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They Want To Rename New Mexico. It's 258 Years Older Than Mexico.
The President posted a map this week with "Mexico" crossed out in red and "America" written over it, suggesting New Mexico be renamed New America. The White House reshared it.
Almost everyone assumes New Mexico was named after Mexico. It was not, and it could not have been. Spanish explorers applied the name Nuevo Mexico in 1563, and again in 1581. The country we call Mexico did not take that name until it won independence in 1821. That makes the state's name 258 years older than the country people think it copied, and 213 years older than the United States. Both names come from the Mexica.
The confusion is old and well documented. New Mexico Magazine has run a column for decades called "One Of Our 50 Is Missing", collecting the times Americans are told they live in another country. The editor puts it at 50 to 100 submissions a month. One man in Santa Fe, ordering tickets for the Atlanta Olympics, was told to call the Mexican consulate.
And a president cannot rename a state. The name is the opening line of New Mexico's constitution. Changing it would take New Mexico's own voters amending that constitution. Not a post, not an order, a ballot.
One more thing: the map itself came from a satirical account that describes its own output as news that doesn't matter. No executive order renaming the state was signed.
Footage: licensed stock only. The map image is not shown.
The story
Three facts under it that the coverage did not lead with:
- New Mexico was never named after Mexico, and could not have been. The name Nuevo México dates from 1563; the country took the name Mexico at independence in 1821. Both derive from the Mexica.
- A president cannot rename a state. The name is the opening line of New Mexico's own constitution. Changing it needs New Mexico's voters to amend it.
- The map came from a satire account which describes its own output as "snews that doesn't matter".
References
Reporting drawn from CNN · The Washington Post · Time · NBC News and KOB4 for the post; Snopes for the satire-account origin and the constitutional point; New Mexico Magazine for "One Of Our 50 Is Missing" · NBC News and KOB4 for the post; Snopes · LIVE AND PUBLIC
What the reel says
Narration as scripted and voiced.
A map went up this week with the word Mexico crossed out in red. The president wants New Mexico renamed New America. He cannot do it, and the reason why is a better story than the argument
Start with the name. Almost everyone assumes New Mexico was named after Mexico. It was not. It could not have been
Spanish explorers called the land north of the Rio Grande Nuevo Mexico in 1563 and again in 1581. The country we call Mexico did not take that name until it won independence in 1821.
So the state's name is 258 years older than the country people think it was named after. Both were named for the Mexica, the people the Aztecs came from
It is older than the United States too. New Mexico had its name 213 years before America had a country to go with it
The confusion is real and it is documented. New Mexico Magazine has run a column for decades called One of Our Fifty is Missing. It collects the times Americans are told they live in another country. The editor says fifty to a hundred arrive every month
A man in Santa Fe rang up to buy tickets for the Atlanta Olympics. He was told to call the Mexican consulate
Now the legal part. A president can rename a lake inside a federal database. He cannot rename a state. The name is the opening line of New Mexico's constitution. The name of this state is New Mexico
Changing it would take New Mexico's own voters amending that constitution. Not a post, not an order, a ballot
And the map he shared did not come from a mapmaker. It came from a satire account that describes its own output as news that does not matter
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