3.9 STEREOTYPES RELATED TO NEOCOLONIAL MINDSET

Our tendency to place concepts, knowledge and aspects of reality into pre-defined boxes leads us to take many things for granted and to accept them without reflecting. 

The way we see our world is a typical example of this process.  Look at these 5 maps:

 

Mercator Projection

This is the more commonly used one. It exaggerates the size of the Earth around the poles and shrinks it around the equator. 

So the developed “global North” appears bigger than reality, and equatorial regions, which tend to be less developed, appear smaller. 

Why does this problem occur? Simply put, the world is round and a map is flat. Imagine drawing a world map on an orange, peeling the skin to leave a single piece and then flattening it. 

 

TIME TO REFLECT

Why do you think the world map was originally made this way?

Why do we still use the Mercator projection? 

What does it show about world relations? 

Share your thoughts in the comments!

TO KNOW MORE

Read this article about Mercator map and teaching geography in schools

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/world-map-wrong-mercator-peters-projection-boston/

Change your point of view! Now that you know all countries are not well scaled on the Mercator map. Click here to find out how big your country is in comparison: https://www.thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTY4MjA1MjE.MTk1MDIyMg*MzYwMDAwMDA

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