Today (August 9), New Zealand is celebrating 100 days without a reported case of the COVID-19.

Thanks to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's strict and early lockdown, life has pretty much returned to normal in the island nation, with its five million residents once again filling stadiums to watch rugby games and dining out without the fear of becoming infected.

Yes, New Zealand truly is setting the perfect example to the world, and in an effort to put a well-deserved spotlight on the country, one man has created a world map that is centered all around the Kiwis.

Simon Kuestenmacher shared his incredible creation on Twitter, along with the caption: "Promised a kiwi friend to repost this world map centered on New Zealand. Enjoy!"

Upon first look, I'm pretty sure everybody will find it pretty jarring - but many social media users loved the creation.

One Twitter user even wrote: "Meanwhile, in the utopian dreamland where Jacinda Ardern is the supreme global leader. I, personally, can't wait for this future."

In fact, Kuestenmacher's map has actually once again highlighted the issue of Eurocentrism (that is, a worldview that is centered on Western civilization) in geography.

You see, not all world maps are created equally. Per The Independent, some world maps fail to accurately reflect the true size of countries or continents - with Western nations appearing bigger and non-Western nations paling in comparison.

In fact, in 2017, Boston became the first US district to change the maps used in public schools to become more reflective of the true scale of countries, rather than exaggerating the size of more developed nations.

Explaining to The Guardian why this is important, the assistant superintendent of opportunity and achievement gaps for Boston Public Schools, Colin Rose, said:

"When you continue to show images of the places where people’s heritage is rooted that is not accurate, that has an effect on students.

"Maybe we can be an example for other school districts. It’s a paradigm shift. It’s important that students trust the material they are given in school but also question it."

The most famous instance of Eurocentrism is the widely used Mercator projection, which shows Greenland as larger than Africa - when in reality, Africa is 14-times as big as Greenland.

However, Donald Houston, Head of Geography at the University of Portsmouth, writes: "It’s especially problematic given that the first world maps based on the Mercator projection were produced by European colonialists".

Houston also pointed out that it is wrong to assume North is up and South is down, explaining:

"There’s no scientific reason why north is any more up than south. Equally, we could do east-up, west-up or any other compass bearing.

"Purposefully reversing the typical way world maps are drawn has a similar political effect to using the Peters projection, putting more developing countries in the generally poorer southern hemisphere at the top of the map and so giving them greater significance."

Removing colonialism from Geography is no easy task, but if viral maps like Kuestenmacher's can get more eyes to the issue, that certainly isn't a bad thing.

Today (August 9), New Zealand is celebrating 100 days without a reported case of the COVID-19.

Thanks to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's strict and early lockdown, life has pretty much returned to normal in the island nation, with its five million residents once again filling stadiums to watch rugby games and dining out without the fear of becoming infected.

Yes, New Zealand truly is setting the perfect example to the world, and in an effort to put a well-deserved spotlight on the country, one man has created a world map that is centered all around the Kiwis.

Simon Kuestenmacher shared his incredible creation on Twitter, along with the caption: "Promised a kiwi friend to repost this world map centered on New Zealand. Enjoy!"

Upon first look, I'm pretty sure everybody will find it pretty jarring - but many social media users loved the creation.

One Twitter user even wrote: "Meanwhile, in the utopian dreamland where Jacinda Ardern is the supreme global leader. I, personally, can't wait for this future."

In fact, Kuestenmacher's map has actually once again highlighted the issue of Eurocentrism (that is, a worldview that is centered on Western civilization) in geography.

You see, not all world maps are created equally. Per The Independent, some world maps fail to accurately reflect the true size of countries or continents - with Western nations appearing bigger and non-Western nations paling in comparison.

In fact, in 2017, Boston became the first US district to change the maps used in public schools to become more reflective of the true scale of countries, rather than exaggerating the size of more developed nations.

Explaining to The Guardian why this is important, the assistant superintendent of opportunity and achievement gaps for Boston Public Schools, Colin Rose, said:

"When you continue to show images of the places where people’s heritage is rooted that is not accurate, that has an effect on students.

"Maybe we can be an example for other school districts. It’s a paradigm shift. It’s important that students trust the material they are given in school but also question it."

The most famous instance of Eurocentrism is the widely used Mercator projection, which shows Greenland as larger than Africa - when in reality, Africa is 14-times as big as Greenland.

However, Donald Houston, Head of Geography at the University of Portsmouth, writes: "It’s especially problematic given that the first world maps based on the Mercator projection were produced by European colonialists".

Houston also pointed out that it is wrong to assume North is up and South is down, explaining:

"There’s no scientific reason why north is any more up than south. Equally, we could do east-up, west-up or any other compass bearing.

"Purposefully reversing the typical way world maps are drawn has a similar political effect to using the Peters projection, putting more developing countries in the generally poorer southern hemisphere at the top of the map and so giving them greater significance."

Removing colonialism from Geography is no easy task, but if viral maps like Kuestenmacher's can get more eyes to the issue, that certainly isn't a bad thing.