Wilma Nchito don teach how to make map for thirty years, show plenty students di science wey dey behind how to draw map wey go fit show places and dia features well.

She dey always look back with pride for her career until one video wey she see online some years after she retire come shake her belief for di work wey she don do.

Di video talk say di world map wey she dey use teach all those years get one big wahala: e dey show Africa as if e small pass plenty countries.

“I think say na like six or seven years ago. After wetin I see, I just dey like, ‘Wait first,’” Nchito yarn give TRT Afrika. “As person wey dey make map, e pain me well well.”

Di video show how countries wey dey look bigger than Africa for di normal map fit actually enter inside di continent with space still remain. As Nchito talk am, na one kind truth wey dey hide for open eye.

Wrong projection

Di Mercator projection, wey dem create for di 16th century and still dey popular, dey make Africa look smaller pass as e suppose be.

Africa big reach 30.3 million square kilometres, na di second biggest continent after Asia wey get 44 million. E dey stretch across six time zones. Thirty countries like US, India, Japan, China, Iraq and plenty Europe countries fit enter inside Africa.

But for di Mercator map, e dey look smaller pass some of dis countries.

“Di size of Africa map no correct,” Moky Makura, di executive director of Africa No Filter, talk. “Na di longest misinformation and disinformation wey di world don dey do, and e suppose stop.”

So, how person like Nchito wey sabi di work miss dis thing for many years? She blame di colonial education system wey no dey tell di truth about Africa map.

“Na di sad reality of our colonial history. Our education na colonial education. Di books wey I use learn cartography no be our people write am. Yes, dem go talk di truth, but e dey hide for open eye. We dey learn as cartographers say projection no dey show di real size,” Nchito talk.

Di way wey dem dey make map dey cover di wahala wey dey inside.

If you wan change di shape of di world from 3D to 2D, distortion go dey. Cartographers sabi dis one, dem dey teach am, and dem dey waka go.

Propaganda tools

Di kind distortion wey dey Mercator projection no be mistake of mathematics.

Prof Murat Tanrıkulu, geography lecturer for Türkiye Çankırı Karatekin University, talk say people dey use map as propaganda tool since history.

“E get time for history wey people dey use map take lie,” Nchito agree. “To make di size of di land wey one country conquer big pass as e be na one of di lies. For Africa case, I no sabi if dem do am on purpose, but di truth be say map fit dey lie.”

Tanrıkulu trace di interest wey Western cartographers get for Africa to Mali ruler, Mansa Musa, wey make historic pilgrimage to Mecca for 1324.

“E carry 60,000 people for di journey, 2,000 na soldiers. E carry eighty camel loads of gold and each one get 300 kg of gold. Na total of 24,530 tonnes of gold,” e explain.

Story spread say Mansa Musa dey share gold as e dey waka pass towns from Mali to Saudi Arabia. Western cartographers begin draw wetin dem call “Mansa Musa maps.”

“For one atlas, dem draw Musa with golden sceptre and golden throne,” Tanrıkulu talk.

Merchants dey waka go meet am, dem dey attracted by di wealth wey dem see. “Africa suddenly become known and di next thing na to invade, seize and exploit di continent,” di geography lecturer talk.

Di Berlin Conference of 1884 make wetin Tanrıkulu call “peaceful sharing of Africa by di Westerners, brother by brother.”

Dem begin do serious mapping – imperial and colonial – before dem capture Africa finish.

With Africa under European control, di Mercator map help di colonisers show say dem get power pass, while e dey make Africa voice and power small for di world.

Long-term consequences

Di distortion no just dey symbolic.

“I think say di real-life effect be say if you dey deal with something wey big pass as e look, your policy and investment go dey affected. Na because you dey base am on wrong information,” Makura talk.

Di “Correct The Map” campaign, wey Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa dey lead, dey push make people dey use map wey dey show di real size of countries.

“We dey work make curriculum wey go use Equal Earth projection as di main standard for classrooms,” Fara Ndiaye, co-founder of Speak Up Africa, talk.

She hope say global institutions, including di ones wey dey Africa, go adopt di projection.

Di Equal Earth projection, wey American cartographer Tom Patterson develop for 2017, dey show di correct size, even though di shape no too accurate.

“Di same way we dey teach say Mercator no dey show di right size, na so we go talk say Patterson no dey show di right shape, but di size correct,” Nchito yarn give TRT Afrika.

Selma Malika Haddadi, deputy chairperson of di African Union Commission, talk say di Mercator projection make people think say Africa dey “small” even though na di second biggest continent for di world, with over one billion people.

“E fit look like say na just map, but e no be so,” Reuters quote her. “Di African Union dey support dis campaign, wey dey align with our goal to reclaim Africa place for di world, challenge di wrong narratives and promote di real representation of di continent.”

Psychological impact

Nchito don make am her mission after she retire to write secondary school textbook wey go address di distortion.

“You go start Grade 1 and dem go dey tell you say you small and no get value. You go grow, reach secondary school, dem go still dey tell you say you small, and dem go show you pictures wey dey make you believe say others big pass you. E go enter your mind and you go dey believe di lie,” she talk.

“No be only di people around you go dey believe say you small, you go dey carry yourself like small person, and you go allow people treat you like small person because of di misrepresentation. Na wetin don happen to our continent. For years, we allow people treat di continent like say na one small country.”

Africa big pass size alone. Di continent get 60% of di world uncultivated arable land. Di Democratic Republic of Congo alone get 52.8% of di world cobalt reserves. Di 2025 Africa Wealth Report talk say di number of dollar-millionaires go pass 200,000 for di next ten years.

Nchito believe say di next generation of Africans go carry demself different if di way dem dey see di world no dey distorted from when dem small.

“For di next three or four years, we just need to dey sing, ‘Correct The Map,’” she talk, dey encourage Africans to help shape how di world go see di continent.