Why was Africa drawn three times smaller on the world map?

By Yaşar Süngü

In a world where all the negatives in economic, social, political, and legal terms have hit their peak, it is not easy to look at life positively.

But one must see the good hidden within every evil.

Today is World Positive Thinking Day, September 13.

It has not been declared by any official or international body.

It was first launched in 2003 by an American entrepreneur (generally the entrepreneur Kirsten Harrell and an initiative/group working on the mind-body connection) to encourage individuals toward positive thinking, optimism, and mental awareness, and over time it spread around the world through the internet and social calendars.

**

We should also not underestimate the news that makes it easier to look at life positively, that makes one say "good things are happening."

They are not few either.

For example, the correction of the great error on the world map.

On the world maps printed until today, the European continent appears almost similar in size to Africa, or quite dominant.

But in reality, Africa (30.3 million km²) is about 3 times larger than the entire European continent (10.1 million km²).

Greenland, which looks like a gigantic continent on the map, appears the same size as Africa. In reality, Africa is exactly 14 times larger than Greenland.

The US, China, India, Japan, and a large part of Europe can all fit inside the African continent at the same time.

**

But we took geography lessons in schools for years with these maps that deliberately showed Africa as small.

Now this "geographical injustice" and perception manipulation created by this visual distortion is finally coming to an end.

The United Nations General Assembly, with its "Correct the Map" resolution, has decided to support the transition to the Equal Earth map system, which preserves the real sizes of the continents, instead of the Mercator Projection.

So what was the real logic behind the official excuse for showing Africa as small and poor on the world map?

Africa holds approximately 30 percent of the mineral reserves discovered in the world.

South Africa: World leader in gold, platinum, diamond, and coal reserves.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: The world's center for cobalt and copper used in battery production.

Botswana: One of the world's largest and highest-quality diamond producers.

Nigeria and Angola: The largest oil producers on the African continent.

Algeria and Egypt: Possess rich natural gas and oil deposits.

Mozambique: Has massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) reserves.

Niger and Namibia: Leading countries on the continent in uranium production used in nuclear energy and technology.

Ghana: One of the important centers of the continent and the world in gold production.

Zambia: A copper producer.

Guinea: Has the world's largest bauxite (aluminum raw material) reserves and is the center of global supply. It also has massive iron ore deposits.

Zimbabwe: Among the leading countries in Africa in lithium reserves, which are critical for the green energy transition. It is also quite rich in platinum, chromium, and gold.

Morocco: Has the world's largest phosphate reserves and production; the most important supplier of the global fertilizer industry.

Mali and Burkina Faso: The continent's fastest-growing and most important gold producers.

Mauritania: Has very high-quality iron ore deposits.

Madagascar: An island rich in precious stones (sapphire, ruby), nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements.

Sudan: Africa's third-largest gold producer.

**

All these countries have one more common feature;

In all of them, the people are divided in two, and all of them are preoccupied with civil war.

European companies that keep them occupied with fratricidal conflict and poverty comfortably transport the minerals to their own countries.

They even boast about providing employment by making them carry what they have stolen.

**

Now let us recall the question: What was the real logic behind the official excuse for showing Africa as small and poor on the world map?

To conceal how large the place the Europeans colonized actually is.

To hide that the wealth of the West comes from plundering Africa.

But even before the map changed, the world had already learned through social media that the wealth of the US and Europe stems from theft.

In other words, insisting on the error in the map no longer serves any purpose.

That is why they are correcting the map.

**

They were also ignoring the genocide in Gaza and secretly supporting it.

Once it was exposed through social media how hypocritical they were, and once the damage turned back on them, they were forced to say stop to Israel.

**

Truths cannot be hidden or covered up for very long.

They have a quality of eventually coming to light.