Opinion – Seeing Africa’s true scale at last

Many quarters have been bickering over the “African Map” and whether Africa is getting bigger.

I want to add my voice to the conversation and say Africa has always been big in all aspects of global order, but now the world must see it through the right lens.

The UN General Assembly approved a more accurate representation of Africa on world maps. It challenges the intellectual framework that has portrayed Africa as small, peripheral, needy, and acted upon rather than central, vast, and capable of shaping global affairs.

The General Assembly passed “Correct the Map: Rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world’s regions, particularly Africa” on 4 September.

The vote was clear: 164 countries supported; the US opposed, and six abstained. The resolution, sponsored by Togo on behalf of the African Group and supported by the African Union, urges governments, schools, international organisations, and technology companies to use equal-area map projections, particularly the Equal Earth projection, to compare the sizes of countries and continents.

This moment is important, but we must define it. Africa isn’t growing. It was always big. Worldviews are changing for billions.

The Mercator projection has dominated classrooms, atlases, newsrooms, official publications, and digital world maps for generations. In 1569, Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator invented a practical navigational tool that plotted constant compass bearings as straight lines on a map. This was very helpful for ocean-going sailors. To aid navigation, the map omitted accurate depictions. Landmasses farther from the Equator appear larger.

The impressive graphics show how different map projections are. While Greenland looks the same size on Mercator maps, Africa is 14 times larger. North America, Russia, and Europe appear bigger than equatorial regions. Equal-area projections address distortions and accurately represent Africa’s significance. Fixing maps isn’t charity; it’s telling the truth. Accurate maps shape perceptions, influencing education, imagination, and power.

Maps impact how Africa is viewed globally, often portrayed as marginal due to visual compression in educational materials and imagery.

Before the UN vote, Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said, “Maps shape how we see the world.”

“They influence education, imagination, and perceptions.” He argues that no map projection causes all of Africa’s injustices. Instead, representations shape assumptions that normalise and hide injustice. This is why the UN discusses “cognitive justice” and “memorial reparation.” Colonialism was more than land and power; it also involved naming, drawing boundaries, archiving, classifying, and shaping the world, claiming the right to define Africa for Africans and the world.

However, intellectual honesty requires moderation. Mercator’s 16th-century projection was designed for navigation, not accurately representing Africa or Earth’s surface. No map can perfectly transfer a spherical Earth to a flat surface without distortion.

While Mercator remains useful for navigation and is internationally accepted, its dominance in geography, development, and geopolitical visuals creates problems. The Equal Earth projection, which preserves area better, offers a superior alternative. The question is whether the world should let a distorted map continue to shape perceptions, given better options.

Africans led a significant resolution, with Togo speaking for the African Group and the African Union advocating for equal-area representation. This highlights a broader demand for narrative sovereignty: Africa must control its portrayal and understanding. Pan-Africanism should stay on a classroom map.

While improving Africa’s image is important, it won’t solve issues like debt, illicit flows, conflict, or mineral wealth distribution. Africa’s main challenge is not its size but its impact.”

Africa’s strategic geography, young population, biodiversity, and resources hold potential, but raw materials alone won’t bring power. Countries must shift from exporting raw goods to adding value locally, developing industries, technology, and regional supply chains. Integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area can strengthen bargaining power, but only if markets are connected and can manufacture, trade, and invest together. Africa needs beneficiation, industrial policies, and local ownership to turn potential into effective capacity.

In short, the continent needs reliable energy, transport corridors, digital infrastructure, education, public health, research institutions, and effective government to build sovereignty. Looters target natural resources in the absence of institutions.

Youth without quality education and employment can be a demographic dividend or a source of social frustration. Africa needs collective diplomacy. Shared positions on climate finance, debt reform, global health, trade rules, migration, technology governance, and reform of multilateral institutions give African states more bargaining power.

The map debate shows how African collective action resolved a long-standing global grievance. Africans and the diaspora must use this opportunity to demonstrate intellectual responsibility.

Curricula, media, public discourse, and digital platforms must change to correct the map. This should encourage African scholars to study African realities, institutions to store and use data, and storytellers to reject external romanticism and pessimism. Minister Dussey said a fair map does not change geography. It changes the perception of geography. The immediate task is to ensure that a new vision changes structures. Africa’s status on the world stage requires more than symbolism. Economic transformation, democratic accountability, continental solidarity, scientific innovation, and a refusal to give up the continent’s resources, imagination, and future will secure it.

Thus, fixing the map does not end the struggle for Africa’s recognition as a global force. It says Africa won’t be reduced on paper, in policy, in markets, or in the global imagination.

*Michael Conteh is a publicly engaged scholar and gender and international relations expert. He can be reached at [email protected].

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