Traditional world map incorrect? African Union wants it to be scrapped. Here's why

The African Union (AU) that has 55 member states is not happy with the 16th-century Mercator map that governments and international organisations use for reference. They have now backed a campaign to end the use of the map in favour of one that more accurately displays Africa's size. The union argues that the map created by cartographer Gerardus Mercator distorts continent sizes.

It says that the map Mercator used for navigation enlarges areas near the poles like North America and Greenland while shrinking Africa and South America.

“It might seem to be just a map, but in reality, it is not,” the African Union Commission deputy chair, Selma Malika Haddadi, told news agency Reuters. Haddadi argues that despite being the world’s second-largest continent by area, the Mercator map creates an impression that Africa was “marginal”.

The campaign to correct the map is led by the advocacy groups Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa that urge organisations to adopt the 2018 Equal Earth projection, which tries to reflect countries’ true sizes, reported the news agency.

Calling the current map of Africa "Wrong" Moky Makura, the executive director of Africa No Filter said, "It’s the world’s longest misinformation and disinformation campaign, and it just simply has to stop."

Fara Ndiaye, a co-founder of Speak Up Africa, told Reuters that they are actively working on promoting a curriculum in African schools where the Equal Earth projection will be the main standard. She hopes global institutions, including Africa-based ones
follow it.

The Mercator projection is widely used by schools and tech companies across the world. Though, Google Maps switched from Mercator on desktop to a 3D globe view in 2018, it still has the option of switching to the Mercator if they chose. While on the mobile app, the Mercator projection remains the default set up.

The campaign has sent a request to the UN geospatial body, UN-GGIM and the World Bank to adopt the Equal Earth map. The World Bank on receiving the request said it is phasing out Mercator on web maps, while it is already using the Winkel tripel projection or Equal Earth for static maps.

The UN, however, said the request after being received will be reviewed and then approved by a committee of experts.