Denali
Denali, formerly Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain in North America. It is located in south central Alaska and rises 20,330 ft (6,194 m) above sea level.
Gold prospector William Dickey suggested the name "Mount McKinley" in 1896. This was soon after McKinley received the Republican Party nomination for president. After McKinley was murdered in 1901, the name gained widespread acceptance as a memorial to the slain president. It is used in the 1911 edition of Britannica.[1] In 2015, President Barack Obama announced that the mountain would be renamed "Denali".[2] The State of Alaska had requested this name change repeatedly, beginning in 1975. Denali is a bogus "Indian name" for the mountain. In the 19th century, Russian residents sometimes called it Bolshaya Gora (the big mountain). "Denali" is an attempt to back translate this name into Koyukon, one of the local dialects.
References
- ↑ "Alaska," Encyclopedia Britannica (1911).
- ↑ "Mount McKinley Will Again Be Called Denali," New York Times, 30 August 2015