UN votes to replace Mercator map with Equal Earth projection, US dissents

On Friday in New York, the United Nations General Assembly voted to move away from a map that has shaped how the world sees itself for nearly five centuries. The tally was 164 countries in favor, 6 abstaining, and 1 voting no. That single dissenting vote came from the United States, which called the resolution an "ideological agenda" and a distraction from real international problems.

The map in question is the Mercator projection, drawn by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. He created it by projecting the Earth's surface onto a cylinder, then flattening that image into a rectangle—a method that preserved compass directions, making it invaluable for seafarers navigating by straight lines. It worked so well for navigation that it never really left. Today it appears in schoolbooks, on Google Maps, in The New York Times graphics, and in classrooms across the world. Most people alive have learned geography from it.

But the Mercator projection distorts. It inflates landmasses near the poles and shrinks those near the equator. Greenland, which is actually about 2.1 million square kilometers, appears roughly the same size as Africa, which is roughly 30 million square kilometers—Africa is about 14 times larger. The effect is systematic: wealthy Northern nations look expansive and dominant, while equatorial regions where most developing countries sit appear diminished. Some scholars argue this visual hierarchy, inherited from the colonial era, subtly reinforces a worldview in which the Global North is central and the Global South peripheral.

Togo, an African nation, led the push to adopt the Equal Earth projection instead. The map was designed in 2018 by cartographers Bojan Savric, Bernhard Jenny, and Tom Patterson. It sacrifices Mercator's navigation utility—straight lines no longer represent compass directions—but it shows continents in their true proportions. Africa and Australia appear larger. North America and Europe appear smaller. Togo's foreign minister, Robert Dussey, framed the vote simply: "A fair world begins with a fair map."

The resolution is not legally binding. It explicitly protects the Mercator projection's use in maritime and aerial navigation, where its properties remain essential. But it signals a shift in how the UN wants the world represented in schools, in media, and in public consciousness. Dussey announced that Togo will be the first country to change its school geography textbooks by year's end. He plans to meet with African Union member states and other supporters within six months to coordinate a broader push—one that will need to include technology companies operating mapping and GPS systems.

Dussey connected the cartography campaign to a larger African project: confronting colonial-era legacies that still shape institutions and perceptions. He was careful to frame it not as an attack on Europe or any other civilization, but as a recognition that the world has changed and so must the tools used to understand it. The Mercator map's dominance, he said, was itself a consequence of colonization. The vote suggests that at least 164 countries agree it is time to see the world differently.

The United States stood alone in its opposition, offering no alternative and no compromise. What happens next depends partly on whether schools, publishers, and tech platforms choose to follow the UN's lead—and whether the symbolic weight of a General Assembly resolution can shift practices embedded in centuries of habit.