Muhamad Yehia
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Sunday declaring Feb. 9 as “the first-ever Gulf of America Day,” following his executive order on Jan. 20 to rename the ocean basin previously known as the Gulf of Mexico.
In his proclamation, the president called on “public officials and all the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and actiities.”
Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum celebrated the name change on the social media platform X, saying that his department has taken actions to implement Trump’s executive order.
Gold prospector William Dickey referred to the mountain as Mount McKinley in 1896, naming it after then-presidential candidate McKinley. The name was officially recognized as Mount McKinley by the federal government in 1917.
In March 1975, Alaska Gov. Jay Hammond asked the Interior Department to direct the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to change the mountain’s name to Denali, an Athabascan word that translates to “the great one” or “the high one.
The name change would only be visible to users in the United States, the tech giant said. The name Gulf of Mexico will remain the same in Mexico, while users in other countries will see both names displayed on Google Maps.
