What different world maps get right - and what they get wrong

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

• UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true sizePublished15 hours ago.

Publicado em 5 de setembro de 2026, 14:46 BST.

A ONU acaba de pedir que o mapa mundial predominante seja substituído por um que reflita mais precisamente o tamanho real dos continentes, como a África.

The "Correct the Map" resolution adopted by the General Assembly aims to fix the discrepancy on the Mercator map, in which the African continent is shown as being of similar size to Greenland - even though it is in reality about 14 times larger.

Ele adotou um novo mapa, a projeção Equal Earth, que representa melhor os tamanhos reais das massas de terra - mas traz problemas próprios.

There have been many prominent attempts over the years to solve the problem of accurately representing the surface of a sphere on a flat rectangle, each with its own benefits and drawbacks.

Image source, Universal Images Group via Getty Images ImagesImage caption, The Mercator projection has been around since the 16th Century and was vital for navigating the oceans.

O mapa Mercator, agora amplamente utilizado, foi criado em 1569 pelo cartógrafo flamengo Gerardus Mercator.

Its main purpose was to help European sailors navigate the oceans, as cartography Professor James Cheshire at University College London explained.

He wanted a straight line to be drawn on a map to look like a straight line in reality if you followed a compass bearing," he told the BBC. "That was what it was intended to do, and that's what it does brilliantly well.

Para manter esses ângulos corretos em um mapa plano, Mercator teve que estender as linhas da grade mais amplamente à medida que se afastavam do equador em direção aos polos.

His map accommodates for the curvature of the Earth by making countries near the equator seem much smaller than they are, with countries nearer the poles appearing stretched.

A distorção resulta da impossibilidade de representar com precisão a superfície de um globo em um mapa bidimensional.

More than 450 years on, Mercator's creation is still the basis for many of the maps we see in classrooms, on TV and online, including Google Maps.

But critics of the Mercator map say there is a psychological effect to viewing some places as smaller than they actually are and others as larger, as we instinctively view bigger things as more important.

Para o geógrafo queniano Kioko Muendo, isso implicitamente minimizou os vastos recursos, a população e as oportunidades de investimento da África.

Os mapas são mais do que simples guias para viajantes - eles moldam a forma como as regiões são percebidas politicamente e economicamente," ele disse à BBC.

Image caption, The Equal Earth map aims to represent landmasses' area more fairly.

The Equal Earth map aims to address this problem with the Mercator projection.

Foi desenvolvida por uma equipe de cartógrafos em 2018 para apresentar o tamanho e a forma das massas de terra com mais precisão. Foi inspirada na projeção Robinson de 1963 – um mapa que mostra a superfície inteira do globo de uma só vez.

The Equal Earth map was adopted by African Union members in February.

But it sacrifices the straight lines that made the Mercator projection perfect for navigating with - and it cannot be used for measuring the true distance between different places.

You can preserve area, or you can preserve shape, or you can preserve distance and direction, but not everything at once perfectly, because otherwise you'd be back to a sphere," Cheshire said.

Legenda da imagem, A projeção Peters oferece uma ideia mais justa da área terrestre, mas distorce a forma.

O mapa-múndi Peters foi projetado pelo historiador alemão Arno Peters no início dos anos 1970. O mapa retangular baseia-se na projeção descrita pela primeira vez pelo cartógrafo escocês James Gall em 1855.

The projection sacrifices accuracy of shape in favour of accuracy of scale. So, polar regions are squished, while the bits near the equator are stretched.

This fixes the Greenland-Africa size issue, allowing those who use it to get a sense of the comparative size of different landmasses, all while preserving straight lines of longitude and latitude.

No entanto, o mapa distorce severamente as formas das massas de terra da Terra, fazendo com que todas pareçam ligeiramente fora do padrão. A Rússia, por exemplo, parece muito menor.

The straight lines on the Peters map do not represent true constant compass bearings and so are useless for navigation.

Image source, NurPhoto via Getty ImagesImage caption, The UN flag is centred on the North Pole.

E existem, é claro, outras maneiras de mapear o globo.

For instance, the "Azimuthal equidistant projection" places world regions at proportionally correct distances from a single, chosen centre point.

A bandeira da ONU é um bom exemplo disso, com o mapa‑múndi centrado no Polo Norte.

On this type of map, all points are at the correct "azimuth" (horizontal direction) from the centre point.

Image source, Corbis via Getty ImagesAnd not to forget the south-up (or upside-down) map orientation that shows the world's southern regions on top.

Então, é uma rotação de 180 graus de um mapa tradicional com norte para cima.