Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The Trump administration said on Friday it had followed through on the president’s promise to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and restore Denali, the Alaska Native name for the the highest peak in North America, in its old name. Mount McKinley.
Changing the name of the Gulf as it is used in the United States is within the jurisdiction of the administration. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has already started using the name “Gulf of America,” putting it in a winter weather warning that a low-pressure area is moving “across the Gulf of America” to Florida.
However, other countries do not have to follow suit. When President Trump first announced the name change plan, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico responded by suggesting it be renamed América Mexicana, or Mexican America.
“The Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the nation’s most important historical and economic assets,” the Department of the Interior told the announcement on Friday.
The agency on Friday also said that the US Board on Geographic Names, the federal agency that oversees standard geographic names, is working “expeditiously” to carry out Mr Trump’s order to restore the names of former president, William McKinley, to the top of Alaska.
The Obama administration in 2015 officially named the mountain Denali after decades of advocacy by Alaska Native groups as well as lawmakers from both major parties. On Friday, the Trump administration called the Obama-era decision an “insult” to Mr. McKinley.
Mr. McKinley, who is from Ohio, had no known connection to Alaska and had never visited the mountain. The peak was given to him by a gold prospector and became famous after he became president and was assassinated.
Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, both Republicans, opposed Mr. Trump’s renaming effort. They said they felt Denali was the right name for the majestic white peaks that rise 20,310 feet above sea level in the home of the Koyukon people and Alaska Native groups. different.
Anyone who is in favor of a name change is required by law to make a case before the Geographic Names Board, which includes representatives from various government agencies. By law, if the office does not operate within “regular” hours, the interior secretary has the authority to change the name.
In the case of Denali, Alaska tried for nearly 40 years to replace Mount McKinley with an indigenous name before the Obama administration took action.
