• Geography -> Cartography and topography

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Can map projections be biased and unfairly represent certain countries or peoples?

Tyshawn Mussington

Hey there!

Thanks for asking such an interesting question. To answer it simply, yes, map projections can definitely be biased and unfairly represent certain countries or peoples.

The reason for this is because maps are representations of the world and are always distorted in some way. Mapmakers have to take a three-dimensional object (the Earth) and flatten it into a two-dimensional image (the map). Because of this, certain distortions are inevitable and can cause some parts of the world to be represented in larger or smaller sizes, or in different orientations, than they actually are.

One example of this is the Mercator projection, which is one of the most commonly used map projections in the world. This projection was originally developed in the 16th century to help navigators plot courses across the ocean, but it has since become widely used for general geographic purposes.

However, the Mercator projection is known for exaggerating the size of land masses near the poles, which tends to make countries like Russia, Canada, and Greenland look much larger than they actually are. On the other hand, the projection also makes countries near the equator, such as Africa and South America, appear much smaller than they actually are.

This has led to criticism that the Mercator projection reinforces the idea of Eurocentrism and white supremacy in geography. By making Europe, North America, and Russia appear much larger than they actually are, the projection inadvertently gives those regions more importance and reinforces the idea that they are more significant than the rest of the world. At the same time, it downplays the size and significance of countries in Africa, South America, and other regions closer to the equator.

There are other map projections, such as the Gall-Peters projection, that attempt to address some of these distortions and provide a more accurate representation of the world. The Gall-Peters projection shows all countries at their correct relative size, but it distorts their shapes somewhat in order to achieve this.

In conclusion, map projections can certainly be biased and unfairly represent certain countries or peoples. It's important to be aware of these distortions and to consider using alternative maps when possible, in order to avoid reinforcing Eurocentric or other biases in our understanding of the world.