US says Gulf of Mexico now “Gulf of America”
The US Department of the Interior on Friday said that the Gulf of Mexico was now to be known as the “Gulf of America.”
The development followed an executive order signed by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, on assumption of office.
On Monday, Trump issued an order saying that the body of water on the south coast of the US and east coast of Mexico would be renamed in honour of “American greatness”.
The name Gulf of Mexico has been in use since the 16th century.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday said that “for us it will continue to be the Gulf of Mexico and for the entire world it will continue to be the Gulf of Mexico”.
The DoI also said that North America’s highest mountain, Denali, was also to change name and would now be known by its previous moniker of Mount McKinley.
The mountain had been officially renamed at the request of the state of Alaska after years of dispute in 2015 under then US President Barack Obama.
The name change was a sign of cultural sensitivity towards the indigenous population of Alaska, for whom the mountain has had a special significance for centuries.
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The 2015 order changing the mountain’s name to Denali noted that William McKinley, a former US president from Ohio, “never visited, nor did he have any significant historical connection to, the mountain or Alaska”.
The DoI said that the “name restorations … honor the legacy of American greatness”, echoing Trump’s order.
“These changes reaffirm the nation’s commitment to preserving the extraordinary heritage of the United States and ensuring that future generations of Americans celebrate the legacy of its heroes and historic assets,” the statement continued.
The DoI said that the US Board on Geographic Names was “working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use.
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