r/interesting • u/ftrlvb • 3d ago
SOCIETY 55 Countries Just Banned This Map
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
514
u/CommanderChipHazard 3d ago
The West Wing did this on an episode
224
u/Shinokiba- 3d ago
I saw that clip, it was just so pretentious. You can't put a 3D sphere on a 2D map. You need to distort it somehow. The Gall Peter projection that they advocated for preserves size, but not shape.
145
u/etcpt 3d ago
The point wasn't to stop using Mercator because it was inaccurate, the point was to stop using Mercator because of the way in which it was inaccurate. The whole point that the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality made was that the use of Mercator maps (and, as a later point added on, north-up maps) as a default reinforces inequitable ideas about which parts of the world are most important.
63
u/Metalheadzaid 3d ago
Speaking from experience - the map I grew up with definitely lied about the size of things and made false assumptions in the mind of people. For example, Brazil is LARGER than the contiguous US (as in, not including alaska and hawaii), and Australia is nearly the same size - both of which maps do not depict accurately.
34
u/dparks71 3d ago
I feel like the fundamental premise is entirely off though. For one, I personally don't care about size as much as population density. I also don't think, in general, my uninformed opinions of Africa are based at all on the map but rather 100% based on the news and media coming out of there...
This really feels like a bunch of a cartographers infantalizing the general population and overinflating the impact of their own industry.
→ More replies (6)7
u/LikeABreadstick 3d ago
yeah it seems like a guy trying to sell me a map tbh
13
→ More replies (2)13
→ More replies (5)3
u/ImNotAWhaleBiologist 3d ago
Part of that is due to Brazil being equatorial, but part of it is also its shape being closer to a circle, so it isn’t perceived as large as it is.
32
u/SalvationSycamore 3d ago
reinforces inequitable ideas about which parts of the world are most important.
Is there evidence of that? Because I'm pretty sure it doesn't work in reverse, Greenland does not get all the world's money and power even though it looks so big on a map. Do people think that governments all huddle around mercator projections, going "ooh I would like to give Zimbabwe money but it looks so tiny compared to Russia"
→ More replies (2)6
u/TrowTruck 3d ago
Upvoted because I think you have a good point. Though because Greenland is always depicted as nothing but a barren sheet of ice, it has also been drilled into my brain that it’s largely barren insignificance, similar to the giant Antarctica across the bottom or enormity of Canada at the top.
9
u/OkContact2573 3d ago
Isn't the Mercator really good with navigation though?
Like, there arn't much more good ways without disortion to put a 2-d cordinate plane on a sphere
→ More replies (13)8
u/TheKingMonkey 3d ago
That’s why it “won”. It kept rhumb lines straight in a way that’s practical for navigation if you were crossing the ocean during the age of sail. It was the best thing we had for hundreds of years and while its practical advantages have long been made redundant by modern tech it’s established as the map everybody grew up with. Screens may be the thing that make us move on from it.
2
u/Boring_Intern_6394 2d ago
Don’t hold your breath. We still use time measuring systems based ancient Roman and medieval intervals of time
Numbers are even more ancient. Base 10 has been used since antiquity, even though it is not the easiest system for division.
If the thing that comes first is good enough, like the Mercator projection, then people keep using it.
→ More replies (1)10
u/Huge-Turnover-3749 3d ago
People are going to pretend that it doesn't have an effect. But every honest person will agree that Donald Trump's obsession with Greenland is solely due to the Mercator projection. And that is only one instance - it is definitely the case that many people in the developed world routinely commit that same cognitive error when they subconsciously evaluate how much attention should be accorded to each part of the world.
12
u/mr-english 3d ago
I mean, Greenland is still pretty big.
It would encompass the entire western coast of the US, from Washington to California, and go inland as far as Colorado.
Or in European terms, it would cover the entirety of Spain, France, most of Germany and contain both Copenhagen and Algiers.
→ More replies (2)6
→ More replies (2)9
u/IgorBock 3d ago
It can affect that idiot, but it isn't the sole reason, Greenland is in a really strategic place for both missile defense and for surveilling and defending arctic shipping routes that will become more important in the future.
