NEW YORK, December 23. /TASS/. US President-elect Donald Trump said he would rename North America's highest mountain, which is now referred to as Denali.

"They took his [25th US President William McKinley's] name off Mount McKinley <...>. He was a great president," Trump said at the AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, noting that his administration will "bring back the name of Mount McKinley."

In 2015, US President Barack Obama announced the renaming of Mount McKinley to Mount Denali, the name traditionally used by the Koyukon people of the Athabascan group. The word "Denali" translates to "great."

Denali, standing at 6,168 meters, was once considered the highest point of the Russian Empire before the territory was sold to the United States. The mountain first appeared on maps in 1839. It was renamed Mount McKinley in 1896 in honor of the 25th US President, William McKinley, who at the time was only a presidential candidate. A scientist, upon learning of McKinley's nomination, named the peak Mount McKinley as a gesture of support, and the name eventually became widely adopted.