The U.N. voted Friday to promote reworked map projections that enhance Africa’s size, a move it claims will “more accurately reflect the true size of continents” – the culmination of an African-led campaign against the 16th-century Mercator projection, still the most widely used depiction in the world.
The United States cast the sole vote against the resolution, dismissing the “correct the map” initiative as part of a “radical ideological project,” per the globalist organization’s own report on the vote.
The outcome now projects the U.S. as smaller than on traditional maps as the African continent is enlarged, enhanced and emboldened as part of a concerted push to counter perceptions the continent is peripheral.
France and Russia will also now appear smaller relative to African equatorial countries which have applauded the move as righting a wrong and soothing hurt feelings.
Six countries – Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine – abstained.
The BBC reports the U.N. vote is non-binding but will see changes to the maps used by institutions around the world.
The Mercator map has come in for criticism as it shows Africa as being of similar in size to Greenland, even though it is claimed to be actually 14 times larger.
Critics say this is unfair and leads to the development needs and potential for countries near the equator to be minimised.
The BBC notes online campaign group #CorrectTheMap said: “You could fit the United States, China, India, Japan, Mexico and much of Europe into Africa and still have land to spare.”
But Yaryna Ferencevych, a U.S. representative at the U.N., said the resolution mocked the work and purpose of the U.N. General Assembly. She lamented:
Instead of focusing on genuine problems of international peace, prosperity, or good relations, this body is debating map projects from the 16th Century, and their role in promoting reparations and ‘cognitive justice.’
In March, the U.S. was also critical when a resolution was adopted declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity”.