The World as China sees it

I came across this terrific map, which recentres the world as from a “Chinese perspective.” What’s so fascinating about it is how it gives prominence to the 5 billion people who live in Africa and Asia.

The point of re-orienting the world north is that as the Arctic Ocean is expected to melt by 2050; it will become hugely important as a shipping corridor.

We’ve obviously heard all about the map controversy between the Mercator projections, which makes Greenland the same size as South America when it is in fact 8 times smaller.

A solution is the Gall-Peters Projection, which gives a truer indication of Africa’s vast size, which is in fact 3 times the size of Europe.

It’s not a coincidence that European cartographers have created maps that have centred and enlarged Europe as the centre of the world.

I won’t comment on this too much since I feel the visual aspects of the maps are very striking. For instance a completely melted Arctic North would mean that Alaska to Germany shipping would be a thing, revolutionising world trade so to speak.