Togo challenges the world map: why this is practical decolonisation

In April 2026, Robert Dussey, speaking on behalf of the African Union, announced that Togo is preparing a United Nations resolution to replace the widely used Mercator projection with a more accurate alternative. At the centre of this proposal is the adoption of the Equal Earth projection, which better represents the true size of continents, particularly Africa.

This is not a technical adjustment. It is a political and pedagogical intervention that goes to the core of how knowledge is produced, taught, and internalised.

Why the map matters

The Mercator projection, developed in the 16th century for navigation, exaggerates the size of regions further from the equator and diminishes those closer to it. As a result, Greenland appears almost the same size as Africa, when in reality Africa is about fourteen times larger.

This distortion has become normalised in classrooms, textbooks, and global media. Over time, it has shaped how generations understand the world.

The campaign titled “Correct the Map” seeks to shift this visual baseline. By promoting the Equal Earth projection, it aims to align what students see with geographic reality.

Decolonising the classroom through cartography

Challenging cartographic inequity

The continued dominance of the Mercator projection reflects more than historical inertia. It reproduces a eurocentric worldview where Europe and North America appear larger, and therefore implicitly more important.

Decolonising the classroom requires confronting such visual distortions. Maps are not neutral tools. They carry embedded assumptions about power, space, and significance. Replacing the Mercator projection disrupts a long-standing visual hierarchy that has marginalised the Global South.

Identity, perception, and the colonial gaze

For many learners in Africa and across the African diaspora, the classroom map is one of the first representations of the world they encounter. When their continent appears smaller, it can subtly shape their sense of place in the world.

Correcting the map is therefore also about restoring dignity and proportion. It enables students to see Africa as it is, not as it has been minimised. This aligns with broader decolonial efforts that centre lived realities and challenge inherited misrepresentations.

In this sense, the intervention resonates with Ubuntu as reciprocity and justice. It is about restoring balance in how knowledge reflects humanity.

Disrupting the myth of neutral knowledge

A key principle in decolonising education is questioning the assumed neutrality of dominant knowledge systems. The persistence of the Mercator projection in education, despite its known distortions, reveals how certain forms of Western knowledge are treated as unquestionable.

Introducing the Equal Earth projection opens space for critical pedagogy. It invites questions such as:

• Why did an inaccurate projection remain dominant for so long
• Who benefits from particular representations of the world
• How do visual tools shape political and economic thinking

This is not simply about maps. It is about cultivating critical consciousness.

Reforming global educational standards

The significance of Togo’s proposal lies in its scale. By taking the issue to the United Nations, the intention is to influence global standards, not just local curricula.

If international bodies adopt a new projection, it will cascade into textbooks, classrooms, policy documents, and digital platforms worldwide. This creates a structural shift in how future generations learn geography.

Such a move reflects a sankofa approach, looking back at inherited distortions in order to inform a more accurate and just future.

Strategic implications

Togo’s action can be read as a form of epistemic intervention. It challenges the authority of inherited visual knowledge and asserts the right of African institutions to shape global narratives.

There are also broader implications:

• It links knowledge production to geopolitical positioning
• It reframes Africa not as peripheral but central
• It demonstrates how small shifts in curriculum can have long-term cognitive effects

At the same time, implementation will not be straightforward. Educational systems are slow to change, and the Mercator projection is deeply embedded in institutional practice.

https://youtu.be/xsc2lf5V4jI?si=WGKmdHtfRus8zRTy

Concluding reflection

Togo’s proposal is a reminder that decolonisation is not only about adding new content to the curriculum. It is also about interrogating what is already there, including the seemingly ordinary tools like maps.

When the map changes, the way the world is imagined also changes. And when imagination shifts, so too does possibility.