phrase that readers can expect to see less often in this magazine is “The Last Frontier.” Although it remains Alaska’s official nickname, printed on state license plates, it has fallen into disfavor for three reasons.

Anthropological: To the first people migrating into the Americas, whether overland or along the coast, Alaska was their doorstep. Indeed, they likely did not perceive a frontier at all, just a lowland extension of the Asian continent (now inundated by the Bering Sea). Their descendants reached Tierra del Fuego about 10,000 years ago, but even that was not the last frontier. Polynesians pushed the actual frontiers of human habitation within historical times, settling Hawai’i and Easter Island about 1,100 years ago and finally discovering the unpeopled islands of New Zealand around the same time as—for reference—King John of England signed the Magna Carta.

Historical: Even from the perspective of European explorers, Alaska was not the last frontier. True, the Bering expedition of 1741 put Alaska on European maps a century after New Zealand became known to the Tasman expedition of 1642. The middle of the Pacific Ocean, however, remained a big blank until 1778, when the Cook expedition made formal contact with Kamehameha the Great’s nascent kingdom. After that, the only frontiers left were the North and South Poles.

Political: The third reason “The Last Frontier” is a dubious nickname for Alaska is contained in another nickname, the 49th State. Eight months after statehood became official on January 3, 1959, the nation gained a 50th state. Until a 51st is added, the stronger claim to “The Last Frontier” belongs to Hawai’i.

To whom was Alaska the last frontier, then? US settlers. While missionaries and planters flooded the Kingdom of Hawai’i in the late 1700s, the Russian Empire discouraged entry into its North American territory. After the Alaska Purchase of 1867, the focus for two decades was on the exploration of the unmapped Interior, even as the US Census Bureau declared the Western frontier closed in 1890. Then the 1896 Gold Rush sent Klondikers stampeding out of Seattle. From their perspective, then, Alaska truly was a frontier.

But North to the Future was not a one-way trip. Coming from the last frontier, Alaskans are constantly seeking the new, next frontier. In particular, Hawai’i retains its allure for Alaskans escaping the long winter.

Anyone is welcome to continue referring to the official nickname, and readers may see the phrase printed here as direct quotations. I don’t expect everyone to share my archaeological pedantry. For my part, though, the name “Alaska” needs no further poetic embellishment.