Progress is slow but steady, Ogundairo of Africa No Filter said. Prominent organisations changing their stances means a universal pivot is possible, she said. Yet, there’s much more work to be done by Africans, she added.
Critics, though, were quick to call out Peters on two things. The map, observers pointed out, was only distorted differently: Where the Mercator projection makes areas near the poles appear much larger, the Peters projection relatively represents accurate sizes throughout, but slightly stretches areas near the equator vertically, and areas near the poles horizontally.“There was also the fact that this map had already been presented by another cartographer decades ago,” Braun said, explaining the second problem.
Scottish scientist James Gall indeed first published an identical projection in a science journal in 1855, but it went unnoticed. There is no proof, some researchers say, that Peters outrightly plagiarised Gall, but critics say his failure to credit the earlier researcher is still problematic.In 2016, the debate resurfaced with renewed vigour after public schools in the US city of Boston switched to what many now refer to as the “Gall-Peters” projection. Officials said the move was part of a three-year effort to “decolonise the curriculum”. Teachers said they were amazed to see students questioning their view of the world after the switch.However, many experts and map enthusiasts were annoyed by the fact that Boston chose Peters, and as such, gave the projection renewed relevance.
Al Jazeera reached out to the Boston Public Schools (BPS) for comment.Amid the Boston schools’ drama, one group of researchers decided they’d had enough of Peters and set out to do something.
Cartographer Bernard Jenny, who teaches immersive visualisation at Australia’s Monash University, said he was approached by Tom Patterson, a retired cartographer with the UN National Parks, for the task. Together with software engineer Bojan Savric, the team in 2018 created an equal area map they called the “Equal Earth” projection.
That version, which sees Africa expand impressively, is increasingly seen as the closest thing to a perfect area map. It’s the same one Ogundairo’s team is pushing for.A US Department of Justice spokesperson said he will begin serving a 24-month sentence in September.
US prosecutors had called for leniency due to the “extraordinary” assistance he had provided the probe. Leissner served as the star witness in the 2022 trial of his former colleague and Goldman Sachs Managing Director Roger Ng.Judge Brodie sentenced Malaysian national Ng to 10 years’ imprisonment in March 2023 for, among other crimes, “conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled” from 1MDB and paying more than $1.6bn in bribes.
Leissner also provided details regarding the involvement of Low Taek Jho, the Malaysian financier known as “Jho Low”, who stands accused of stealing billions from the fund but remains at large.Step inside a typical home in the United States, and you will quickly find that much of what fills it, from the fruit and vegetables in the kitchen to the bicycle in the garage, is produced elsewhere.