UN votes to adopt new world map showing Africa's true size - BBC

The measure, called "Correct the Map," was sponsored by Togo and backed by African Union members. France and the UK were among the 164 nations voting yes, while six countries abstained. The Mercator projection has been standard since the 16th century, and most people alive today grew up learning geography from it, whether in a classroom in Lubbock or anywhere else on the planet.

The problem is that the Mercator map makes Africa appear roughly the same size as Greenland. In reality, Africa is 14 times larger. That kind of distortion shapes how people perceive the scale of an entire continent, and critics argue it feeds into broader misunderstandings about Africa's development needs and global weight.

For anyone who sat through a geography class at a Lubbock ISD school staring at a Mercator projection on the wall, this vote is a signal that those maps may eventually look different. What the new standard will look like in practice, and how quickly it gets adopted in schools and institutions, has not been determined by the resolution itself.

The United States has stood alone against 164 nations on a question about how the world should be drawn.