Question

africa calls for map to show continents true size
21st august 2025
the african union (au) has called for an end to a widely used map that shrinks the african continent. the map is called the mercator projection. it was created by map - maker gerardus mercator in 1569. in the 18th century, it became the international standard for sailors. it is now the worlds most widely used map. however, it does not show the true size of different nations. countries farther away from the equator look larger than they really are, whereas countries closer to the equator appear smaller. the au is supporting a campaign called correct the map. it is also calling for a design that shows the correct size of africa, and of other continents and countries.
the deputy chairperson of the au spoke about the mercator map. she told reuters: \it might seem to be just a map, but in reality, it is not.\ she said the mercator gave the impression that africa was less important. she said africa is the worlds second - largest continent by area and has more than one billion people. the executive director of the non - profit organization africa no filter agreed. she said the mercator map was \the worlds longest misinformation and disinformation campaign and it just simply has to stop\. the group speak up africa wants people to use the 2018 equal earth map, on which \africa appears 14 times larger than greenland, as it actually is\.
sources: theguardian.com / cnn.com / correctthemap.org / wikipedia.org / equal - earth.com
writing
map - reading should be a subject taught in schools.
discuss.
true / false

1. the african union wants people to stop using a map that shrinks africa. t / f
2. the worlds most widely used map was created in 1569. t / f
3. on the widely used map, northern countries look smaller than they are. t / f
4. on the widely used map, countries on the equator look larger. t / f
5. the article says africa has the worlds second largest population. t / f
6. the africa no filter group said the widely used map misinformed people. t / f
7. the speak up africa group wants people to use a gender equality map. t / f
8. greenland is 14 times smaller than africa. t / f

synonym match
(the words in bold are from the news article.)

1. map\ta. feeling
2. created\tb. accurate
3. international\tc. region
4. true\td. chart
5. supporting\te. really
6. seem\tf. global
7. impression\tg. backing
8. area\th. plainly
9. simply\ti. made
10. actually\tj. appear

Explanation:

1. El artículo dice que la Unión Africana quiere que se deje de usar un mapa que achica África, por lo que es cierto.
2. El mapa más usado fue creado por Gerardus Mercator en 1569, por lo que es cierto.
3. En el mapa de Mercator, los países más alejados del ecuador parecen más grandes, entonces los países del norte parecen más grandes de lo que son, no más pequeños, por lo que es falso.
4. Los países cerca del ecuador parecen más pequeños en el mapa de Mercator, no más grandes, por lo que es falso.
5. El artículo menciona que África es el segundo continente más grande en área y tiene más de mil millones de personas, pero no dice que tenga la segunda población más grande del mundo, por lo que es falso.
6. La organización África No Filtro dijo que el mapa de Mercator era una campaña de desinformación, lo que significa que desinformaba a la gente, por lo que es cierto.
7. El grupo Speak Up África quiere que la gente use el mapa Equal Earth de 2018, no un mapa de igualdad de género, por lo que es falso.
8. Según el grupo Speak Up África, en el mapa Equal Earth, África parece 14 veces más grande que Groenlandia como en realidad es, lo que significa que Groenlandia es 14 veces más pequeña que África, por lo que es cierto.

Para el emparejamiento de sinónimos:

1. "map" - "chart" (d)
2. "created" - "made" (i)
3. "international" - "global" (f)
4. "true" - "accurate" (b)
5. "supporting" - "backing" (g)
6. "seem" - "appear" (j)
7. "impression" - "feeling" (a)
8. "area" - "region" (c)
9. "simply" - "plainly" (h)
10. "actually" - "really" (e)

Answer:

1. True
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. False
6. True
7. False
8. True
9. d. chart
10. i. made
11. f. global
12. b. accurate
13. g. backing
14. j. appear
15. a. feeling
16. c. region
17. h. plainly
18. e. really