It’s a tranquil Monday night. I’m at home preparing for my Calculus exam when something catches my eye; the world map on the wall. “Is Africa really that small?” I wonder. Short answer, no it’s not. The Mercator Projection Map, the most common map used across the world, is exceedingly inaccurate. According to the Mercator, Greenland is nearly the same size as Africa, when in reality Africa’s size is 14 times that of Greenland. This might seem like a minor problem. However, the map’s fallacies encourage unconscious biases towards developing countries that are undersized on the Mercator. 

As humans, we often have a “bigger is better” outlook. According to a study from Southern University at New Orleans, when choosing between different objects, humans subconsciously gravitate towards larger items over smaller ones. This mindset doesn’t end with objects. According to an informative article by The New York Times, the Mercator Projection may cause you “to under-appraise most of the developing world” (Sokol). If people are intuitively conditioned through maps to believe that developing countries have a smaller overall land mass than developed countries, they may believe that developed nations are more important. The “bigger is better” outlook encouraged by the Mercator Projection can create a mindset that Africa is insignificant, which provides a justification for the world to ignore Africa’s problems and be desensitized to its people’s sufferings. 

The discrepancy in coverage between the Ukraine invasion and the current civil war in Ethiopia shines a spotlight on this issue. According to The Guardian, “For the west, this war, which has taken place for the most part in the dark, raises important questions about how the media report on conflicts and humanitarian crises. It reminds us of the dark reality that … not all humanitarian crises are equal, no matter how horrific the human cost” (Abraha). Africa is the second-largest continent by geographic area and population size. However, on the world stage, its crises are often disregarded. We can support Ukraine, without ignoring African countries.

Map bias reinforces the hierarchy of importance between developed and developing countries; this devalues the attention and respect developing countries receive. Sadly, the devaluation of developing nations comes at the cost of innocent human life.

Now, the continents have shrunk, but don’t fret: we can treat the side effects. According to the Borgen Project, a non-profit that fights global poverty, we must begin by placing maps, such as the Gall-Peters Projection, in public institutions to present the true sizes of all nations. This will ensure that the next generations have access to maps free of bias. We must come together as a society to address map bias to create a more inclusive and equitable society.