Denali / Mt. McKinley

The highest mountain in North America was named Mount McKinley in 1896, by "a gold prospector" to whom even Wikipedia doesn't give a name, after the lawyer and Civil War veteran who was a Presidential candidate at the time. According to Wikipedia, the local Koyukon people had referred to the peak as Denali "for centuries".

William McKinley was assassinated in September 1901, six months into his second term as President. In 1915 the mountain was officially named in his honour by the (US) Federal Government.

In 1975 the state of Alaska decided it was time to officially recognise the name Denali, and the Federal Government followed suit in 2015 as part of an official visit to Alaska by President Barack Obama.

© Haydn Thompson 2020