Why your map might be lying about the size of Africa

Countries & Cities · Published 13 October 2026 · Updated 25 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Most world maps distort the size of continents, making northern landmasses look massive while shrinking the equator. The Equal Earth projection was designed to fix this, but its rise to global prominence sparked a fierce debate over whether maps are mere tools of geography or instruments of political and cognitive justice.

The Equal Earth projection is an equal-area map created in 2018 by Bojan Šavrič, Bernhard Jenny, and Tom Patterson. It was developed as a visually appealing alternative to the Gall–Peters projection, which was adopted by Boston Public Schools in 2017. While the Gall–Peters projection accurately represents land area, it causes extreme shape distortion in polar regions. The creators of Equal Earth sought a 'middle ground' that preserved the relative size of countries—such as showing that Greenland is only 7% of Africa's land area—while maintaining a more aesthetic, intuitive layout.

The projection's significance moved from technical to political in 2025 and 2026. A campaign called 'Correct the Map' urged the world to phase out the Mercator projection, which is standard for navigation but highly distorted for general use. The African Union backed the movement, arguing that accurate area representation is a form of 'cognitive justice' and 'historical recognition.' In September 2026, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution encouraging the use of equal-area projections like Equal Earth, with 164 member states voting in favor.

However, the adoption of Equal Earth is not without controversy. The United States opposed the resolution, calling it a 'radical ideological project.' Critics also point out that no map can be perfect; Equal Earth preserves area but distorts shapes, elongating them near the equator and compressing them poleward. Furthermore, because it is a planar map, it cannot perfectly represent a sphere. While it is now being integrated into educational curriculums, such as in France, it remains a choice of perspective rather than a mandatory global standard.

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