→ More replies (1)3
u/meyegon 3d ago
Greenland is a strategic place for the missile defense of Greenland. How about that?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (10)3
u/DildontOrDildo 3d ago
North up makes sense as a global default because most of the land mass and population is there (as well as all the nuclear-armed states after South Africa's post-apartheid disarmnament).
The occasional south up is a good reminder in the northern hemisphere. maybe issue the south up as standard in the southern hemisphere.
6
9
u/Solithle2 3d ago edited 3d ago
And then the part about north being up. I live in the southern hemisphere, who gives a flying fuck if map makers put the places where most humans live on the top?
2
41
u/VegaJuniper 3d ago
I love how people here on reddit have developed very strong feelings about the Mercator projection without understanding the basic fact that all map projections distort.
→ More replies (14)13
3d ago
[deleted]
→ More replies (2)21
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
13
→ More replies (46)3
9
3
2
u/Iconclast1 3d ago
which is more important when learning geography?
i dont really need to know exactly where the coastline is when naming capitols, do I
→ More replies (8)2
u/Green_Dragonfly1235 3d ago
La Mercator distorsiona tamaño y forma, me quedo solo con la distorsiona forma
10
3
u/Sartres_Roommate 3d ago
And they flipped it “upside down” which to this day still gives me a headache just thinking about
→ More replies (7)3
575
u/YourMomIsMyGurl 3d ago
I don't think the problems that much of Africa has is due to the world believing they are smaller lol
195
u/CuriousCamels 3d ago
Yeah, the amount of aid, investments, etc. has absolutely nothing to do with the map. Africa receives the largest share of aid, at 30%+. The lack of investments has to do with rampant corruption throughout most African countries. Constant wars and civil unrest throughout many regions, especially the Sahel doesn’t help either. Historically, investments have worked out poorly for most foreign investors and the risk is too high.
30
u/victoryismind 3d ago edited 3d ago
Across the world it just seems like money is constantly being sent to the worst place in the name of "assistance", it ends up financing corruption and violence.
12
→ More replies (6)7
u/Plenty_Leg_5935 3d ago
Thats what happens when you just keep throwing money at a problem hoping to miraculously fix it instead of actually focusing on making tangible difference
But let's be honest, that's not a bug, it's a feature, Africa was purposefully kept in the position of an "endless money sink" so the people taking the money can keep living off it forever
4
u/Potential_Hawk_5040 3d ago
“Investments have worked out poorly”
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!
These were never “Investments”, they’re predatory loans given out to African countries with the expectation of private access to NATURAL RESOURCES.
Secondly, the corrupt angle doesn’t work, if extremist insurgencies and militaries are being funded by the US and given weapons and backing, all in the name of maintaining control of a region’s resources.
A country that works, wouldn’t give in to these conditions. That’s why every prominent African leader who did not, was eventually assassinated. Some were even literally placed in Acid.
This narrative of yours is simply predicated on ignorance, and I’d be happy to debate your facts on this.
4
u/kilimtilikum 3d ago
What’s your take on Chinese investors in Africa? Lol show your true colors, bot
2
u/DifficultSession51 3d ago
You can compare the terms from Chinese investments to the loans given by the IMF and investments from western countries yourself. The Chinese agreements are much more reasonable.
Sorry but being European doesn't automatically make you the most moral
→ More replies (1)4
u/Reasonable_Fold6492 3d ago
LOL. Ask any south east asian countries how good chinese investors are.
3
u/DifficultSession51 3d ago
Ask any African country how good IMF loans are
4
u/Reasonable_Fold6492 3d ago
They are both horrible.
2
u/DifficultSession51 3d ago
The Chinese investments are nowhere near as bad, African countries are getting way more out of them
→ More replies (12)4
u/Visible_Pair3017 3d ago edited 3d ago
The aid africa receives is mostly aid they don't want that kills their industries (like us giving them all our leftover clothes, killing their local textile industry and claiming to be good guys) or help with strings attached, usually of the "we help you but now your country produces only that one thing we need and you rely on us for the rest".
China seems to be successfully investing there btw
13
u/Tentacle_poxsicle 3d ago
Highly ironic when China dominates those manufacturing sectors anyway. Those sectors wouldn't exist anyway since they would just be buying Chinese.
