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Google followed BGN’s lead this week, changing the name to Gulf of America on its maps app seen by U.S. audiences. Viewers in Mexico will continue to see Gulf of Mexico, while international users are seeing both names. But some media organizations, including the news agency Associated Press, will continue to call the body of water the Gulf of Mexico.
Encyclopædia Britannica will continue to use Gulf of Mexico for a few reasons. We serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the U.S. And given that the Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, the U.S.’s authority to rename it is ambiguous: It has been called Gulf of Mexico for more than 425 years. But it’s important to note the distinction between international and domestic areas. President Trump has also signed an executive order to change the name of the Alaskan mountain called Denali back to its former name, Mount McKinley. When that change is made official by BGN, Britannica will also make that change, as we did in 2015 when Pres. Barack Obama changed the name of McKinley to Denali.
Originally, the Aztecs called Mexico Anáhuac. When the Spanish colonized the area in the early 16th century, it became part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The terms Gulfe of Mexico and Baye of Mexico were in common usage by the end of the 16th century (a map made in 1589 is shown below). The ancient city of Tenochtitlán was similarly renamed Mexico City by the Spanish.
Rare Book and Special Collections Division—Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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