A New More Accurate Map

We all know the ‘Mercator’ map.   It’s used world wide.   We can probably visualise it in our minds, because it is seen every where.  That the map of the Earth.  Right?   That’s what the Earth looks like, Right?

Wrong.

The Mercator Map is not accurate and never was.

The way it was created tended to make the top and bottom continents seem bigger than those in the middle.  Now a  new map called the Gall-Peters projection  is being used.  It displays countries according to their actual size.

Mercator shrinks Africa and South America, making Europe and North America appear much larger than they really are.  This might be a colonial mentality on the part of the map maker which no longer is of much value.

The move to replace the Mercator is beginning in Boston public schools where it is said they are going to “decolonise the curriculum.” Europe will no longer be the centre of the world.

The Mercator map was created in 1569 by cartographer Gerardus Mercator and quickly became the standard.  No one questioned it for hundreds of years.

However, considering the views from space the fact it is inaccurate and offers a Eurocentric portrayal of the world’s landmasses has brought it into question.

If you look at the Mercator map you’ll see that Greenland is larger than Africa despite being 14 times smaller and  Alaska  seems larger than Mexico, although it is much smaller and can fit inside of it.

Europe is always in the middle of the map on the Mercator projection, making North America and Europe larger than South America and Africa.

This is inaccurate and ought not be used as the standard.

The Gall-Peters projection map was created in 1974 by Arno Peters, using a projection made by cartographer James Gall.   It removes the distortions of the Mercator projection and more accurately portrays the world.

The image featured here is of that Gall-Peters Map