Featured Image Credit: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
There is a specific reason why only certain users will see Gulf of Mexico’s name change on Google Maps.
In case you missed it, President Donald Trump announced at his inauguration that he would be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
In a move that many aren’t sure who exactly asked for, the body of water will now be known as the Gulf of America.
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And Google has revealed that it will be following the change made in an executive order by the president.
The tech giant confirmed that if the US government updated its official maps, then Google would follow suit.
In a statement, Google said: “In the US, the Geographic Names Information System has officially updated ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’.
“As we announced two weeks ago and consistent with our longstanding practices, we’ve begun rolling out changes to reflect this update.”
Trump celebrated the change on Truth Social, writing: “GULF OF AMERICA!”
However, this will only affect Google Maps users in the US, for everyone else in the world, things will stay the same. Why?
Ahead of this change, Mexico asked Google not to, arguing that the US has no legal right to rename the water body, citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Previously speaking to the press, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said: “If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles.
“It cannot apply to the rest, in this case, the Gulf of Mexico.”
She also joked that she was thinking about renaming North America to ‘Mexican America’, adding: “By the way, we are also going to ask for Mexican America to appear on the map.”
As far back as 1590, North America was known as Mexican America.
Because the name of the gulf is disputed between the countries, ‘Gulf of America’ will only be shown to users in the US.
For Mexican users, they will see ‘Gulf of Mexico’ and anyone else will see ‘Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)’.
This isn’t the first time that Google has added additional names or used different names for one location.
The body of water between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been a point of contention for decades.
In Iran, it appears on Google Maps as the ‘Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)’ but in other Arab countries near the location, it’s labeled as the ‘Arabian Gulf’.
If we’re splitting hairs, the US was once known as Turtle Island by many Native American cultures - so maybe that could be the next name change!
