The United Nations traded maritime utility for an empty map

By Bram de Vries · Reporting from Amsterdam · September 6, 2026

I grew up in Rotterdam, the gateway to Europe, where the horizon is defined by the steady arrival of cargo and the cold logic of logistics.

# A Sailor’s Chart is Not a Political Manifesto

Cargo ships and the cold logic of logistics define the horizon in Rotterdam. In this gateway to Europe, where the air smells of brine and diesel, a map is not a piece of art or a statement of dignity; it is a tool. If a chart fails to guide a ship to the pier without hitting a reef, it is useless. This is why the recent circus at the United Nations General Assembly—where nearly every member state voted to promote the "Equal Earth" projection over the Mercator map—is so irritating.

Al Jazeera reports that Togo drove the resolution on behalf of the African Union. The diplomats seek to "correct" the Mercator projection because it exaggerates the size of northern landmasses. They rightly note that Africa dwarfs Greenland by fourteenfold, even if the old map makes them look like siblings. To the diplomats in New York, this is a matter of "cognitive justice." To anyone who has managed a supply chain, it is a category error.

The utility of the Mercator chart lies in the straight line. A navigator draws a bearing on the map, follows that compass heading, and arrives at the destination. It prioritizes functional utility over spatial accuracy. By trading the true size of continents for the preservation of angles, the projection became the gold standard for maritime trade. It is a tool for doing, not for looking.

The High Cost of Cognitive Justice

Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said that maps shape how the world envisions the continent and that the current drawing perpetuates a view of Africa as unimportant. His strongest argument rests on the classroom: if a child in Lomé or Accra sees their continent shrunk relative to Europe, they may internalize a secondary status. Dussey said that correcting the map is an "act of truth" that restores geopolitical dignity.

This is an appealing argument, but it is wrong. Dignity and influence spring from trade, infrastructure, and the rule of law, not from the scale of a drawing in a geography book. You do not grow a continent's economy by stretching its borders on a piece of paper. The Guardian said the resolution claims these distortions cause "socioeconomic effects." This is nonsense. A firm in Lagos does not lose a contract or see its warehouses sit empty because a map in a London classroom makes Africa look smaller. Markets respond to productivity and stability, not to cartographic projections.

By chasing "cognitive justice," the UN mimics the performative regulation found in Brussels—fixing a symptom that does not cause the disease. France, seeking diplomatic alignment, announced it will abandon the Mercator projection for the Eckert IV projection. This is a typical move for the European elite: buying a sense of moral superiority while the actual machinery of trade continues to rely on the very tools they publicly denounce.

Does a Map Create Wealth?

The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution. Yaryna Ferencevych, the US representative, called it an "ideological project" and a distraction from genuine problems. In this instance, the American delegation acted as the only pragmatic actor in the room. They recognize that the UN General Assembly has become a venue for symbolic victories that cost nothing and achieve nothing.

This pattern is a recurring drama. From the 2012 resolution on Palestine to the 2015 Paris Agreement, the UN frequently prioritizes the comfort of a shared narrative over the friction of tangible progress. The Global South pushes for a normative shift, the US holds the line on a different set of priorities, and the world moves on without any change to the price of grain or the quality of asphalt.

Togo now plans to meet with UNESCO and tech giants like Google in two years to put this change into practice. They want to rewrite textbooks and alter digital maps. But Google Maps relies on the Mercator projection because it is the only way to create a zoomable interface that does not distort the street-level view. If a user pinches and zooms on a screen, they need the angles to remain constant. If Google switches to Equal Earth, the "truth" of the continent's size will be gained, but the utility of the tool will be lost.

The world does not need "cognitive justice"; it needs more ports, better roads, and fewer bureaucrats. Changing a map does not change the world; it only changes the wallpaper for people who spend their lives in meeting rooms instead of marketplaces. The UN has spent its time debating mid-16th-century cartography while the ability to move a container from Accra to Nairobi without three customs bribes remains stalled. To believe that a new map will lift a continent is not just naive—it is an insult to the entrepreneurs who are actually doing the work.

The United Nations traded maritime utility for an empty map

The High Cost of Cognitive Justice

Does a Map Create Wealth?

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