The Mercator map was designed in 1569 by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to help European explorers navigate across the world.
The distortion of his map is a result of the fact that it is impossible to accurately represent the surface of a globe on a two-dimensional chart.
Whenever a map of the world is drawn, compromises need to be made.
The Mercator map accomodates for the curvature of the Earth by making countries near the equator seem smaller than they are, with countries nearer the poles appearing larger.
In an effort to address this, a team of cartographers in 2018 created an equal area map they called the Equal Earth projection.
In February, the AU’s 54 member states adopted it, and said it “more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa”.
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.”
Ahead of Friday’s vote, Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told news agency Reuters: “A fair world begins with a fair map.”
He told a UN briefing earlier: “A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood.”
He had the backing of the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said his ministry was going to stop using the Mercator map, external.
“Changing the map obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth,” he said.
But Yaryna Ferencevych, a US representative at the UN, said the resolution mocked the work and purpose of the UN General Assembly, external.
“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’,” she said.
In March, the US was also critical when a resolution was adopted declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity”.
