You’ve likely seen the same world map for your entire life. It’s on classroom walls, in your phone’s weather app, and across corporate boardrooms. It shows Greenland roughly the same size as Africa. If you’ve ever looked at that and felt like something was off, you’re right. It’s not just a minor inaccuracy; it’s a geographical lie that has stuck around for nearly 500 years.
Togo is currently leading a diplomatic charge to change this. Along with the 55 member states of the African Union, they’re pushing the United Nations to officially adopt a map that actually reflects reality. They aren't just nitpicking over lines and colors. They are trying to dismantle a visual hierarchy that has quietly shrunk Africa’s perceived importance for centuries. For another view, read: this related article.
The Mercator Problem
The map most of us know is the Mercator projection. It was created in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. To be fair to him, he wasn’t trying to brainwash anyone. He was a cartographer making a tool for sailors. If you’re a 16th-century navigator, you need straight lines for your compass to work. Mercator provided that.
The cost of those straight lines was massive distortion. To make the world flat, he stretched the landmasses as they moved away from the Equator. This makes regions near the poles—like Greenland, Canada, and Europe—look significantly larger than they are. Meanwhile, countries near the Equator, where Africa sits, remain largely compressed. Similar insight on this trend has been provided by Wikipedia.
The result? Africa is shown as being roughly the same size as Greenland. In reality, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland. You could fit the United States, China, India, and most of Europe inside Africa’s borders and still have room left over. When you see the world through a Mercator lens, you aren't seeing the world; you’re seeing a navigational shortcut that prioritizes northern landmasses at the expense of the truth.
Why This Matters Now
Critics often dismiss this as "just a map," but visuals carry weight. When the primary way we see the world consistently renders a continent as small, isolated, or less significant, it subtly reinforces those biases. It’s been called "the world’s longest misinformation campaign."
Togo’s Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey, isn't asking for a favor. He’s calling for "scientific truth." The campaign, often referred to as "Correct the Map," argues that using an inaccurate map in 2026 is an educational and diplomatic failure. By pushing for the adoption of the "Equal Earth" projection—a map that keeps landmass sizes proportional—they’re looking to reclaim a sense of agency.
This isn’t just about making Africa look bigger on paper. It’s about representation. If you’re a student in a classroom where your continent is visually diminished, it affects your perception of your own home’s scale and standing. When tech companies and international organizations use distorted maps, they unconsciously influence how policies, resources, and attention are allocated.
Making the Shift
Replacing a standard as deeply embedded as the Mercator projection is a massive task. It’s in our textbooks, our digital interfaces, and our collective consciousness. But we’ve seen shifts before. The Robinson projection and the Gall-Peters projection have already tried to bridge this gap.
The Equal Earth projection, which is the current focus of the African Union’s push, is widely considered the best modern balance. It keeps the shapes of continents recognizable while ensuring the areas are mathematically accurate.
If you want to understand the world as it actually is, start by checking your sources. Look for maps that prioritize area accuracy. Websites like "The True Size Of" allow you to drag countries over one another to see how they actually compare, and it’s always a shock for people who have only ever looked at a standard Mercator map.
Don’t just take the default view as objective truth. Geography, like history, is curated. When you see a map that shrinks an entire continent to fit a 16th-century navigational preference, recognize it for what it is: an outdated tool. It’s time to update your mental image of the planet. Start looking at maps that actually respect the scale of the world.
This video provides a clear breakdown of why the Mercator projection distorts landmasses and how those changes impact our global perspective.