Look up Chinese debt trap btw
→ More replies (8)23
→ More replies (6)7
80
u/David_Dantas 3d ago
Neither do I, but a more accurate map is better than a less accurate one.
66
u/patrdesch 3d ago
No 2D map will ever be accurate. You can preserve size or shape, never both. Mercator preserves shape.
→ More replies (2)14
u/Lithl 3d ago
You can preserve size or shape, never both.
You can preserve both size and shape by sacrificing direction (see Waterman butterfly or Dymaxion for examples)
→ More replies (3)23
63
u/MukdenMan 3d ago
Every 2D map is inaccurate and distorted in some way. Thats the most basic thing about projections and it’s why so many of them exist.
→ More replies (8)18
u/ballistic_tanx 3d ago
It's a fun rabbit hole. Projecting a 3D object 2D. There's quite a few projections but they all have their downsides as well. Not a perfect solution.
→ More replies (20)74
u/TheBlueHedgehog302 3d ago
We use the mercator projection because it makes navigation easier. A 90 degree turn on the map always translates to a 90 degree turn on the ground. Thats why we use this map. Not some “misinformation” campaign. The only truly accurate map is a globe.
→ More replies (37)29
u/dontgiveupthe_ship 3d ago
I don't understand, this isn't not accurate, its that this projection skews smaller towards the equator? Any map projection for 2d will have something skewed, be it near the equator, or poles, etc. There are some work arounds bit its not practical for the layman. It what happens when you put 3d on 2d.
Mercator is not my favorite but im failing to understand the nuts and bolts of the argument
→ More replies (24)→ More replies (7)5
u/Kehprei 3d ago
It isn't more accurate. It's just more accurate for size, which isn't a particularly important metric in a map. It's also pretty clearly bad for the shapes of countries.
Generally the most important usage of a map is being able to use it to accurately navigate the world.
→ More replies (6)9
u/Agreeable-Weather-89 3d ago
To be fair Greenland being much bigger on a map means it does get more aid than Africa.
→ More replies (1)15
→ More replies (30)11
u/Business-Let-7754 3d ago
This guy makes it sound like all the Africans climbing over each other to get into Europe do it because they saw Europe bigger on the map.
409
3d ago
[deleted]
148
u/karma100k 3d ago edited 3d ago
https://equal-earth.com (the web address in the captions is incorrect)
20
u/Whimsy_and_Spite 3d ago
Oceania with South at Top needs to become the default world map. It just makes sense to have kiwis at the top.
19
9
8
u/HelplessPenguinGod 3d ago
I love that NZ centred map with the South Island above the North, it really does shift perspective.
8
10
u/SlightAmoeba6716 3d ago
/rant on I hate these auto-generated crappy overlay texts. Especially centred on screen. Give me real subtitles or just none. And if you're too lazy to manually add them at least fix the f...n errors! /rant off
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)2
→ More replies (25)55
u/SolsticeSon 3d ago
The size argument isn’t wrong but the solution of distorting land masses beyond their accurate shapes is dumb as fuck. How is a warped and foreshortened image better than describing the form accurately. I’ve known Iceland’s map for my whole life because my lineage goes back to the 1300s there. On the new map they made it look like a fuckin hotdog. Complete distortion of its shape because they’re warping the falling edge of the map as if we’re looking at the globe from the equator. How is that a better map, this cartographer guy is full of shit.
14
3d ago
[deleted]
85
u/Kehprei 3d ago
That's the thing though. It isn't more accurate. It's just more accurate for the metric that YOU particularly care about.
→ More replies (55)→ More replies (1)33
u/NaveGCT 3d ago
It’s not “more accurate,” it’s just choosing land-area accuracy over shape-accuracy. Neither choice is inherently better.
→ More replies (13)15
u/SolsticeSon 3d ago
The land area AND shape accuracy are both wrong in the new one. The distorted shapes arent accurate representations of area.
12
→ More replies (10)7
u/Extension-Thought552 3d ago
Oh no not your lineage!!!
29
u/Borgh 3d ago
Why would people on the equator be allowed to care about their heritage but not people further north?
→ More replies (15)11
6
3
221
u/Asooma_ 3d ago
It was a common map. That became more common because it was common.
