The world’s most popular internet search engine, Google, has officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico. In the Google Maps app, the gulf is now appearing as the “Gulf of America.”
However, this change has only occurred in the United States. Users in other countries still see the gulf’s original name in the Maps app. Even Mexican users continue to see the name as the “Gulf of Mexico” in their app.
The Gulf of Mexico is a small sub-basin of the Atlantic Ocean. Separating the United States, Mexico, and Cuba, this gulf is mostly located within the North American continent.
For many years, the gulf has been widely known as the Gulf of Mexico. However, after taking the oath of office on January 20, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed several executive orders. Among them was an order to rename this gulf as the Gulf of America.
Before the end of January, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a statement confirming the renaming of the gulf to the Gulf of America. However, the name change would be limited only to the United States. Whether other countries would adopt the new name was entirely up to them.
Within two weeks of the name change, Google complied with the directive from the U.S. Department of the Interior. However, Google officials did not directly acknowledge this. Instead, they stated that the company took this step in response to a request from the U.S. Geological Survey, applying it only to American users.
Notably, along with renaming the Gulf of Mexico, Trump also ordered a name change for North America’s highest mountain peak, Mount Denali. According to the directive, the mountain in Alaska has been renamed Mount McKinley.