Size matters: Cartographic reform to give countries their due

CHENNAI: After years of dialogue among the African nations about the way they have been misrepresented in the world map in terms of size, the 193-member United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, adopted a resolution to promote a more accurate representation of continental landmasses – a milestone move that could change how the coming generations perceive the world map.

While India voted in favour of the resolution, it has categorically made it clear that its support should not be misconstrued as endorsing any particular map or altering how its territorial boundaries are depicted.

The resolution, titled ‘Correct the map: Rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world’s regions, particularly Africa’, was sponsored by Togo and is backed by the African Union. It received 164 votes in favour, with six abstentions from Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine, and a single vote against the resolution from the United States.

Experts note that the fundamental challenge with mapping is quite simple. While the earth is a sphere, the world map is flat; when the globe is flattened, some amount of distortion is inevitable. The Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, was designed for the sole purpose of navigation. It made it easier for sailors to plot routes across the oceans because it preserved directions and angles.

However, the navigational convenience came at a cost. The Mercator projection makes landmasses farther from the equator appear much larger than they really are. For example, Africa which is depicted almost as the same size as Greenland on a Mercator map is in reality about 14 times larger. Europe, North America and other regions in the northern latitudes are similarly exaggerated, while countries closer to the equator appear relatively smaller, which has pushed India into the latter category.

Mercator map

In 1569, Gerardus Mercator created a map that preserved angles and directions and helped sailors perform maritime navigation in the 16th Century. However, the choice of following the Mercator map meant sacrificing accuracy in the relative sizes of landmasses.

The distortion increases the farther you travel from the Equator, inflating Europe, Russia and North America while shrinking Africa, Latin America and South Asia.

“This is not a minor error. It’s a systematic misrepresentation that has shaped global perceptions for over centuries,” notes Geetha Ganga, a researcher in African studies who has written a PhD thesis on the exiled Somali author and an active spokesperson of Africa, Nuruddin Farah, and his historicising of Somalia.

She added that in Farah’s sixth novel, he examines cartography and carving of Africa by European colonialists while making bold attempts to debunk stereotypical representations of Africa. “Even before Mercator came up with his map, there was Eduard Kremer’s map in 1567, which introduced numerous distortions which altered the notion of the world and its size,” she pointed out.

Then came the Mercator projections of the world map in 1569, an image the cartographers imprinted on the imagination of billions of school-going populations around the world. “These maps that are heavily influenced by European prejudices are the maps we use at school, being reprinted year after year and used even in schools in Africa. The gross compression of the African continent in these maps is also one of the reasons that gave the colonists the courage to conquer them,” opined Ganga.

Equal area map

The Equal Earth projection, in contrast, was developed in 2018 by a team of cartographers as an equal-area map, which preserves the relatively accurate sizes of landmasses while still keeping the shapes of continents recognisable.

On an Equal Earth map, Africa looks much larger than it does on a Mercator map. Europe and North America look smaller, while countries such as India and regions across the Global South gain more visual weight. The resolution declares that the Equal Earth cartographic projection offers a more accurate representation of the sizes of continental landmasses.

Earlier, the resolution had noted with concern that the distortion in the Mercator projection contributes to minimising the perceived sizes of Africa, Latin America and South Asia, and perpetuating an unbalanced view of the world. However, once the changes are made in the new projection, while India’s geographical area will not essentially change, what changes is how it looks in comparison with other countries and continents.

On an equal-area map, countries and continents are shown in proportion to their actual surface area. As the exaggerated size of regions such as Europe and North America is reduced, India will appear relatively larger.

Implications on India’s borders

In an explanation of the vote in the General Assembly, India welcomed the intention behind the resolution to promote more accurate and representative cartographic practices. Indian representatives noted that they believe that maps play an important role in how societies understand geography and the relative scale of the world around us.

However, India clarified its understanding of the scope of this resolution. While India said that the resolution should be understood as supporting the broader use and consideration of Equal Area map projections, it is not endorsing the Equal Earth projection or any other specific map projection.

India has extended support to the resolution while making its position on political maps very clear. The Ministry of External Affairs said the UN measure does not deal with international boundaries, disputed territories or place names.

India reiterated that its sovereign territory, including the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh must be depicted according to its official map. Owing to this, the UN vote does not alter India’s borders, nor does it endorse any particular depiction of them.

The resolution does not ban the Mercator projection nor does it expect countries, schools or technology companies to switch over to equal earth. Instead, it encourages governments, educational institutions, international organisations and technology companies to use equal area maps when comparing the size of landmasses and to explain the limitations of different map projections.

UNGA has noted that the resolution is non-binding and intended only to encourage the world's default maps to change.

Why it matters

For many, the change is long overdue. Ganga stated, “While the recent resolution has thrown light on the matter in a big way, the dialogue on this topic has been going on for decades.”

Centuries of political prejudices have altered the face of the world map, especially Africa’s representation in it. “The entire continent is reduced to South Africa, Nigeria and exotic Africa in popular imagination and culture. Africans have been demanding for the typecasting to come to an end and for better representation for years now,” she added.

The recent resolution has affirmed that cartographic distortions inherited from history have cognitive, educational, cultural, geopolitical and socioeconomic impacts. The correction of these misrepresentations will actively promote recognition, justice and development, especially in the African continents.

Lone voice of dissent

USA has been the only country to vote against the resolution. US representatives have called the measure a ‘radical ideological project’ and the reason the institution is losing its credibility. They noted against the resolution claiming that instead of focusing on genuine problems, the body is debating map projects from the 16th Century.