09/05/2026
Africa has a new map: how important is redrawing the map compared with the problems Africa needs to solve?
That is the question I am asking.
1. I am not disputing that the Mercator projection distorts the size of Africa. It does. The UN resolution says this contributes to minimizing the perceived size of Africa, Latin America and South Asia. It also notes that the projection was developed in the 16th century for navigation.
2. There is value in correcting that distortion. Maps shape how people understand the world, and a more accurate representation of Africa has educational and symbolic value.
3. But we should also ask about proportion. How important is this compared with the problems Africans are facing every day?
4. Africa still needs reliable electricity, better infrastructure, jobs, stronger institutions, industrial capacity, security, education and healthcare. These are the things that directly change people's lives.
5. The history of the map also offers a lesson. It was developed within a European maritime and cartographic system to serve the needs of its time. You can call that selfishness. I call it strategic self-interest.
6. Africa needs some of that selfishness too. By “selfishness,” I do not mean exploiting others. I mean putting African interests first and building the capacity to serve those interests ourselves.
7. There is an irony here. The resolution encourages technology companies, publishers, schools and other institutions to adopt more accurate representations. Yet Africa still has limited control or participation in many of the global systems and platforms through which maps are created and distributed.
8. So perhaps the bigger question is not only how Africa is represented, but why we have so little control or participation in the systems that represent us.
9. Let us correct the map. But let us not confuse a better representation of Africa with a better Africa.
We can redraw the map until the cows come home. It will not build a power plant, create a factory, improve a road or strengthen an institution.
The map can change.
The question is: can we change the reality it represents?
I raise questions like this because this page is about looking beyond the headlines and asking what actually changes outcomes for Africans.
Follow Beyond Africa for more uncomfortable questions about Africa, its institutions, its economy and its place in the world.
