Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer
Friday the Department of the Interior announced that the Gulf of Mexico had officially been renamed to the Gulf of America. The department also announced that the highest peak in the nation had been changed from Denali to its original name of Mount McKinley. Both of these moves were in response to an executive order that was signed by Trump shortly after he took office.
The Department of the Interior announced in a news release that the name changes to the Gulf and the Peak both “reaffirm the Nation’s commitment to preserving the extraordinary heritage of the United States and ensuring that future generations of Americans celebrate the legacy of its heroes and historic assets.” The department’s Board on Geographic Names must now update “the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use.”
While name changes will be applied to federal databases other nations will not be required to recognize or use the names associated with the changes. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum held a news conference during Trump’s transition where she stood before a 17th-century world map before stating jokingly that North Americans should be referred to as “Mexican America.”
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski also criticized Trump for the name change stating “You can’t improve upon the name that Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans bestowed on North America’s tallest peak, Denali – the Great One, “For years, I advocated in Congress to restore the rightful name for this majestic mountain to respect Alaska’s first people who have lived on these lands for thousands of years. This is an issue that should not be relitigated.”
