UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size

Image caption, The Mercator projection is the map widely used across the globe but inaccurately depicts the sizes of countries and continents.

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EUA admite 'erro infeliz' após rotular incorretamente países no mapa da África Publicado 31 de julho.

Esta estrela é para a África" – Angélique Kidjo sobre fazer história na Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Se você começou a correr, eles te atiraram' - dentro da crescente crise de sequestros na Nigéria.

A Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas votou em substituir o mapa-múndi tradicional por um que reflita mais precisamente o tamanho da África.

The "Correct the Map" resolution, sponsored by Togo and backed by African Union (AU) members, passed with the support of 164 nations, including France and the UK.

The United States was the only nation to vote against it - and there were six abstentions.

A votação da ONU é não vinculativa, mas resultará em mudanças nos mapas utilizados por instituições ao redor do mundo.

The Mercator map, which has been in common use since the 16th Century, has come in for criticism as it shows Africa as similar in size to Greenland, even though it is 14 times larger.

Críticos dizem que isso leva as necessidades de desenvolvimento e o potencial de países próximos ao equador a serem minimizados.

The Mercator map was designed in 1569 by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to help European explorers navigate across the world.

The distortion of his map is a result of the fact that it is impossible to accurately represent the surface of a globe on a two-dimensional chart.

Sempre que um mapa do mundo é desenhado, é preciso fazer concessões.

The Mercator map shows the curvature of the Earth by making countries near the equator seem smaller than they are, with countries nearer the poles appearing bigger.

Em um esforço para corrigir isso, uma equipe de cartógrafos em 2018 criou um mapa de área igual que chamaram de projeção Equal Earth.

In February, the AU's 54 member states adopted it, and said it "more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa.

O grupo de campanha online #CorrectTheMap disse: 'Você poderia colocar os Estados Unidos, China, Índia, Japão, México e grande parte da Europa dentro da África e ainda sobraria terra.

Ahead of Friday's vote, Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told the Reuters news agency: "A fair world begins with a fair map.

Earlier he had told a UN briefing: "A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood.

He had the backing of the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said his ministry was going to stop using the Mercator map, external.

Mudar o mapa obviamente não muda o mundo. Mas corrigir uma representação que o distorce já é um ato de verdade," ele disse.

But Yaryna Ferencevych, a US representative at the UN, said the resolution mocked the work and purpose of the UN General Assembly, external.

Instead of focusing on genuine problems of international peace, prosperity, or good relations, this body is debating map projects from the 16th Century, and their role in promoting reparations and 'cognitive justice'," she said.

In March, the US was also critical when a resolution was adopted declaring the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity.

Africa's misrepresentation on world maps is not just a cartographic error - it's a narrative issue," Lerato Mogoatlhe from Africa No Filter, one of the groups behind the campaign to ditch the Mercator map, told the BBC.

It was part of efforts to stop the "world's longest misinformation and disinformation" about Africa, she said.

For Kenyan geographer Kioko Muendo, the Mercator map has implicitly downplayed the African continent's vast resources, population and investment opportunities.

Maps are more than just guides for travellers - they shape how regions are perceived politically and economically," he told the BBC.

Go to BBCAfrica.com, external for more news from the African continent.