UN backs equal-area maps as African states challenge colonial narratives
A United Nations resolution backed by 164 member states has placed cartography within a wider debate over education, history and how Africa is represented.
The United Nations General Assembly has endorsed a resolution encouraging the use of equal-area map projections, including Equal Earth, in a move supported by African countries seeking to challenge inherited views of the continent. The resolution was backed by 164 member states at the beginning of September, while the United States was the only member state reported to have rejected it.
Equal-area projections represent the relative size of continents more accurately than the 16th-century Mercator projection. Togo sponsored the Correct the Map campaign, which is also supported by the African Union. Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey described the initiative as part of an effort to address distortions in how Africa’s history, geography, economy and political position are understood.
The campaign sits within a broader discussion about decolonising knowledge in universities, museums, cultural institutions, schools and civil society. Deutsche Welle reported that Mali removed French history, including the French Revolution, from its curriculum in October 2025, while giving greater emphasis to Malian history and ancient West African kingdoms.
Changes described in Tanzania include making Tanzanian history and ethics compulsory and teaching the subject in Swahili. These initiatives are national measures rather than evidence of a uniform policy across Africa, and the curriculum claims were attributed to interviewees in the Deutsche Welle report.
The debate also extends to media coverage. Africa No Filter says crisis-focused portrayals of Africa reinforce harmful stereotypes and has supported the #NotWaiting campaign, which seeks to highlight positive developments and political initiatives across the continent. The organisation has estimated that biased coverage may contribute to higher borrowing costs for African countries, though that figure was not independently verified in the supplied report.
