Colonizers have always coveted the Gulf of Mexico: its trade winds ... The gulf was formed almost 200 million years ago, when tectonic plates separated and crashed, creating a “super basin ...

The Gulf of Mexico once stretched into Arkansas, its waves lapping at Hope and Little Rock. But that was about 50 million years ago, long before anyone thought of renaming it the Gulf of America.

The Gulf of Mexico basin formed some 300 million years ago, according to the National Parks Service. Its shallow waters became a natural habitat for many kinds of marine life. It is home to over ...