Trump administration says 'Gulf of America' name change now official
Jan 24 (Reuters) - The Trump administration's Interior Department said on Friday it had officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali to Mount McKinley.
U.S. 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.
Alaska's towering peak had been called Mount McKinley before, in honor of former U.S. 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 Monday, 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 U.S. in an expansionist era, gaining Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico as territories. Hawaii later became a U.S. state.
While Trump can direct the U.S. Geological Survey to change how it denotes the Gulf of Mexico, such a name change would be unlikely to be recognized internationally.
Mexico, which like the U.S. has a long coastline circling the body of water, has said the Gulf of Mexico name is internationally recognized and has been used as a maritime navigational reference going back hundreds of years.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this month jokingly suggested North America, including the United States, be renamed "Mexican America" - an historic name used on an early map of the region.
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British civil servants 'will REFUSE to recognise Donald Trump's rebrand of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America' on official maps
Donald Trump's effort to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America' will be quietly ignored by British officials, sources have revealed.
The US president ordered US mapmakers to make the change within hours of taking office on Monday, making good on a campaign promise which infuriated the Mexican government.
The executive order, titled 'Restoring names that honor American greatness', requires the Gulf to be referred to by its new name in all official documents 'in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people'.
'We'll be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring,' Trump told reporters as he announced his plan on January 7.
'That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. It is appropriate,'
Mexico has ridiculed the move, suggesting that the US should be renamed 'Mexican America' instead.
And the UK will continue to call the Gulf by its existing name unless, or until, any new name becomes the most widely used in the English language, a source told the Telegraph.
Officials believe that is unlikely ever to happen and insist that the name 'cannot be universally changed by a single country'.
No renaming will appear on government documents and the new name 'will not apply to UK products'.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office giving US officials 30 days to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America'
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum ridiculed the idea, suggesting the US should return to a previous name of 'America Mexicana' - producing a 16th century map to make her case
Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum was scathing about Trump's plan to rename the 617,800 square miles of ocean that border the two countries.
'For us, it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico,' she said on Tuesday.
Earlier this month she held a press conference in response to Trump's announcement, dramatically unveiling a map dating back to the 1600s which showed an early designation of North America with the title 'America Mexicana' in giant letters.
And she said a document dating from 1814, that preceded Mexico's constitution, referred that way to the area that now includes the United States.
'Mexican America, that sounds nice, no?' she said sarcastically, pointing to a massive image of the 17th Century map behind her.
'He talked about name, we too are talking about the name.'
She was joined by cultural adviser Alfonso Suarez del Real who detailed the backstory of the 'Mexican America' name for North America.
'The fact is that Mexican America is recognized since the 17th Century... as the name for the whole northern part of the continent,' Suarez del Real said.
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton was seen laughing behind Trump's shoulder as he spoke of his plan during his inaugural address, but the announcement was warmly welcomed by leading Republicans.
Mapping companies, including Google Maps, are under pressure to change the name on their apps with nearly 1,000 people demanding action on the company's Help page.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) smirked as Trump announced the executive order enforcing the name change at his inauguration
Private mapping companies are coming under pressure to make the change the name on their apps but it remains as the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps for the time being
The Gulf remains under its old name on Google Maps for the time being, but official map makers in the US have 30 days to make the change.
The executive order noted that the gulf would 'play a pivotal role in shaping America's future', and also changed the name of Denali, the country's tallest mountain, to its previous name of Mount McKinley.
The Alaskan peak was named McKinley in 1896 after the country's 25th president William McKinley, but renamed Denali by President Barack Obama in 2015 in recognition of its traditional Native American identity.
The latest change to the mountain's name will be recognised internationally as it sits entirely within the US, but Trump may face a fight in persuading the rest of the world to accept his new name for the Gulf of Mexico.
The United Nations has an influential committee dedicated to advising on contested place names, including the Falkland Islands which Argentina refers to as the 'Malvinas'.
Currently the islands go under their British name in official UN documents but have 'Malvinas' written in brackets alongside.
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С умилением и отраслевыми пожеланиями, Dimitriy.
