The United Nations on Friday voted for a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map towards one more accurately reflecting countries' true size, a resolution sponsored by African states to counter perceptions that the continent is peripheral.
Togo led the initiative to further the African Union campaign to limit use of the Mercator map, which distorts the relative size of land masses by expanding those nearer the poles. It makes Greenland appear roughly the same size as Africa, though Africa is about 14 times larger.
"A fair world begins with a fair map," Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told Reuters ahead of Friday's vote.
The resolution promotes the Equal Earth projection, which more accurately portrays the size of the continents.
It is not legally binding and it "in no way challenges the use of the Mercator projection for maritime and aerial navigation, for which it remains fully suited," the Togolese ministry said in a statement.
The resolution passed in the U.N. General Assembly by a vote of 164 to 1 with 6 abstentions.
The United States, the only country to vote against the resolution, said it promoted an "ideological agenda" and was a distraction from the "genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations".
Dussey linked the campaign to adopt the map to wider African efforts to confront colonial-era legacies, while saying it was not an attack on Europe or any other civilisation.
The Mercator map's widespread use is a consequence of colonization, he said.
"The world is changing. Africa also is changing."
credit: Reuters
