UN adopts Equal Earth world map
The UN has endorsed an African campaign against the 16th-century Mercator map projection – still the most widely used in the world – which, it is claimed, has distorted perceptions of the vast continent
Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer – his 1569 projection represented sailing courses of constant bearing as straight lines
Greenland: High-latitude areas appear larger
EQUATOR
Equal Earth projection
Preserves geographic area ratios
Projection
Mercator
Equal Earth
Africa: Regions near equator appear smaller
RELATIVE AREA (million km2)
AMERICAS
GREENLAND
AFRICA
RUSSIA
North America, including lakes, is in reality only 1.35x larger than South America
29.9
24.7
17.8
2.1
16.9
Source: Equal Earth Lab, The Guardian, World Atlas
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