Trump administration says ‘Gulf of America’ name change now official
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A statue of Pope John Paul II at a jetty on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Boca del Rio, Veracruz state, Mexico.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration’s Interior Department on Jan 24 said it had officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali to Mount McKinley.
US President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions
“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.
Alaska’s towering peak had been called Mount McKinley before, in honour of former US president William McKinley, but was renamed Denali – meaning “tall” in the Koyukon indigenous language – in 1975 at the state’s request.
“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 department said.
In his inaugural address on Jan 20, Mr Trump said McKinley, a Republican who was president from 1897 to 1901, “made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent – he was a natural businessman”.
McKinley was head of the US in an expansionist era, gaining Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico as territories. Hawaii later became a US state.
While Mr Trump can direct the US Geological Survey to change how it denotes the Gulf of Mexico, such a name change is unlikely to be recognised internationally.
Mexico, which like the US has a long coastline circling the body of water, has said the Gulf of Mexico name is internationally recognised and has been used as a maritime navigational reference going back hundreds of years.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum earlier in January jokingly suggested North America, including the US, be renamed “Mexican America” – a historic name used on an early map of the region.
REUTERS
