Maps distort reality because the Earth is a three-dimensional sphere, and any attempt to represent it on a flat surface requires compromise. It's like trying to make a rectangle out of an orange peel.

In 1569, Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator synthesized existing ideas in navigation and cartography to create a new type of world map. It has stood the test of time: Billions of people would ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: The African Union has started an effort to oust the Mercator projection map and replace it with what it says is a more accurately drawn map. The 16 ...

The African Union has joined a campaign calling for the widely-used Mercator map, which makes Africa appear smaller than it is, to be replaced with a map that more accurately reflects the continent's ...

The African Union has backed a campaign to end the use by governments and international organizations of the 16th-century Mercator map of the world in favor of one that more accurately displays Africa ...

"On classroom walls from Lagos to London", the standard map of the world depicts an "inflated Britain at the centre" and a dramatically "shrunken Africa", said The Times. But this could soon change.

The Mercator map, first created in the 16th century, has long been the standard map used for navigation and education, but it stretches land masses farther from the equator. For example, Greenland ...

The Mercator projection, a centuries-old map style from the age of sail, still prevails in the internet age. Here’s what the African Union wants to use instead ...