“As directed by the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America and North America’s highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley,” the Interior Department said in a statement, according to The Economic Times.
Alaska’s towering peak had been called Mount McKinley before, in honor of former US President William McKinley, but was renamed Denali – meaning ‘tall’ in the Koyukon Indigenous language – in 1975 at the state’s request.
“These changes 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 claimed.
Mexico, which like the US has a long coastline circling the body of water, has said the Gulf of Mexico name is internationally recognized and has been used as a maritime navigational reference going back hundreds of years. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this month jokingly suggested North America, including the United States, be renamed “Mexican America” – an historic name used on an early map of the region.
SD/