Saint Mary's African Student Society-smass Offical PAGE

10/03/2026

09/08/2026

UN backs a new world map that shows Africa at its real size - The UN General Assembly voted Friday to push a map that finally treats Africa like the giant it is. The “Correct the Map” resolution, led by Togo and the African Union, passed 164 to 1. Only the United States voted no. Six countries abstained.

It’s not a ban. Nobody has to throw out every classroom map tomorrow. But the UN is telling governments, schools, and tech companies: when size actually matters, stop using Mercator and use an equal-area map instead mainly the Equal Earth projection from 2018.

That’s the whole fight. On the old Mercator map, Africa looks about as big as Greenland. It isn’t. Africa is roughly 14 times larger. You could fit the United States, China, India, Japan, Mexico, and a big chunk of Europe inside it and still have room left.

Togo’s foreign minister, Robert Dussey, put it simply: “A fair world begins with a fair map.”

Mercator was built in 1569 for sailors. It keeps directions straight, which is great at sea. On a flat rectangle, that also stretches countries near the poles and shrinks countries near the equator. Africa sits on the equator. So it got visually cut down for centuries. Equal Earth puts the land area back in proportion. Africa looks huge because it is huge.

Washington called the vote ideological. Most of the room, including the UK and France, disagreed. France says it’s dropping Mercator for official use.

Bottom line: the UN didn’t redraw the planet. It just admitted the map a lot of us grew up with made Africa look smaller than it is and said it’s time to stop doing that.

09/08/2026

Africa is finally getting its true size reflected on the world map — and the United States was the **only country to vote against it.**

The United Nations General Assembly voted 164-1 to support the African-led “Correct the Map” resolution, which promotes using the Equal Earth projection to show continents at sizes that more accurately reflect their actual land area. Six countries abstained.

For generations, the widely used Mercator projection has dramatically distorted the size of countries and continents. One of the most shocking examples? Greenland can appear nearly as large as Africa on a Mercator map, when Africa is actually about 14 times larger.

The resolution, led by Togo and backed by African nations, encourages governments, schools, newsrooms and technology companies to use more proportionally accurate maps. It is not legally binding and does not eliminate the Mercator projection, which remains useful for navigation.

But while 164 countries voted yes, the United States stood alone with the only “no” vote, arguing the initiative pushed an “ideological agenda” and distracted from more pressing global issues.

So yes, Africa really is that big. The map many of us grew up with just didn’t show it.