In 1884, at a conference in Washington about the Meridian, it was decided that the Greenwich Meridian would be the international Prime Meridian—the reference point for longitude and the global standard for time zones. That location was chosen because the UK had played a major role in promoting time standardization.
From there, the world maps we still use today were developed, and in Europe, we all grew up believing that the smallest continent, Europe, was at the center.
But of course, not everyone agreed with this.
In 1979, an Australian named Stuart McArthur, frustrated by people constantly mocking how "remote" Australia was, created a new world map where North and South were inverted, this is the South was up and the North down. In his version, the Prime Meridian no longer passed through Greenwich but through Canberra, Australia's capital—placing Australia at the center and pushing Europe to the bottom right.
Suddenly, Europe was no longer the center of the world.
This is a simple yet incredible reminder that something considered a "universal standard" might actually just be the perspective of a select few.
And most importantly, it reminds us that if you find something unfounded, unfair, or unreasonable, you can actually change it or "correct it"—by offering a new way of seeing things.
Dare to think differently
