THE UNITED NATIONS HAS ADOPTED THE NEW WORLD MAP SHOWING THE TRUE SIZE OF AFRICA THANKS TO TOGO WHO PUSHED THE RESOLUTION. THE CURRENT MAP FOR CENTURIES WAS DELIBERATELY DRAWN TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK AFRICA IS AS SMALL AS ICELAND WHEN IT IN FACT IS MORE THAN 14 TIMES BIGGER AND EUROPE, THE US, INDIA AND CHINA CAN FIT INTO AFRICA ALL AT ONCE. THE RESOLUTION WAS VOTED MASSIVELY IN FAVOUR AND ONLY THE USA VOTED AGAINST IT. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA FOR RECLAIMING THEIR RIGHT AND THANKS ESPECIALLY TO THE REPUBLIC OF TOGO FOR MAKING THE MOVE 👏👏👏 The old Mercator map has been used for decades not because it's accurate, but because it solves a critical navigation problem and became culturally entrenched long before anyone cared about true size. Here are the 4 main reasons it stuck around: · It was a sailor's superpower (The Navigation Fix): Created in 1569, the Mercator projection is "conformal," meaning it preserves angles perfectly. If a navigator drew a straight line on this map, it represented a constant compass bearing (rhumb line), allowing them to sail across the ocean without constantly recalculating. For centuries, this was a life-saving tool. · It became the "default" map of power: By the 20th century, Mercator was the standard for maritime charts, school classrooms, and atlases like National Geographic (which only stopped using it in 1988!). Once billions of people learned geography this way, it became the mental "default" image of the world. · It fills a rectangle perfectly: Unlike other projections that leave empty spaces or odd shapes, Mercator stretches the poles to fit a neat, rectangular grid. This made it perfect for printed wall maps, pull-down classroom charts, and even early web mapping (like Google Maps, which uses a modified Mercator for seamless zooming). · It flattered the powerful (Political inertia): The projection massively inflates Europe, North America, and Russia, making them look dominant in size, while shrinking Africa and South America. Even after we invented GPS and accurate satellites, Western cartographers and publishers were slow to abandon a map that visually reinforced global power dynamics. The twist? The "True Size" map you see isn't one single map—it's an equal-area projection (like the Peters or Robinson projection). These are far more accurate for size, but they distort shapes and directions, making them useless for sailing. Ultimately, we kept the "wrong" map because human habit, maritime history, and rectangular convenience beat out geographic accuracy for over 400 years. It's only in the last 20 years, with social media and interactive tools, that the public has truly started to question it! - @michaelleeky