Africa wants its true size on the world map

[Swede]

The African Union argues that the Mercator projection distorts the continent, both in size and global attention.



https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/africa-wants-a-new-map/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

[newdeal2]

1. Trump will ban that idea as woke

We all know the correct globe is the one showing America first and on top.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Trump won't get a bigger vote

That the rest of the world.

[newdeal2]

5. He doesn't care too much. He just wants to control US

He can then spread propaganda about how the rest of the world respects him and America now and the sheep will follow.

See what he did to the gulf and how all the map apps in the US complied.

[Prairie Gates]

3. Half of MAGA are flat-earthers

We're in deep trouble.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. The dictatorship is now

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. This reminds me of a great West Wing episode

Link to tweet

[sl8]

7. Austral Earth Map

[eppur_se_muova]

8. VERY effective graphic comparison of Africa vs other regions, countries

[TlalocW]

9. I've had this argument with someone

That the Mercator is intentionally racist. It's not. It's just the shortcomings of how the map was made. Think of a globe with latitudes and longitudes criss-crossing. The closer you are to the poles, the more they're going to look like trapezoids with the top or bottom side (depending on the pole) smaller and the connecting sides "flaring" out. Mercator wanted to make s flat map useful for navigation. That meant turning those traps into squares/rectangles, which meant the top/bottom area (depending on the pole) being stretched more, distorting the size. Africa being more equatorial actually has the least amount of distorting. Advantage: More accurate shape. Disadvantage: Looks way smaller in area than it is compared to other places.

Cartography is not a school subject so no one got taught about the different limitations of maps. That said since cartograohy is not a school subject, it shouldn't matter that the map Africa wants be used.

But of course it will.

[MineralMan]

10. That is why every school and every home should have a globe.

As a kid, there was always one in the school classroom, in the library, and there was one in my family's house. I looked at them often and always consulted the globe when I wanted to find some place on the planet.

It's an essential reference for people who live on an oblate spheroid like Earth. Nothing else is accurate.

[Jose Garcia]

11. This is simply anti-Greenland propaganda

[nitpicked]

12. Googling for square miles...

Eurasia: 21.5 million
Africa: 11.7
North Am: 9.5
South Am: 6.9
Antarctica: about 5.5
Australia: 3.0

[Happy Hoosier]

13. Absolutely do not care about this. NT

[Sneederbunk]

14. Find this Mercator guy and put him under oath.