State in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States, named for George Washington, with the state's largest city Seattle, the center of transportation, business, and industry along Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords, and bays carved out by glaciers and the remainder of the state consisting of deep temperate rainforests in the west; mountain ranges in the west, central, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, central, and south, given over to intensive agriculture.
Map of Washington
Featured Locations
Mount Rainier NPS, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Mount Rainier National Park
National park preserving all of Mount Rainier, a 14,411-foot (4,392 m) stratovolcano, surrounded by valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows, and old-growth forest
Reywas92, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Best known as the site of the historic 1980 volcanic eruption and offers a variety of recreation opportunities, including the chance to climb to the summit
North Cascades National Park
Park features the rugged mountain peaks of the North Cascades Range, the most expansive glacial system in the contiguous United States, the headwaters of numerous waterways, and vast forests with the highest degree of flora biodiversity of any American national park
Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Cropped and Image Size Adjusted
Olympic National Park
National park highlightng four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier east side and three distinct ecosystems
Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Cropped and Image Size Adjusted
Seattle
Seaport city on the West Coast of the United States is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America
Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Leavenworth, WA
City in Washington known for the entire town center modeled on a German Bavarian village as part of a civic initiative that began in the 1960s
Kamiak Butte County Park
David Dugan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Western Washington
Kamiak Butte County Park ·
Palouse, WA ·
Palouse Falls State Park ·
Steptoe Butte State Park
Map of Washington
Mount Rainier NPS, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Mount Rainier National Park
National park preserving all of Mount Rainier, a 14,411-foot (4,392 m) stratovolcano, surrounded by valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows, and old-growth forest
Reywas92, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Best known as the site of the historic 1980 volcanic eruption and offers a variety of recreation opportunities, including the chance to climb to the summit
North Cascades National Park
Park features the rugged mountain peaks of the North Cascades Range, the most expansive glacial system in the contiguous United States, the headwaters of numerous waterways, and vast forests with the highest degree of flora biodiversity of any American national park
Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Cropped and Image Size Adjusted
Olympic National Park
National park highlightng four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier east side and three distinct ecosystems
Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Cropped and Image Size Adjusted
Seattle
Seaport city on the West Coast of the United States is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America
Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Leavenworth, WA
City in Washington known for the entire town center modeled on a German Bavarian village as part of a civic initiative that began in the 1960s
Kamiak Butte County Park
David Dugan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Western Washington
Kamiak Butte County Park · Palouse, WA · Palouse Falls State Park · Steptoe Butte State Park
Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington, the first U.S. president, the state was made out of the western part of the Washington Territory, which was ceded by the British Empire in 1846, in accordance with the Oregon Treaty in the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute. The state, which is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north, was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Olympia is the state capital; the state's largest city is Seattle. Washington is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
Approximately 60 percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry along Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords, and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep temperate rainforests in the west; mountain ranges in the west, central, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, central, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the state's highest elevation, at almost 14,411 feet (4,392 meters).
Washington is a leading lumber producer; its rugged surface is rich in stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, ponderosa pine, white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar. Washington is the nation's largest producer of apples, hops, pears, red raspberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries, and ranks high in the production of apricots, asparagus, dry edible peas, grapes, lentils, peppermint oil, and potatoes. Livestock and livestock products make important contributions to total farm revenue, and the commercial fishing of salmon, halibut, and bottomfish makes a significant contribution to the state's economy. Washington ranks second only to California in wine production.
Washington was named after President George Washington by an act of the United States Congress during the creation of Washington Territory in 1853. The territory was to be named "Columbia", for the Columbia River and the Columbia District, but Kentucky representative Richard H. Stanton found the name too similar to the District of Columbia (the national capital, itself containing the city of Washington), and proposed naming the new territory after President Washington. Washington is the only U.S. state named after a president.
Washington is the northwesternmost state of the contiguous United States. It borders Idaho to the east, bounded mostly by the meridian running north from the confluence of the Snake River and Clearwater River, except for the southernmost section where the border follows the Snake River. Oregon is to the south, with the Columbia River forming the western part and the 46th parallel forming the eastern part of the Oregon-Washington border. During Washington's partition from Oregon, the original plan for the border followed the Columbia River east until the confluence with the Snake, and then would have followed the Snake River east; this was changed in order to keep Walla Walla's fertile farmland in Washington.