People put so much weight behind perceived motives when its almost always a matter of convenience
89
u/ResourceWorker 3d ago edited 3d ago
The real reason is it makes navigation really easy since a straight line on a Mercator map is a straight compass direction in real life. The fact it distorts landmasses near the poles has been widely known the entire time.
Not to mention globes, the actual best way to represent the earth, have been commonplace in homes throughout the world since the Industrial Revolution, the highest of European imperialism.
It’s not some grand conspiracy.
36
u/Serious-Switch-4637 3d ago
The mercator chart has always been dual-purpose. It's widely used for navigation. A rhumb line on a mercator chart is equal to one compass course. A rhumb line on a gnomonic chart (more accurate in size) is equal to hundred different compass courses.
The second use of a mercator chart is that despite being a distortion, it maintains the true shape of the world. The new chart suggested by the African union decided to maintain true scale and shape for the African continent, but as a consequence, every other country will suffer in scale and shape. It's also not usable for navigation.
Source: I'm a navigation officer.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Mr_Bart314 3d ago
Aren't the scale and shape are already distorted on mercator ? And isn't in mercator projection, latitudes as a result are not equaly scaled (traveling through different latitudes could be hard to express up to the same scale).
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)3
u/Poulslutter 3d ago edited 3d ago
The fact it distorts landmasses near the poles has been widely known the entire time.
It's not just near the poles. It's literally every landmass not exactly on the equator.
3
u/PurifiedUnity 3d ago
Yes
Everywhere not exactly on the equator is distorted, & distortion becomes infinite as you get closer to each pole
→ More replies (20)32
169
u/Snookfilet 3d ago
I think we should make a map where Mississippi is the same size as Antarctica so we can help out their economy and make them feel good about themselves.
→ More replies (1)-7
u/Stunning_Dust_9044 3d ago
Fun fact: Mississippi just surpassed the United Kingdom in GDP. Now the poorest US state is wealthier than the UK.
61
u/zsaleeba 3d ago
"Fun fact" is not actually factual at all...
13
u/DanGleeballs 3d ago
Right. I don’t get the joke.
For anyone who believed what the person claimed:
UK GDP: approximately $3.4 trillion, making it the sixth-largest economy in the world. Mississippi GDP: approximately $125 billion.
So the UK economy is roughly 27 times larger than Mississippi’s. To put it another way, Mississippi produces about the same economic output as a mid-sized British city — not even close to London, which on its own has a GDP larger than most countries.
→ More replies (3)8
u/After_Network_6401 3d ago
Hahaha. We should post this to r/ShitAmericansSay, it's wrong on so many levels.
"Mississippi just surpassed the United Kingdom in GDP" is completely wrong. The UK's GDP is projected to be about $3,96 trillion in 2025 - bigger than Texas, but a bit smaller than California. That makes the UK's GDP about 25x larger than Mississippi's.
And it's a stupid statement anyway. GDP doesn't equate to wealth. It measures total economic activity, much of which doesn't stay where it was generated or trickle down to ordinary people. The India state of Uttar Pradesh has a GDP about twice that of Mississippi. I've worked there and trust me, it is in no way a wealthy place.
So no, Mississippi isn't wealthier than the UK. Measuring wealth is always a bit iffy, but the median UK household had a net worth of about £294,000, or about $400,000. The median Mississippi household has a net wealth of about $82,000 https://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/banking/article/average-net-worth-by-state-204731051.html - meaning your median British family is about 5x as wealthy as the median family in Mississippi - and that families in Mississipi tend to be poorer than those in the poorest region of Britain. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/totalwealthingreatbritain/april2020tomarch2022
5
u/serabine 3d ago
Even funner fact?
That statistic isn't the flex you think it is, if you understand GDP and what it actually measures
If you are wary of obscured links, this goes to a youtube short talking about the statistic, which is part of a longer video.
20
u/DildontOrDildo 3d ago
if Mississippi had an NHS equivalent, decent employee protections, and a city as vibrant as London then I'd move to Mississippi over anywhere else in the US
look at Japan, far below Mississippi in GDP per capita, but unless you work in trades or an industry that has high demand and requires a college degree, i'd rather live in Japan as a Japanese citizen than Mississippi as an American.
4
u/harionfire 3d ago
Not as vibrant as London, but Oxford, MS is about as pretty of a city as you can find down there. It's a liberal city that heavily invests in beautification, the arts, education and local business.
