Third (or Two-Thirds) World

By David Wemple

Who was Gerdhardus Mercator, and why has he had such a profound influence on the way we loot at the world? Though few will recognize his name, his legacy confronts us every time we look at a global map. When Mercator devised his map some four centuries ago, he conveniently placed Europe at the very center of creation, right where many believe it remains.

In attempting to render the earth's spherical surface onto a two-dimensional plane, all maps inevitably distort reality to some degree. For navigators—the intended users of Mercator's map—the 16th century rendition worked well. It also presented a fairly accurate picture of continental shapes. But one flaw has real, if subtle, drawbacks. With vast distortions of the northern latitudes, it looks as if the world is dominated by North America, Europe, and the Soviet Union. Thus, most of us have grown up with the impression that Greenland is a monstrous island to the north, while Saudi Arabia is a small peninsula glimpsed briefly by air travelers between Asia and Africa. In fact, Saudi Arabia is larger than Greenland.

According to Marvin Gordon, a professor of geography at George Washington University, anyone looking at the Mercator projection map is looking at "an impression of the world that is absolutely incorrect." So distorted are the relative sizes of land masses that a blatantly Eurocentric view of the world emerges. The so-called Third World, pushed to the map's southern fringes, might just as well be an afterthought. And the equator, far from being in the middle of the map, is found close to the bottom. If these and similar phenomena are gross distortions of reality, where might the solution lie?

One place to start is with Arno Peters, a German historian who was bothered by the implications of the Mercator projection's inherent northern and ethnic biases. In 1974 he constructed the Peters' Projection. While it resulted in some distortion of continental shapes, it accurately represented the relative sizes of those same land masses. One look at the Peters' Projection makes that point immediately. The equator is where it should be, and Africa, no longer dwarfed by North America, is seen to be the immense land that it really is. Even with its relatively minor imperfections, the Peters' Projection is, in the words of former president of the International Geographic Union, Professor Carl Troll, "the best I know."

For students, the Peters' Projection map is an eye-opener. Looking at the two maps side-by-side, for example, who could resist asking why the Third World actually occupies two-thirds of the globe? And the real impact of the Arabic and Islamic worlds strikes home when their share of the earth's land surface is recognized.

The Peters' Projection map is currently published by the Friendship Press (475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115) for $7.95. With assistance from the United Nations, more than 16 million copies have been distributed in six languages since 1982, and its influence is gradually being felt in the American educational system. The Texas Education Agency recently explained to students that the maps they have been using don't present an accurate picture of the world. With that state's textbooks often serving as a barometer of changing national attitudes, perhaps the shape of the world is improving, after all.

David Wemple is an Albany, NY-based writer on Middle East issues.