Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America? Google Maps reveals the official name by which it will be known
The change responds to the order issued by President Donald Trump after taking office in recent days.
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After the executive order issued by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, in which government entities were instructed to adopt the new name of the Gulf of Mexico, to Gulf of America, Google Maps announced the name change officially only in the U.S.
Through a message issued by the same map application server, through its X account, it was revealed that the name change of the body of water located between the United States, Mexico, Cuba, and other countries, will be carried out once the U.S. authorities update the official databases.
Similarly, it was pointed out that this measure responds to the usual policy of using the official names provided by governments.
"We have received some questions about names on Google Maps. We have a long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources", revealed News from Google.
What will it be called in Mexico?
The Google Maps statement also revealed that this renaming will only be visible to users in the U.S., so in Mexico it will continue to be read as the Gulf of Mexico.
Regarding the rest of the world, and according to the same platform, both names will be visible with tags reflecting the denomination of each country.
“When official names vary between countries, map users see the local official names. In the rest of the world, both names are shown. This also applies in this case,” was revealed in the same Google Maps statement.
The reaction of the Mexican government
Following the name change announcement, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, through her morning press conference on January 30, revealed the sending of a letter to the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, advocating for maintaining the name Gulf of Mexico throughout any territory.
In the same letter, Sheinbaum Pardo mentioned that this name has been accepted by the international community since 1776, and has a historical origin widely documented and recognized in internationally recognized maps.
“The name Gulf of Mexico is not the result of an imposition of a single government source, as wrongly suggested by Google, but is an historically accepted and registered name,” mentioned Claudia Sheinbaum.
What does the name change of the Gulf of Mexico mean?
During the weeks before his arrival at the White House, Trump mentioned that the Gulf of Mexico represents a "flourishing economic resource" for the United States, so he considered the importance of renaming it to Gulf of America, to better reflect its great value for the American people.
Despite the controversy generated, and after assuming the presidency, the Republican issued the executive order to change the name of this body of water, with the state of Florida, one of the territories with greater access and activity within the gulf, being the first to adopt this name.
However, despite Donald Trump's order and the Google Maps announcement, the renaming of this commercial and maritime zone still does not have the endorsement of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which is responsible, among many other activities, for officially regulating place names in the country.
*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence
