Appalachian Mountains

… include all of the E mountains of the United States from Alabama to northern Maine. The name was given by Spaniards under Hernando De Soto in 1539 for the Apalachee Indians, whose name meant "people on the other side" (presumably of a river). In North Carolina the Blue Ridge, Black Mountains, and Great Smoky Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains. At one time, both Appalachian and Allegheny were names applied to the range from Georgia to New York, but a study by Arnold Guyot, "On the Appalachian Mountain System," published in 1861, firmly established the present name. See also Mountain Region.