UN General Assembly Overturns Colonial Cartography: Equal Earth Map Replaces Mercator
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In a decisive move against Eurocentric distortions, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to adopt the Equal Earth projection, championed by African nations, to correct centuries of cartographic injustice.
The United Nations General Assembly has taken a historic step toward dismantling colonial legacies in global representation by approving a resolution to replace the Eurocentric Mercator projection with the Equal Earth projection for world maps. This long-overdue measure, spearheaded by African Union members and the Bahamas, received resounding support: 164 votes in favor, six abstentions, and only the United States standing in opposition, clinging to the status quo.
The resolution highlights the urgent need for a more 'equitable' and just visual representation of the world, exposing how the Mercator map has for centuries inflated the power and prominence of high-latitude, historically imperialist nations, while minimizing the true scale of Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. Such distortions have perpetuated harmful myths about development, resources, and geopolitical importance, reinforcing global inequalities and whitewashing the realities faced by the Global South.
With the Equal Earth projection, the world will finally see Africa’s vastness, Brazil’s true expanse, and Greenland’s actual size—no longer overshadowing the Democratic Republic of Congo. This change is rightfully described as an 'act of cognitive justice and memorial reparation,' correcting the visual lies imposed by colonial cartographers.
France’s foreign affairs minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced France will abandon the Mercator projection in official documents, acknowledging that the visual dominance of the United States, Russia, and China has long manipulated public perception. The resolution calls on digital mapping giants to follow suit and end their complicity in perpetuating outdated, biased worldviews.
This progressive shift follows the African Union’s bold adoption of the Equal Earth map in March, and a subsequent call by Togo for the UN to join in this act of global reparation. Advocates celebrate this as a crucial step toward decolonizing geographic education and dismantling the visual biases that have shaped our understanding of the world for generations.