{"id":1836613,"date":"2025-02-13T20:23:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T01:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1836613"},"modified":"2025-02-13T20:23:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T01:23:52","slug":"gulf-of-america-isnt-going-over-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-america-isnt-going-over-well\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Gulf of America’ Isn’t Going Over Well"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Reuters\/Ipsos poll<\/a> conducted 24-26 January found that 70 percent of Americans oppose renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America; only 25 percent support the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Maps users have been leaving one-star reviews of the Gulf to protest Google\u2019s compliance with the renaming; Google has deleted the reviews and prevented new reviews from being posted<\/a>. (Users are also review-bombing the Google Maps app itself.) That\u2019s far from Google\u2019s only problem: Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said today that her government was weighing a lawsuit against Google over the change (AP<\/a>, Politico<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the White House continues to punish the Associated Press by denying Oval Office access, and the AP is considering legal action on First Amendment grounds (CNN<\/a>, NPR<\/a>, Politico<\/a><\/em>). The AP\u2019s own story<\/a> hints at one issue: a lot of news organizations follow the AP style, and cowing the AP into submission kills a lot of birds with one stone. In addition, the New York Times<\/em> and Washington Post<\/em> say they\u2019ll continue using Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg<\/em>\u2019s Linda Poon provides some history and context to the change<\/a> and to the renaming process in general, and has quotes from Mark Monmonier and representatives from Rand McNally and TomTom\u2014because the tech giants aren\u2019t the only ones making maps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing for The Atlantic<\/em>, David Frum sees the renaming of the Gulf as a sign of weakness<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In the age of discovery and conquest, European mariners often named bodies of water after the destination territory on the other side of that water. The Gulf of Mexico is so called because when a Spaniard sailed toward Mexico, the Gulf was the sea that the Spaniard crossed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you understand this practice, you see it everywhere. […]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bodies of water are typically named by dominant nations not after themselves, but after the subordinate nations on the other side. To rename the Gulf of Mexico \u201cthe Gulf of America\u201d is to reconceptualize the United States not as a sending point, but as a receiving point; no longer a country that stamps itself upon history, but a country upon which history is stamped.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Previously: Naming the Gulf<\/a>;\u00a0Google Maps to Use \u2018Gulf of America\u2019\u2013Others Not So Much<\/a>;\u00a0More Reactions to \u2018Gulf of America\u2019<\/a>;\u00a0Google and the Gulf<\/a>; \u2018Gulf of America\u2019: Apple Conforms, AP Punished for Not Doing So<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Reuters\/Ipsos poll conducted 24-26 January found that 70 percent of Americans oppose renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America; only 25 percent support the move. Google Maps users have been leaving… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[490,692],"tags":[1719,448],"class_list":["post-1836613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-censorship","category-toponyms","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-trump","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1836251,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/01\/more-reactions-to-gulf-of-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836613,"position":0},"title":"More Reactions to ‘Gulf of America’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"29 January 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Yesterday\u2019s post looked mainly at Google\u2019s response to Trump\u2019s renaming of Denali and the Gulf of Mexico. Today some news about Apple and OpenStreetMap. On Daring Fireball, John Gruber points to OpenStreetMap forum discussions about the change, which reveals some nuances and complications despite the utter lunacy of the situation.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1836778,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-america-compliance-and-resistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836613,"position":1},"title":"‘Gulf of America’: Compliance and Resistance","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Apple Maps (screenshot) Compliance While it was reported that Apple would comply with the \u201cGulf of America\u201d renaming, I wasn\u2019t sure what Apple would do outside the U.S.; now it appears that it will follow Google\u2019s lead and show both names. Above is what I see in Canada; I wonder\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1836235,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/01\/google-maps-to-use-gulf-of-america-others-not-so-much\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836613,"position":2},"title":"Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 January 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Lots of news coverage about Google\u2019s announcement that it will follow Trump\u2019s lead and change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America (and Denali to Mount McKinley) on Google Maps once the GNIS database has been updated\u2014at least when showing it to American users. Mexicans will still get Gulf of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1836507,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-america-apple-conforms-ap-punished-for-not-doing-so\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836613,"position":3},"title":"‘Gulf of America’: Apple Conforms, AP Punished for Not Doing So","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Google isn\u2019t alone: Apple is also changing Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America to its maps. According to Bloomberg, the change is happening today for U.S. users and rolling out globally later, which if true is a lot more compliance than Google is showing. AppleInsider, TechCrunch, The Verge. Apple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1836993,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/a-gulf-of-america-roundup\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836613,"position":4},"title":"A ‘Gulf of America’ Roundup","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Two long reads on Apple, Google and the Gulf of America nonsense. Miguel Garc\u00eda looks the history of places with multiple names, and how Google Maps in particular has handled them, using the Matterhorn (Mont Cervin, Monte Cervino) as an uncontentious example. John Gruber, whose Daring Fireball blog has covered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1840414,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/no-gulf-is-safe\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836613,"position":5},"title":"No Gulf Is Safe","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"8 May 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"One consolation to all this \u201cGulf of America\u201d nonsense was that, as something done by executive order, it would be just as easy to undo when all of this is over. Was. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would codify the renaming of the Gulf\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1836613"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1836617,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836613\/revisions\/1836617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1836613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1836613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1836613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}