The African Union (AU) has officially endorsed the Correct The Map campaign, a continent‑wide push to replace the 16th‑century Mercator projection with a world map that more accurately reflects Africa’s true size.
The initiative, led by advocacy groups Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa, urges governments, schools, and international organizations to adopt the Equal Earth projection, introduced in 2018 to better preserve countries’ proportional areas.
Created by cartographer Gerardus Mercator for maritime navigation, the Mercator projection enlarges landmasses near the poles such as North America and Greenland, while compressing those near the equator, including Africa and South America. Critics say this skews public perception and minimizes Africa’s geographic and geopolitical weight.
“It might seem to be just a map, but in reality, it is not,” AU Commission deputy chairperson Selma Malika Haddadi told Reuters, saying the Mercator fostered a false impression that Africa was “marginal,” despite being the world’s second-largest continent by area, with over a billion people.
Haddadi added that such distortions seep into media, education, and policymaking, influencing how Africa is taught, visualized, and prioritized globally. The AU counts 55 member states.
The Push for Equal Earth
The Equal Earth projection aims to correct area distortions while keeping a familiar overall look and feel. It is central to the campaign’s call for institutions to end default use of Mercator in classrooms, reports, and digital products.
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True size of africa: “The current size of the map of Africa is wrong,” Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter, said. “It’s the world’s longest misinformation and disinformation campaign, and it just simply has to stop.”
“We’re actively working on promoting a curriculum where the Equal Earth projection will be the main standard across all (African) classrooms,” Ndiaye said, adding she hoped it would also be the one used by global institutions, including Africa-based ones.
The AU’s endorsement aligns with its broader goal of “reclaiming Africa’s rightful place on the global stage” amid growing calls for reparations for colonialism and slavery.
According to Haddadi, the AU will advocate for wider adoption of Equal Earth and discuss collective actions with member states to accelerate the transition.
Beyond Africa, support is growing. Dorbrene O’Marde, Vice Chair of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, backed Equal Earth as a rejection of the Mercator map’s “ideology of power and dominance”.
While the Mercator projection remains common in schools and tech products, there are signs of change. Google Maps switched desktop maps to a 3D globe view in 2018 (with the option to toggle back to Mercator), though Mercator remains the default on mobile.
The campaign has urged major multilateral organizations to formalize a shift away from Mercator in both static and interactive maps.
- World Bank: Says it already uses Winkel‑Tripel or Equal Earth for static maps and is phasing out Mercator on web maps.
- United Nations (UN‑GGIM): The campaign has submitted a request to the UN geospatial body. A UN spokesperson said the proposal must be reviewed and approved by a committee of experts.
Advocates argue that replacing Mercator in textbooks and classrooms is critical to reshaping how young people understand Africa’s scale and significance. By normalizing an equal‑area view, they say, schools can reduce entrenched biases that underplay Africa’s landmass, resources, and demographic trajectory.
- The AU endorses the Correct The Map campaign to replace Mercator with Equal Earth.
- Mercator distorts relative land sizes—shrinking Africa and South America while enlarging high‑latitude regions.
- Advocates say distortions affect identity, education, media narratives, and policy choices.
- World Bank is moving away from Mercator; request submitted to UN‑GGIM for expert review.
- Google Maps uses a globe view on desktop (since 2018) but Mercator remains default on mobile.
- CARICOM leaders have voiced support, framing Equal Earth as a rejection of power‑laden cartographic legacies.
With the AU’s backing and growing institutional signals, momentum is building for governments, multilateral agencies, and education systems to standardize on maps that reflect the world’s true proportions.
For campaigners, adopting Equal Earth is both a technical fix and a symbolic step toward more accurate, and more equitable, global representation.
Sources: The Guardian; Reuters; CNN.