Washington is part of a region known as the Pacific Northwest, a term which always refers to at least Washington and Oregon, and may or may not include some or all the following, depending on the user's intent: Idaho, western Montana, northern California, British Columbia, and Alaska.
The high mountains of the Cascade Range run north-south, bisecting the state. In addition to Western Washington and Eastern Washington, residents call the two parts of the state the "West side" and the "East side", "Wet side" and "Dry side", or "Timberland" and "Wheatland", the latter pair more commonly in the names of region-specific businesses and institutions. These terms reflect the geography, climate and industry of the land on both sides of the Cascades.
From the Cascade Mountains westward, Western Washington has a mostly Mediterranean Climate, with mild temperatures and wet winters, autumns and springs, and relatively dry summers. The Cascade Range has several volcanoes, which reach altitudes significantly higher than the rest of the mountains. From north to south, these major volcanoes are Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. All are active volcanoes. Mount Rainier, the tallest mountain in the state, is 50 miles (80 km) south of the city of Seattle, from which it is prominently visible. The USGS considers 14,411-foot-tall (4,392 m) Mount Rainier the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade Range, due to its proximity to the Seattle metropolitan area, and most dangerous in the continental U.S. according to the Decade Volcanoes list. It is also covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in the contiguous 48 states.
Western Washington also is home of the Olympic Mountains, far west on the Olympic Peninsula, which support dense forests of conifers and areas of temperate rainforest. These deep forests, such as the Hoh Rainforest, are among the only rainforests in the continental United States. While Western Washington does not always suffer from a high amount of rainfall as measured in total inches of rain per year, it does consistently have more rainy days per year than most other places in the country.
Eastern Washington—the part of the state east of the Cascades—has a relatively dry climate, in distinct contrast to the west side. It includes large areas of semiarid steppe and a few truly arid deserts in the rain shadow of the Cascades; the Hanford reservation receives an average annual precipitation of 6 to 7 inches (150 to 180 mm). Despite the limited amount of rainfall, agriculture is an extremely important business throughout much of Eastern Washington, as the soil is highly productive and irrigation, aided by dams along the Columbia River, is fairly widespread. The spread of population in Eastern Washington is dominated by access to water, especially rivers. The main cities are all located alongside rivers or lakes; Most of them are named after the river or lake they adjoin.
On May 18, 1980, following a period of heavy tremors and small eruptions, the north face of Mount St. Helens slid off in the largest landslide in recorded history before erupting violently, destroying a large part of the top of the volcano. The eruption flattened the forest up to 20 km north of the volcano, killed 57 people, flooded the Columbia River and its tributaries with ash and mud, and blanketed large parts of Washington eastward and other surrounding states in ash, making day look like night.
Significant business within the state include the design and manufacture of aircraft (Boeing), automotive (Paccar), computer software development (Microsoft, Bungie, Amazon, Nintendo of America, Valve, ArenaNet), telecom (T-Mobile US), electronics, biotechnology, aluminum production, lumber and wood products (Weyerhaeuser), mining, beverages (Starbucks, Jones Soda), real estate (John L. Scott, Colliers International, Windermere Real Estate, Kidder Mathews), retail (Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Car Toys, Costco, R.E.I.), and tourism (Alaska Airlines, Expedia, Inc.).
Among Washington's resident billionaires are, as of March 2021, both the first and the second wealthiest people in the world: Jeff Bezos of Amazon, with a net worth of $176.6 billion, and Bill Gates of Microsoft, at of $124.3 billion. As of April 2014, other Washington state billionaires included Microsoft's Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, and Charles Simonyi, and Craig McCaw of McCaw Cellular Communications, James Jannard of Oakley, and Howard Schultz of Starbucks.
There are extensive waterways around Washington's largest cities, including Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and Olympia. The state highways incorporate an extensive network of bridges and the largest ferry system in the United States to serve transportation needs in the Puget Sound area. Washington's marine highway constitutes a fleet of twenty-eight ferries that navigate Puget Sound and its inland waterways to 20 different ports of call, completing close to 147,000 sailings each year. Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge over Lake Washington, and the Hood Canal Bridge which connects the Olympic Peninsula and Kitsap Peninsula. Among its most famous bridges is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed in 1940 and was rebuilt.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Washington (state)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0