US says Gulf of Mexico now 'officially' named Gulf of America on Trump order
The Trump administration's Interior Department says it has "officially" changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali to Mount McKinley.
President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office on Monday, making good on a campaign promise.
“As directed by the president, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America and North America’s highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley,” the Interior Department said in a statement on Friday.
Alaska's towering peak had been called Mount McKinley before, in honor of former president William McKinley under whose leadership the US became one of the world's colonial powers.
In 1975, however, the mountain was renamed Denali meaning tall in the Koyukon Indigenous language at the state's request.
McKinley was the US president from 1897 to 1901 and led the country during its early expansionist and imperialist era.
In his inaugural address on Monday, Trump said McKinley “made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman.”
While Trump can direct the US government to officially recognize the new name of Mount Denali, he has no such power over the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
“We are going to change because we do most of the work there and it is ours,” Trump said at a conference in early January.
The Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest and most important bodies of water in the world and plays a significant role in the economy of the region.
Throughout history, it has been identified by several names.
“Golfo de Mexico” first appeared on maps in the mid-16th century when Spain occupied the areas now known as Cuba to the south, Mexico to the west, and the US states that surround it to the North.
According to experts, such a name change would be unlikely to be recognized internationally, and any unilateral name change by the US could create confusion and disrupt international agreements.
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