Maps Are Political Tools, Shaping Perceptions and Influencing Decisions

Maps, often perceived as neutral representations of reality, are inherently political tools that shape how people understand the world and their place within it. This dynamic was underscored recently when the United Nations General Assembly voted 164-1 to endorse the Equal Earth projection map, a shift from commonly used projections like the Mercator map.

The Mercator projection, developed centuries ago for navigation, distorts the relative sizes of landmasses. It makes regions near the poles, such as Greenland, appear larger than they are, while diminishing the apparent size of landmasses nearer the equator, like Africa. In reality, the African continent is substantially larger than Greenland.

Supporters of the Equal Earth projection argue it offers a more accurate depiction of continental sizes. Alex Moulton, an assistant professor of geography and environmental science at Hunter College, explained that maps "structure our politics in ways that then have consequences." He further stated, "Map-making is world-making. It is apprehending our world as we observe it and then putting that down as the truth of those things and that is an inherently political practice."

Nerve Macaspac, a political geographer and assistant professor at Queens College, noted the political and economic implications of how landmasses are represented. "If you see Africa as a smaller land mass, there’s a political implication to that. If we see it larger or it’s in true size, then there is economic and political implications to it," Macaspac said. "What’s being foregrounded and what’s been hidden or obscured or neglected or ignored or reduced?"

Beyond size and shape, maps can also serve as historical snapshots, reflecting the political and social understanding of their creators at a specific time. Tony Rodono, owner of The Map Shop in Charlotte, North Carolina, described maps as "a time capsule of how that cartographer saw the world."

This concept extends to deliberate efforts to alter place names, as seen in actions by former U.S. President Donald Trump. These included orders to rename bodies of water, such as the January 2025 renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," and previously renaming Alaska's tallest peak, Denali, back to Mount McKinley. Some technology companies adopted these name changes for U.S. users, while others, like MapQuest and Canadian entities, did not.

The fundamental challenge in mapmaking lies in translating the Earth's three-dimensional surface onto a two-dimensional plane, a process that inevitably introduces distortions. Mapmakers must make choices about which distortions to accept based on the map's intended purpose. These choices can significantly influence public perception, as viewers may accept map representations as objective truth.