President Donald Trump expressed the intention to change the state of New Mexico's name to "New America". The proposal was announced through a social media post, where Trump shared a photograph of the state's geographic outline with the new designation.
This is not the first initiative of this kind taken by Trump. Just a few days earlier, the president had signed a decree to change Lake Ontario's name, demonstrating a pattern of attempts to rename American geographic landmarks.
The decision to rename New Mexico immediately generated adverse reactions. Critics pointed out that the measure represents an attempt to erase the state's Mexican cultural and historical heritage, which was Mexican territory before being incorporated into the United States.
New Mexico is the fifth largest state in the country by area and has a predominantly Hispanic population. The name change would be one of the most significant changes in American place names since the territory's acquisition in 1848, after the Mexican-American War.
