President Barack Obama has changed the name of North America's tallest mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali, bestowing the traditional Alaska Native name ahead of a visit to Alaska.
The White House announcement came as Mr Obama prepared to depart on a three-day visit to Alaska, becoming the first sitting president to travel north of the Arctic Circle.
As part of his visit, he is attempting to show solidarity with Alaska Natives and held a round-table session with a group of Alaska Natives on arrival in Anchorage later today.
By renaming the peak Denali, an Athabascan word meaning "the high one," the president is wading into a sensitive and decades-old conflict between residents of Alaska and Ohio.
Alaskans have informally called the 20,320-ft mountain Denali for years, but the federal government recognises its name evoking the 25th president, William McKinley, who was born in Ohio and assassinated early in his second term.
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