UN backs effort to depict Africa correctly on maps despite US opposition – POLITICO

The United Nations on Friday largely endorsed a resolution to promote maps that reflect the true scale of continents after an African-led campaign to move away from the ubiquitous 16th-century Mercator projection.

The United States was the only country to vote against the initiative, denouncing it as part of a “much larger and more radical ideological project” and urging “countries to instill common sense to this body.” Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.

Mercator, the world’s most commonly used map projection, was devised by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 to help sailors navigate using compass bearings.