{"id":58419,"date":"2025-08-15T17:18:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map"},"modified":"2025-08-15T17:50:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:50:38","slug":"au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map","title":{"rendered":"AU backs campaign to replace distorted Mercator map"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span><b>The African Union (AU) is backing a campaign to scrap the widely used 16th-century Mercator map, saying it distorts the size of Africa and reinforces harmful stereotypes.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Created for navigation, the Mercator projection enlarges land near the poles, like North America and Greenland, while shrinking Africa and South America. AU deputy chairperson Selma Malika Haddadi told Reuters the map falsely portrays Africa as \u201cmarginal,\u201d despite being the world\u2019s second-largest continent and home to over a billion people.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018Correct The Map\u2019 campaign, led by advocacy groups Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa, is calling for adoption of the 2018 Equal Earth projection, which more accurately shows countries\u2019 true proportions. The AU says the move aligns with its goal of \u201creclaiming Africa\u2019s rightful place on the global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue the Mercator\u2019s distortions shape how Africa is seen in education, media, and policy, influencing identity and pride, especially among children. Campaigners want Equal Earth adopted in African schools and by global bodies such as the UN and World Bank.<\/p>\n<p>While Google Maps switched to a 3D globe on desktop in 2018, its mobile app still uses Mercator. The World Bank says it is already phasing out Mercator in favor of more accurate projections.<\/p>\n<p>Support for the campaign is also coming from the Caribbean, where regional leaders view the Mercator as a relic of \u201cpower and dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Mauritius<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Mauritius. The African Union (AU) is backing a campaign to scrap the widely used 16th-century Mercator map, saying it distorts the size of Africa and reinforces harmful stereotypes. Created for navigation, the Mercator projection enlarges land near the poles, like North America and Greenland, while shrinking Africa and South America. AU deputy chairperson [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":58418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[2294,2293,6584,241],"class_list":["post-58419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-african-union","tag-africanews","tag-map","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AU backs campaign to replace distorted Mercator map - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The African Union (AU) is backing a campaign to scrap the widely used 16th-century Mercator map, saying it distorts t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AU backs campaign to replace distorted Mercator map\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The African Union (AU) is backing a campaign to scrap the widely used 16th-century Mercator map, saying it distorts t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-15T17:18:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-15T17:50:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2025\/08\/sm_1755263919.428909.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"AU backs campaign to replace distorted Mercator map\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-15T17:18:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-15T17:50:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map\"},\"wordCount\":247,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2025\/08\/sm_1755263919.428909.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"African Union\",\"Africanews\",\"map\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/au-backs-campaign-to-replace-distorted-mercator-map\",\"name\":\"AU backs campaign to replace distorted Mercator map - 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