South Carolina is only south if you are North of it correct? So the name "south" is not really a reliable direction indicator. Some wise man (or woman) decided they would put a line on the globe demarking East from West. Mostly for time and navigation purposes I guess. It is the International Dateline, and the fact is that if you start at that line and go to the right, you are going East, if you go to the left you are going West. If you go East all the way around the world, when you get back to that line you are now the farthest East you can possibly go. Same goes for the other direction. Therefore Alaska is both the Westernmost and Easternmost state.