Boston schools ditch 'misleading' world map

Traditional Mercator projection abandoned in favour of more accurate Gall-Peters plan

Gall-Peters map
The Gall-Peters map, set to be used in Boston schools

Around 600 classrooms in Boston are set to ditch the widely used but highly distorted traditional map of the world in favour of a more accurate depiction of the globe.

Schools will use the Gall-Peters projection, which displays countries according to their actual size, in place of the Mercator projection, which shrinks Africa and South America and makes Europe and North America look much bigger than they actually are.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More