maps, as 164 countries backed a United Nations resolution promoting more geographically accurate projections.

The vote at the UN General Assembly on Friday put Washington at odds with the overwhelming majority of member states, with six countries — Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine — abstaining.

The non-binding resolution, sponsored by Togo and backed by African Union member states, encourages governments, schools, international organisations and technology companies to use equal-area projections such as the Equal Earth map when the relative size of landmasses matters.

The resolution does not outlaw the centuries-old Mercator projection or require countries to abandon it.

Instead, it calls for greater use of maps that preserve the relative area of continents and for greater public awareness of the limitations of representing the spherical Earth on a flat surface.

The US rejection, however, injected a political dimension into an initiative that African states have framed as an effort to correct longstanding distortions in the visual representation of the world.

Speaking before the vote, the US representative dismissed the proposal as part of what Washington described as a wider ideological campaign.

“The United States clearly sees it cannot be separated from the much larger and more radical ideological project it belongs to,” the US representative told the General Assembly.
Washington argued that the UN should concentrate on more pressing global challenges rather than what it regarded as symbolic debates over historical cartography.

“Instead of focusing on genuine problems of international peace, prosperity, or good relations, this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice,” the US representative said.

The US representative further described such resolutions as “barnacles on our work here” and argued that they were contributing to the UN’s declining credibility.

“We urge countries to instill common sense to this body and fully reject this text. The United States will vote no on this resolution,” the representative said.
The African Union took the opposite view, presenting the initiative as a historic attempt to address the way geographic distortions can influence perceptions of the world’s regions.

Following the vote, the AU congratulated Togo and the Africa Group on the adoption of resolution A/80/L.104, describing it as a landmark step towards “accurate and equitable global cartographic representation.”

“Today’s resolution promotes equal-area maps like Equal Earth across classrooms, media, and international institutions ensuring the world map finally reflects Africa’s true scale, weight, and place in the world,” the AU said.

The dispute centres on the Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 primarily for maritime navigation.

The projection was highly useful to sailors because straight lines on the map correspond to constant compass directions, allowing navigators to plot courses more easily.

Its strength for navigation, however, came with a major geographical trade-off: it dramatically enlarges landmasses as they move away from the Equator.

The distortion means Greenland can appear roughly comparable in size to Africa on conventional world maps, despite Africa being about 14 times larger.

Northern Europe, North America and other territories farther from the Equator are similarly enlarged relative to equatorial regions.

The Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018, seeks to preserve the relative areas of continents while presenting the world in a form suitable for general-purpose maps.

The African campaign argues that the issue is not merely technical.

The AU says the way countries and continents are visually represented can influence perceptions of their size, importance and place in the international system.

“Africa is larger than the US, China, Western Europe, and India combined,” the AU said ahead of the vote, arguing that maps used in classrooms, newsrooms and international institutions should reflect that reality.

Supporters of the initiative have described the traditional distortion as a form of “cartographic colonialism”, arguing that repeatedly depicting Africa as smaller than it actually is can reinforce outdated perceptions of the continent and the Global South.

Despite its overwhelming backing, Friday’s resolution does not mean that the Mercator projection will disappear from maps, classrooms or digital platforms.

Instead, it asks countries and institutions to consider equal-area alternatives when geographic size is important and to teach users that every flat map involves some form of distortion.