Millions of classrooms, hospitals, offices, restaurants and houses around the world decorate their walls with the world’s most known global map.
This map is called the “Mercator projection” on the name of its designer and presenter the Flemish cartographer Geradus Mercator in 1569.
Every child has seen it and learns of the world from it. Every governmental office shows it and most important, in our minds the picture of the world is the same one. As shown here.
While the map was designed for sailing and assisted many sailors in the 16th century, the sizes and locations of the countries and continents are in one word- wrong.
The world we see in front of us is very different then what our world really is. The sizes of the continents, location of countries and even the idea that western countries are in the north atmosphere (they can be up but also down as shown in the video below) all change the minute we see this new and much more accurate map designed by Games Gall and Arno Peters (Berlin born historian).
I invite you to see a short YouTube video taken from the epic American TV show “The West Wing”. This video explains in a short and to the point way what our world really looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVX-PrBRtTY
Over the years I’ve followed lobby groups, bloggers, and different websites just like in the show that try relentlessly to raise awareness and bring to a change. (Such as: georeference.org, bildungtrifftentwicklung.de in Germany, and emetaheret.org.il in Israel)
All they wish to do is to introduce the Gall-Peters map and to make it the standard map used in schools and educational centers. So our children can learn the truth of the face of our world.
So if the Mercator’s projection was proved to be wrong, as the Gall-Peters projection is now supported by live feeds from satellites, the question asked is why we still see the Mercator’s map in classrooms and well…everywhere.
For over a decade these organizations work on getting their governments to make a change, an easy one, and simply fail. And though there are more and more people in the world that are aware of this, the maps stay the same.
One must ask the following question: Why? Why our governments refuse to make a small change in the name of truth?
The simple answer I am sure most of you can guess is that the map holds meanings other than what our world looks like. It depicts the western countries as bigger than they are, centers Germany in the map even though it is in the northern part of Europe, and makes Europe and the US bigger and therefore stronger in the eyes of the viewer of the map.
The truth is it is a matter of pride, how can Europe that controlled so many parts of the world for centuries, now admit to be literally smaller then it was for years. More than that what would happen when South America and Africa realize they are way bigger than the western countries. What happens to our world when we realize how it is really divided?
Truth be told, in today’s world, technology proves that bigger is not necessarily better. Today the smartest cameras and weapons are also the smallest. So you would think that size won’t even be a concern.
But it turns out that size might not matter with technology but in global politics it still plays a big role.
With all of the changes the world makes every day, one thing doesn’t seem to be able to change- Human nature. And though at times this is a good thing, in this case, our desire to show we are better even by making our countries seem larger than they are is creating a fundamental injustice and discrimination. By misrepresenting the size of the Africa, we minimize the importance or potential power of the continent. The reality Is that size influences us and makes us judgmental, whether we mean for it or not.
After learning this, looking at the known map is getting harder and harder for me. As once you’ve seen imbalance, it is hard to smile and say nothing. In my own German class I see this world map every day, and I remember every day how we create realities that are comfortable for the strong but serve as such a great injustice for the weak. My hope is that after reading this post, you will never look at the global map presented to you the same. And remember that once we learn to question our reality, we have a chance of actually improving it.
For more information check out these links
http://www.culturaldetective.com/worldmaps.html
http://www.sott.net/article/276745-Terrabyte-Incognita-Africa-might-not-look-like-you-think-it-does
The Fair Play Blog 