Google Maps has changed the Gulf of Mexico’s name to the Gulf of America for people using the app in the US.
Explaining the move, Google said it was making the change as part of “a longstanding practice” of following name changes when updated by official government sources.
It said the Gulf – which is bordered by the US, Cuba and Mexico – would not be changed for people using the app in Mexico, and users elsewhere in the world will see the label: “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
It comes after President Donald Trump ordered the body of water to be renamed in US government documents after he returned to office last month.
Mexico had decried the move, arguing that the US had no legal right to change the Gulf’s name.
The change was made by Google on Monday after the Geographic Names Information System, a US government database run by the Interior Department, listed an update to the Gulf’s name.
The listing reads: “The Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, with an average depth 5300 ft is a major body of water bordered and nearly landlocked by North America with the Gulf’s eastern, northern, and northwestern shores in the U.S. and its southwestern and southern shores in Mexico.”
It said the change was made in accordance with Trump’s executive order to “restore names that honor American Greatness”.
Following the signing of the order, President Trump proclaimed 9 February as “Gulf of America Day”.
“I call upon public officials and all the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities,” a White House statement said.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum had asked Google to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
She argued the US could not legally change the Gulf’s name because the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea dictates that an individual country’s sovereign territory only extends up to 12 nautical miles out from the coastline.
The Associated Press, a global media organisation, said that it would not change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in its style guide – which is used by most US media outlets.
Because of the style guide decision, the White House said it was barring an AP reporter from covering an executive order signing in the Oval Office.
