The True Size of Africa

There has been much written in recent weeks about the African Union's endorsement of the Correct the Map campaign. Reuters The true size of Africa is one of the better explanations of why Africa is encouraging the use of the Equal Earth map projection over other maps.

In a neatly illustrated article Reuters explains how for centuries, the Mercator projection has dominated classrooms and navigation, and how its distortions have profoundly misrepresented Africa’s true scale. A couple of animated maps are used to show how on Mercator maps, Greenland looks nearly the same size as Africa despite being 14 times smaller, while Canada and Russia also appear deceptively comparable. 

In reality, Africa spans 30.3 million square kilometers - about three times Canada’s size. Another comparative map is used by Reuters to show how Africa is also larger than the U.S., China, India, and much of Europe combined. The African Union, argue that this long-standing distortion is more than a cartographic quirk; it has fueled perceptions of Africa as “marginal” despite its vast size and significance.

The Correct The Map campaign is pushing for adoption of the Equal Earth projection, which preserves proportional land areas more accurately than Mercator while still offering a practical global view.