Coast Lines: A Gulf by any other name
President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” is more than historically inaccurate, it is unnecessarily confusing and will no doubt cost taxpayers millions to implement, then reverse in the next administration.
Where to begin?
Well, there’s that bugaboo, history. The Gulf of Mexico has been called by that name since more than 200 years before there was a United States of America, according to “The Gulf, the Making of an American Sea,” by Jack E. Davis, who wrote, “The unknown maker of a 1541 map called it Seno de Mejicano, the ‘Mexican Gulf,’ ” noting that subsequent names were quickly tried and dropped, with mapmakers settling on Golfo de Mexico, or Gulf of Mexico.
Then there’s cultural sensitivity, or its reverse. The United States is not the only America. Remember Latin America, South America, North America?
Trump’s order states, “The area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico (shades of Prince) has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America,” then goes on to mention its oil and gas value, which gives a clue as to one reason for the name change.
The Associated Press said in a statement that it will continue using the “Gulf of Mexico” in its Stylebook, used by most U.S. newspapers, including The Anna Maria Island Sun.
Amanda Barrett, AP’s vice president of standards and inclusion, wrote, “The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.”
Barrett notes that other countries are not bound by the executive order.
And there are geographical precedents for calling the same body of water by two names. What Iran calls the Persian Gulf, Arab nations call the Arabian Gulf, according to the publication Al Jazeera, which notes that the sea that is bound by Japan and the Korean peninsula is called the Sea of Japan by Japan, while both North and South Korea call it the East Sea.
But what is the Town of Longboat Key going to call its main road, now known as Gulf of Mexico Drive?
The current AP Stylebook entry for the Gulf of Mexico is “inlet of the Atlantic on the southeast coast of North America bounded by the U.S., Mexico and Cuba.”
So why not the Gulf of Cuba?
The U.S. has ignored Cuba for the better part of the past 65 years, to the extent that for decades after its revolution succeeded in 1959, TV weather maps showed the island, but did not name it.
To this day, the U.S. embargo of Cuba remains in effect, punishing people who never knew their great-grandparents who fought the revolution and may only adhere to its politics publicly, by mandate.
We could take a cue from the brave Cubans who, in every generation, resist their Communist government and politicians.
Granma, the newspaper that calls itself the official voice of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, would probably not cover such a resistance movement, at least until it was squelched, and has not yet mentioned Trump’s new name for the Gulf in print.
But Mexico says it will not recognize the new nomenclature.
The Sun stands with Mexico, and the AP – not to mention real, verifiable history – and will continue to call it what it is, the Gulf of Mexico.
Now, can we talk about McKechnie Field?