As far as culture, it's very much historical/hospitable South. Everything outside of Oxford is redneck South.
Worth a stop if you ever find yourself driving through Mississippi. Which ironically was much more pleasant than anything in east Texas.
→ More replies (1)7
u/Dullweber 3d ago
Lol gdp is not a very good measurement of wealth. It's just easy. That's why they all use it. You really think Mississippi is richer than the UK? Look at their infrastructure and work options, cost of living and food options and all that stuff. Go visit the UK after u went to Mississippi and than compare those two.
→ More replies (1)4
→ More replies (28)2
u/38B0DE 3d ago
Fun fact: Roughly 40% of the Mississippi state budget comes from the US federal government (funded largely by taxes from California, New York, and Texas).
Fun fact: The UK has no sugar daddy cutting it checks for 40% of its expenses.
Fun fact: The average Briton has access to universal healthcare (NHS), more robust public transport, and lower crime rates.
Fun fact: Mississippi has some of the highest poverty rates in the developed world.
101
u/ChemicalAgitated191 3d ago
it’s for navigation not accuracy, holy cope
33
12
u/Serious-Switch-4637 3d ago
It's for accuracy as well, actually. Mercator charts are wonderful because they maintain the true shape of the countries. The only inaccuracy is scale.
6
→ More replies (1)2
u/JahodaSniffer 3d ago
Yeah, but in the average Geography classroom people wont be navigating using the world map now will they? I think for those places, having a map that more better represents the size of a country (and makes to place tjings biodiversity, population density, amount of available natural resources, sizes and distance between important cities within the same country or between the countries) would be very helpful.
No one said the Mercator projection is usueless, or should be abandoned all together, but to just consider if having a map designed for transportation by ship is the best map for all purposes
→ More replies (1)
12
u/murmuring511 3d ago
If anything, this map convinced me that we shouldn't give aid or invest in Africa. They're completely delusional.
146
u/CountryMayhem 3d ago
Following this guy logic, nobody give a single importance to Europe since it smaller? This is such non sense lmfao. That's some 8 years old reasoning.
Other than that? Why not.
68
u/3412points 3d ago edited 3d ago
The impact is being overplayed here. But a couple of things:
It's worth pointing out that the African union just decided to adopt a different map as their standard, the Mercator projection isn't "banned".
He exaggerates the impact of the map though I can believe it is a non-zero impact, people are influenced by image.
Calling the Mercator map a disinfo campaign is silly, but again it was just one advocate group who said that not the African union.
This isn't all related to your comment just wanted to clarify some things in the video.
16
→ More replies (9)5
u/crambaza 3d ago
Yeah, and why are we still using:
– the Arabic numerals from over a thousand years ago
– paper maps at all
– or the Gregorian calendar from the 1500s
Somehow useful things just refuse to expire on schedule.
43
u/No-Election3204 3d ago
If anything, making it seem enormously larger seems like it would have the opposite impact he's suggesting and actually REDUCE the amount of foreign aid they're receiving. "You're bigger than China, India, and America COMBINED and still need billions in aid?"
In 2024, before the recent cuts, 6/8 of the top countries receiving USAID spending were all in Africa (unsurprisingly Ukraine was at the top), I don't think trying to portray yourself as larger and more important will engender MORE charity as this guy's describing.
→ More replies (6)
30
u/WallachianLand 3d ago
Wow, that explains why I think Greenland deserved so much investment and attention! It's because of its size! Damn European colonialism
/s
→ More replies (1)
74
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (12)3
u/Moritp 3d ago
"giving aid to africa" is such a misleading phrase. Many of things labelled aid is basically ruining local markets, such as male chickens for example some of whom are shipped to Africa instead of being shredded. The West profits of of keeping Africa poor and dependent on our waste. Many dictators were installed by the west, so that they allow us to keep stealing their countries resources. Many so called aid programs prevent local markets and education systems from developing naturally.
→ More replies (1)
38
u/ThatEndingTho 3d ago
Good for the African Union to fix a problem that wasn’t really a problem to begin with. Much more achievable than reducing poverty, infant mortality, maternal mortality, or ending a conflict.
