The Trump administration said on Friday that it had followed the president’s promises to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” and to give Denali, the Alaska Native name for the highest summit from North America, its old name. Mont McKinley.
Changing the name of the Gulf as it is used in the United States is the power of administration. Governor Ron Desantis of Florida has already started using the name “Golfe of America”, by inscribing it in a winter weather warning indicating that a low pressure zone moved “through the Gulf of America” to the Florida.
However, other countries are not forced to follow this example. When President Trump announced for the first time his name change project, the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum replied by suggesting that America be renamed American Mexicana, or Mexican America.
“The Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the most vital assets in the country’s history and economy,” the Ministry of the Interior said on Friday in a press release.
The agency also said on Friday that the American council on geographic names, a federal organization that oversees the standardized geographic names, worked “quickly” to execute Mr. Trump to restore the name of the former president, William McKinley, at the top of Alaska.
In 2015, the Obama administration officially appointed the Denali mountain after decades of advocacy from Alaska Aboriginal groups as well as legislators from the two main parties. Friday, the Trump administration described this decision as the Obama era of “affront” to Mr. McKinley.
Mr. McKinley, from Ohio, had no known link with Alaska and never visited the mountain. The peak was appointed in his honor by a gold researcher and was popularized after he became president and was murdered.
Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan from Alaska, both Republicans, opposed Mr. Trump’s efforts to rename the name. They said they believed that Denali was the legitimate name of the impressive white peaks located 20,310 feet above sea level, where the Koyukon people live and other Alaska indigenous groups.
Any supporter of a name change is brought by law to assert its arguments before the Council of Geographic Names, made up of representatives of various government agencies. Under the law, if the board of directors does not act within a “reasonable” time, the interior secretary has the power to change his name.
In the case of Denali, Alaska tried for about 40 years to replace Mont McKinley with the Aboriginal name before the Obama administration agrees.
