DAKAR, Senegal — On the Mercator projection, one of the world’s most popular maps, Greenland and Africa appear to be about the same size. But on the Equal Earth projection showing continents in their ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: The African Union has started an effort to oust the Mercator projection map and replace it with what it says is a more accurately drawn map. The 16 ...

In 1569, Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator synthesized existing ideas in navigation and cartography to create a new type of world map. It has stood the test of time: Billions of people would ...

For generations, schools, media outlets and decision-makers have relied on a familiar world map. It has become a global standard, seen everywhere from classroom posters to government buildings. But ...

On the Mercator projection, one of the world’s most popular maps, Greenland and Africa appear to be about the same size. But on the Equal Earth projection showing continents in their true proportions, ...

The most commonly used maps don’t show the true scale of Africa (Picture: Getty) The most commonly used world map could soon get a revamp to show the true scale of the African continent. The African ...

The Mercator world map, long a fixture in classrooms globally, makes the European Union appear almost as large as Africa. In reality, Africa is more than seven times bigger. It is a distortion that ...

The African Union endorsed a map that reflects the truer relative size of the continent. (map public domain via Equal Earth) Already a member? Sign in here. We rely on readers like you to fund our ...

Do you know how big Africa really is? According to experts, most of us don’t, and it’s because the maps we grew up with weren’t telling the full story. Earlier this month, the African Union endorsed a ...

The African Union has endorsed the #CorrectTheMap Campaign, a call for the United Nations and the wider global community to use a different kind of world map. The campaign currently has over 4,500 ...

Humanity may soon boast two motherlands. Geologists studying plate tectonics of Africa have revealed that the continent that’s home to 54 countries is splitting up. The fault line, called the East ...

Two Africa-based advocacy groups, Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa, launched a change-the-map campaign in April. “When whole generations, in Africa and elsewhere, learn from a distorted map, they ...