Trump decree: Google Maps changes Gulf of Mexico in the USA
The names of two places in the USA are adapted on Google Maps – adapted to Donald Trump's wishes.
Never before has a US president been as old as Donald John Trump at his inauguration.
(Image: WeiĂźes Haus)
Acting President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to rename two geographical points. The Gulf of Mexico is therefore to become the Gulf of America with immediate effect. Denali is one of the highest mountains in the world and is located in Alaska. In the future, it will be called Mount McKinley – as it was previously known. Google is following this order in its map service.
At X, the Google News team writes that they will adapt to the government's Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). When the GNIS makes a name change, Google also updates the map service – which is common practice. However, there is the restriction that the new names will only be visible to people in the USA. This is how Google always handles it: if there are different names in different countries, Google displays the official version of a name in the respective country. Often both names are also displayed. This is how it will be in the case of the bay and the mountain, says Google – for people outside the USA.
Changing names for mountain and bay
The renaming was one of Trump's many election promises. In fact, it is not a problem to change the name of a place, but only in your country. Trump's decree also states that the new names only apply to the mainland of the USA. The bay has been called the Gulf of Mexico since the 16th century. Reactions from the affected countries have so far been cautious to relaxed. Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is reported to have said that they wanted to avoid conflicts. However, she also remarked that the USA used to be called America Mexicana and that they could return to this name.
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Denali in Alaska has already undergone several name changes. However, these were mostly names that expressed the size of the mountain, and in different languages. In the late 19th century, it was named after a gold miner: Initially, it was then called Denmore's Mountain. Shortly afterward, it was to be named after William McKinley, a US president who was assassinated shortly after his re-election. In 1975, it was decided to rename it Denali, the original name used by the Native Americans. This name was not officially entered into the GNIS until 2015 under Barack Obama. This lasted just under ten years.
(emw)
