Mount McKinley, the tallest peak in North America and the 15th tallest mountain on the planet, is to be renamed effective immediately – reverting back to its original name of Denali.
The Alaskan mountain, as well as the national park in which it is situated, was given a new name more than a century ago in honour of the 25th American president, William McKinley. The mountain was given the Ohioan president’s name by a gold prospector in an effort to bolster McKinley’s candidacy for the Oval Office in 1896.
The 6,168-metre-tall mountain gets its new – original – name from the Athabaskan language of indigenous Alaskans. Denali has officially been used in Alaska as the name of the peak since 1975, but it will now be rolled out in federal usage in official documents and maps all across the United States.
The decision was decreed by President Obama last Friday, in an effort to focus on the effects of climate change on Alaska’s arctic environment, as well as to “recognize the sacred status of Denali to generations of Alaska Natives.”
Denali translates into English as ‘The Great One’. Denali was first renamed as Densmore’s Mountain by Americans of European descent in the 19th century, and then to McKinley, which was also the name given to the 6m-acre national park surrounding it.
But Ohio representatives are making moves to block the name change, describing it as an insult to William McKinley, who was assassinated in office in September 1901.
"This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action," said Congressman Bob Gibbs, a representative for Ohio’s 7th Congressional district.
Congressman Gibbs joins a growing chorus of politicians who are urging the president to reconsider the name change:
I'm disappointed with the Administration's decision to change the name of Mt. McKinley in Alaska (1/5)
— Rob Portman (@senrobportman) August 31, 2015
Pres McKinley was a proud Ohioan, and the mountain was named after him, as a way to remember his rich legacy after his assassination (2/5)
— Rob Portman (@senrobportman) August 31, 2015
I urge Admin 2 work w/ me 2 find alternative ways 2 preserve McKinley's legacy somewhere else in the natl park that once bore his name (5/5)
— Rob Portman (@senrobportman) August 31, 2015
