Trump’s “proposal” to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” brings to mind many things. One of them is this chart, put out by our government in 1967, showing it as the “Gulf of Mexico” (which would be altered on things issued by the U.S. government if this came to pass):
This was issued in the era when the Gulf was the centre of my family business’ offshore oil activities, which is yet another issue (and really a more important one) that Donald Trump will have to deal with.
But let’s consider something else: the Gulf itself, which is a mediterranean (small m) type of sea. This has been understood for a long time and was discussed by Amadeus Grabau in his Principles of Stratigraphy, first published in 1913:
The land-locked mediterraneans are the most typical of this kind, and by some they are regarded as the only true mediterraneans. Examples of these are the Roman mediterranean (the Mediterranean of geographers; in reality, a double one, the western descending to 3,151 meters off the coast of Sardinia, and the eastern to 4,404 meters south of Greece) ; the Black Sea, an extreme type with a maximum depression of 2,244 meters ; the Red Sea, 2,271 meters ; and the Mexican mediterranean, or Gulf of Mexico, 3,809 meters.
Since we have our own mediterranean sea and plan to rename it for ourselves, it is only fitting that ours should have something that has made That Other One famous: rivieras. Over there we have the French Riviera, the Italian Riviera, etc.. It is therefore important that we officially designate the area between Mobile and Pensacola as the Redneck Riviera.
A few years back a friend from northern Louisiana went over there on vacation, and took exception to me referring to the area as the Redneck Riviera…until she actually went there, after which she said, “It is the Redneck Riviera.”
I rest my case.
Positive Infinity 