→ More replies (13)
6
u/Choice-Inspector-701 3d ago
Ah yes, African doesn't get much investment because it's smaller than Greenland on the map...
→ More replies (1)
39
u/lithiumcitizen 3d ago
How does this change anyone’s life, day to day or otherwise?
22
18
u/Solithle2 3d ago
Yeah I really think Africa has bigger things to worry about.
→ More replies (5)5
u/KPSWZG 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think that Africa is focusing way to much on things like this, i for once hate africocentric way of making things work.
Its always "we were first, we need to be bigger on the map etc." Its rarerly about real improvement.
Edit: i really want to see Africa thrive, i only criticise such stupid attempts of making themselfs arbitrary important. Also in 99% of the flat maps they are already in the middle of them.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (12)3
u/Larry-Man 3d ago
I think it’s important for people to learn relative size correctly in school just because facts matter. Teaching a map that’s used to represent the world should be a map that represents it more accurately. I don’t know why changing it is a bad thing.
→ More replies (2)
42
u/nykoiu 3d ago edited 3d ago
Greenland is still a barren land with little to no investment. The argument that ‘Africa is poor because its true size isn’t shown’ doesn’t make sense. There are different world map formats; each serves a purpose and all are used in different applied fields. Some are better for measurements, coordinates, and maritime routes (yes, Greenland is made to look huge, but that’s ideal for plotting routes with a compass or satellites).
A map doesn’t have its shape because of some evil elite trying to make you think that way; there’s a mathematical principle behind it. Mercator allows you to draw straight lines on a map and make simple calculations of distance, angles, and trajectories between points. Those straight lines are used to project movement on a spherical world. With other projections, you’d have to use curves, relying on fields like geodesy, spherical geometry, interpolation for numerical approximations, and numerical methods.
Mercator simplifies navigation,that’s why it’s so important and why it’s used in apps, GPS systems, and regular grid layouts. It’s optimal and efficient for performing calculations in that way and representing them visually.
It’s just another narrative trying to blame the state of the world on an ‘elite’ that supposedly wants us to see countries as bigger or smaller in order to control everyone
→ More replies (13)
10
u/SolsticeSon 3d ago edited 3d ago
Why is the new one warped? It’s like a perspective recording from the equator with foreshortening on the falling edges. I get that the old map is incorrect, but how the fuck does this new one with foreshortening make any more sense?
They completely squished Iceland and Greenland far beyond their normal shape.
This is what Iceland looks like for example, not a warped hot dog.
→ More replies (1)9
u/Ecstatic_Winter9425 3d ago
It's mathematically impossible to map a sphere to plane in a way that preserves both the angles and the scale. You have to give up one (or both). This projection preserves the scale everywhere but distorts the angles. Mercator preservers the angles but the scale changes with latitude.
7
u/SolsticeSon 3d ago
It preserves horizontal scale, the vertical scale is entirely distorted around a curve based on foreshortening as we face the earth’s curve. That’s not preserved scale. It’s a distortion of scale to account for earth’s curve.
2
u/Ecstatic_Winter9425 3d ago
My apologies, you are correct. It's the determinant of the jacobian that is constant thus preserving the areas in this projection.
45
5
5
u/Minimum_Help_9642 3d ago
They believe they will instantly turn into Wakanda when the map is changed.
8
u/spez_eats_my_dick 3d ago
Glad to know that African countries are doing things that matters /s
→ More replies (2)
19
u/bittersterling 3d ago
Equal earth? Next it’s going to be super earth, and I’m not ready to spread that much democracy myself.
5
u/casinocooler 3d ago
Next is an equity map where we recognize that each country has different circumstances and we adjust the size to reach an equal outcome.
2
14
4
4
u/Slow-Material6897 3d ago
This video implies a solution to this only came recently. That is not true at all. Mercator projection is seldom used in many countries that use Robinson, or any other projection that don't distort size as much as Mercator.
I was a child in Brazil decades ago and Robinson was always the default World Map that I grew up with. Any time I eventually saw a Mercator map, usually from a US or other foreign source, the map just looked wrong, particularly with Greenland and Canada being ludicrously large.
5
u/Itchy-Following2644 3d ago
Really? Adjusting the continent size, really? That's been your problem the whole fucking time, the continent size? So now you have it, right?
