For centuries, the world has learned to see itself through a map designed for sailors, one that stretched the poles and shrank the equator, quietly embedding a distorted hierarchy of size into classrooms and imaginations across generations. On Friday, 164 nations at the United Nations General Assembly voted to recommend a different image — the Equal Earth projection, which renders continents in their true proportions — with only the United States dissenting. Championed by African nations who argued that cartography is never innocent, the non-binding resolution asks governments to retire the Me