Alaska is both the westernmost and easternmost state in America: How? 

Normally, your mind is trained to think that east and west are opposite sides and should accordingly be far apart from each other. Well, let us tell you that this not always be true. At least, not in the case of the US. The easternmost and westernmost points of the US fall both in the state of Alaska. How is that even possible? It is, because the US lies almost completely in the western hemisphere.  

Division between western and eastern hemispheres  
You know from your books that the prime meridian divides Earth into the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere and it is the line of 0-degree longitude or the starting point for measuring distance between east and west around the globe.  

Now, if you pick up a globe and observe it closely, you would notice that the US falls almost completely in the western hemisphere. There are plenty of islands and territories on the eastern half of the planet: Saipan, Guam, and Wake Island, to name a few. All of these Pacific islands sit on the other side of the 180th meridian, which separates the eastern hemisphere from the west, and are technically east of the mainland United States.  

The westernmost and easternmost points in the US 
So, what is the westernmost point of US? The Aleutian islands in US’ Alaska state are right up to the edge of the western hemisphere at the 180th Meridian making Amatignak Island in Alaska, the westernmost point in the US.  

Now, what is the easternmost point? If you look for US’ easternmost point longitudinally, you will find that too in Alaska at Semisopochnoi Island when the Aleutian Islands cross the 180º Meridian, into the eastern hemisphere.  

That makes Alaska the most western and eastern state, longitudinally, in the US.  

What are the Aleutian islands?  
The Aleutian islands are a series of 14 large and 55 small volcanic islands belonging to Alaska and the Russian territory of Kamchatka Krai. The islands stretch across the longitude 180° and thus consist of the US's westernmost region by longitude (Amatignak Island) and the easternmost region by longitude (Semisopochnoi Island). The islands lie in the northernmost region of the Pacific Ring of Fire. 

Fun fact 
You would be further surprised to know that the northernmost point of the US also lies in the state of Alaska. Point Barrow (Nuvuk) is the northernmost point of the US located on the coast of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. Check it out for yourself!