After Google Renamed The Gulf Of Mexico, Mexico’s President Asked It To Show A “Mexican America” Map

On Monday Jan. 27, Google announced it would rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google Maps after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to change the body of water.

“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” Google wrote on X.

The company said that once the name changes in the US’ database known as the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), Google Maps in the US will show the Gulf of America.

It added that the change will only be visible to people in the US and that the gulf will continue to show as the Gulf of Mexico to the rest of the world.

In response, Mexico’s first woman president Claudia Sheinbaum sent a letter to Google, which she presented to the press on Thursday, Jan. 30, asking that the name not be changed.

In the letter, the Mexican government said the name, the Gulf of Mexico, has been historically recognized since the 17th century and is legally used in international organizations such as the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), which charts the world’s seas and oceans, that both the US and Mexico are part of.

Mexico also said that Trump’s executive order only calls for a name change within the territory of the US, which “extends up to 12 nautical miles (about 22 kilometers)” out from the US coastline under UN law, according to Sheinbaum.

As the Gulf is longer than 12 nautical miles, Trump can only rename the waters from the US coastline o to 12 nautical miles into the Gulf.

At the end of the letter, Sheinbaum also asked Google to display a map from 1607 where North America is labeled as Mexican American when users Google search for “Mexican America”.

For Trump to fully change the name of the Gulf, he would need the approval of Mexico and Cuba as it involves their sovereign territory. Otherwise, countries would not recognize the name “Gulf of America”, according to the BBC.

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