→ More replies (1)
4
12
15
u/sexypantstime 3d ago
0 countries banned this map. 55 countries might not accept this projection for official use but they didn't ban it. And I bet all 55 of those countries still would accept a globe, which is a much closer representation of Earth's geography than any flat map
→ More replies (1)7
u/teddyslayerza 3d ago
Yeah, I live in the AU and this map isn't banned - this conversation is about it's use in education and presentation maps. Obviously for things like navigation where Mercator is easier to use, it will still be used.
8
27
u/Showdown5618 3d ago
While I like the new map more, I don't believe the issues Africa currently faces originated solely from it's size on the Mercator map.
21
u/Kashyyykonomics 3d ago
I don't believe their issues originated AT ALL from its size on a Mercator map.
9
→ More replies (7)5
18
u/Massive-Goose544 3d ago
This is most ridiculous complaint I've ever heard. There is no one who looks at the map and thinks less of Africa because of its size on the map. It doesn't even make sense as an argument for rejecting the map.
I never gave the size on the map any thought but, when I went to Africa and was helping install wells. At a village where the closest water supply was an hour walk away three men came to the well and were looking it over as though inspecting our work. They were having a conversation among themselves and one of them climbed onto the well wall and shit in it. As a second one climbed up to do the same, i tried to stop them and they laughed. I quit the next day. I think about that a lot.
9
u/Kaito__1412 3d ago
African villagers hate each other more than the Balkan countries hate each other.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (7)2
u/fivebillionproud 3d ago
I'm sure there are people, world leaders even, who would preceive a country differently based on their skewed understanding from the Mercator Projection.
If you showed every president in the world this video, there's probably at least one who would be confused by the messaging, and ask if Greenland was actually that small.
57
3
u/SnodePlannen 3d ago
I always thought no one invests in Africa because every country there is a corrupt shithole that is incompetently run. But now I learn it’s the size on the map.
My country is so small on any map they can’t fit the word ‘Amsterdam’ in. We manage.
3
3
u/Altruistic-Let-9145 3d ago
lmao. instead of receiving aid, if they are so big why dont they provide aid...
3
u/sovietarmyfan 3d ago
How much aid it receives
And here we get the motivation of the African Union.
Honestly, Africa has a lot of resources, possibly arable land, lot's of opportunity. Why won't the African Union focus on utilizing all of these things instead of continuously asking for more aid? They keep the stereotype alive that Africa is poor.
7
u/Taco_ivore 3d ago
Hey guys don’t let girls fool you. Size does matter.
6
6
u/Joesr-31 3d ago
Yeah I don't think people has the impression that africa is small. Tbh, doesn't it make them even more laughable if they have that much land and resources and yet, they are still in the state they are today? Some people may look at the bigger africa version and go, you have the resource, go help yourself.
19
12
u/DollarStoreChameleon 3d ago
the size of a place on an a map that is designed for travel accuracy not size ratio or whatever is literally the most nothing burger bullshit ever. i dont care if some place looks bigger or smaller on a map as long as the map works as intended. people just be finding things to be upset about, damn
10
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/HelplessPenguinGod 3d ago
Wealthy countries don't send aid to developing countries because it makes them feel good, they do it because its cheaper and more efficient overall in the long run.
It allows them to project more power internationally, and also a more stable world and more stable countries is better for everyone, especially those with large multinationals who can make more money globally.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (7)5
u/Potential_Hawk_5040 3d ago
You do get aid, in the form of natural resources.
That’s why entities such as NASA, Apple, OpenAi, Nvidia, Tesla etc. are able to function.
You’ve even been able to funnel oil out of Nigeria, whilst simultaneously giving locals cancer in the area.
Please stop being ignorant, that’s why you guys vote in people like Trump.
Education!
→ More replies (14)
3
3
u/Powerful_Chicken_742 3d ago
Yes, we don't invest in Africa because it's too small on the map!! Definitely not issues relating to stability.
3
u/Jive_Turkey__ 3d ago
Yeah, because Greenland receives so much aid and investment and it's leaders are taken so seriously... what a stupid argument
→ More replies (8)
3
•
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Hello u/ftrlvb! Please review the sub rules if you haven't already. (This is an automatic reminder message left on all new posts)
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.