Washington

Known as the Evergreen State, Washington is the only state to fly a green flag. The seal bears a portrait of the first president, George Washington.

Locator map for the US state of Washington.

State in northwestern USA, bordered to the east by Idaho, to the south by Oregon, to the north by British Columbia, Canada, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean; area 172,348 sq km/66,544 sq mi; population (2006) 6,395,800; capital Olympia. Mountainous and lushly forested, the aptly nicknamed ‘Evergreen State’ has a mild temperate climate and plentiful rainfall. Puget Sound, a natural harbour covering some 5,180 sq km/1,990 sq mi, has made Washington a gateway for shipping and travel to Asia. Service industries lead the economy. The creation of computer software and other high-tech products has become a dominant industry, with Microsoft based in Seattle; aircraft manufacturing and timber and food processing are also important. With the exception of Spokane in the east and Vancouver in the south, Washington's major cities are ports on Puget Sound: Seattle, which has the largest urban population in the state, Tacoma, Bellevue, and Everett. Washington Territory, named for George Washington, was separated from the Oregon Territory in 1853. Washington, often referred to as ‘Washington State’ to differentiate it from Washington, DC, was admitted to the Union in 1889 as the 42nd state and is governed under its original constitution, adopted in 1889.

Physical Washington has six main land regions: the Olympic Mountains, the Coast Ranges, the Puget Sound lowland, the Cascade Range, the Columbia Plateau, and the Rocky Mountains.

The Olympic Mountains in the northwest lie mainly within the Olympic National Forest, a World Heritage Site. The Coast Range has younger, rugged mountains, extending southwards into Oregon from the southwest corner of the state. The Puget Trough lies between these mountains and the Cascade Range. To the southwest, the heavily forested Willapa Hills overlook Willapa Bay. This area is one of the wettest in the USA. Puget Sound is a vast inlet extending for about 160 km/100 mi from the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Olympia. It is filled with over 300 islands, of which Whidbey, Vashon, and Bainbridge are the largest.

The volcanic Cascade Range forms a barrier between the wet west and arid east of the state; its cones are topped with snowfields and glaciers. In 1980 Mount St Helena erupted in a major explosion. Mount Rainier, in Mount Rainier National Park, is the highest point in the Cascades at 4,392 m/14,410 ft.

The Columbia Plateau to the east is the largest lava plateau in the world. It has striking glacial land formations, including dry steep-walled canyons known as coulees, and patches of hard lava rock called scablands. The surrounding valleys and slopes are extremely fertile, with rich alluvial soils.

The Rocky Mountains lie across the northeastern corner of the state and the Columbia and Okanogan rivers run through them, the Columbia forming much of the state boundary with Oregon. The Rocky Mountains are rich in minerals, including lead, copper, and gold. The Snake, Washington's longest river, forms part of the state border with Idaho before joining the Columbia near Pascoe. Other major rivers include the Colville, Methow, Pend Oreille, Sanpoil, Spokane, Wenatchee, and Yakima. Many of Washington's rivers contain large numbers of salmon and other fish that swim upstream to lay their eggs. Major waterfalls include the Cascade, Fairy, Horseshoe, Klickitat, Ladder Creek, Metaline, Nooksack, Palouse, Rainbow, Snoqualmie, Spokane, and White River. The main lakes are Franklin D Roosevelt, Washington, Sammamish, and Whatcom. Franklin D Roosevelt Lake, the largest the state, is formed by the Grand Coulee Dam, and covers an area of 337 sq km/130 sq mi.

Wildlife in Washington is typical of mountain and forest habitats, and includes bears, elks, beavers, bobcats, and many kinds of game bird and freshwater fish.

Features Dominated by its magnificent mountain and wilderness scenery, Washington has three national parks: Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic; and eight national forests: Okanogan, Gifford Pinchot, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Wenatchee, Olympic, and Colville. Kaniksu National Forest overlaps the neighbouring states of Idaho and Montana. Olympic National Park contains the Hoh River Rainforest. In addition to national sites are over one hundred state parks. Tourism, sport, and outdoor recreation are key activities in Washington. Places of historic interest often coincide with areas of outstanding natural beauty and wildlife. Popular tourist destinations include Whidbey Island, with Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve set around Coupeville, known for its 19th-century sea captains' houses; the San Juan Islands, a habitat for wild eagles and killer whales (orcas); and Long Beach Peninsula, including Cape Disappointment Lighthouse (1856), Fort Canby State Park, where the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center celebrates the Lewis and Clark expedition from Missouri to the Pacific Coast 1804–06, and Oysterville, established as an oyster town in 1854.

In Seattle, Pioneer Square is the heart of the city's historic district and features the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, a small museum devoted to the gold rush years. The Seattle Center, linked to the city by a futuristic monorail, includes exhibits from a world's fair held in 1962 and the Space Needle, with an observation deck topping a tower 185 m/605 ft high. The Washington State History Museum is situated in Tacoma.

Culture The Seattle Art Museum has a permanent collection featuring Asian, Northwest Coast American Indian, and African collections of art, as well as an extensive collection of 20th-century art and photographs. The city is home to a symphony orchestra and numerous other arts groups and events. The International District has a predominantly Asian-American community that began with the influx of Chinese railway workers in the 19th century; it includes the Nippon Kan Theater and has a thriving ethnic character. Grunge rock, coffee shops and bookshops, health foods, and alternative lifestyles are important aspects of Seattle's popular culture, along with support for the Seattle Mariners baseball and Seattle Seahawks American football teams. Seattle is also increasingly associated with a subculture of antiglobalization activism.

There are many annual festivals, including the Northwest Bookfest, a theatre festival known as the Seattle Fringe Festival; the Seattle Peace Concerts, held in the parks; the Bumbershoot, an annual Seattle umbrella arts festival; and the Shakespeare Festival. Olympia hosts an annual summer-long chamber music festival. Other centres of culture and education include the University of Washington at Seattle, and Washington State University at Pullman.

American Indian heritage and culture is an important element of the region, and Washington has over 20 American Indian reservations, the largest being that of the Yakama people. The state's American Indians are divided into two distinct cultural groups by the geographical barrier of the Cascade Range. The Pacific coast is home to the Chinook, Makah, Quileute, and other peoples, whose abundant resources enabled a settled culture and lifestyle, many living in permanent cedar houses. To the east, peoples such as the Cayuse, Nez Percé, Okinagan, Palouse, Spokane, and Yakama live on the dry Columbian Plateau, where they traditionally led a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians organizes powwows and celebrations of American Indian tradition throughout the state.

Government Washington's state constitution Washington is governed under its original 1889 constitution, and amendments to it are proposed by a state legislature, or by a constitutional convention if a majority of the legislators achieve the approval of a majority of the voters. All amendments must be approved by two-thirds of the legislators in both houses, as well as by a majority vote in a statewide election. Washington's state constitution provides that any city with 20,000 or more residents may have home rule. Where this applies, Washington cities have either a council-manager mode of government, a commission system of government, or a mayor-council form. Most cities have both a mayor and a city council.

Structure of state government The legislature consists of an upper house, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. The Senate has 49 members, serving two-year terms, with two members elected to each of the state's 49 legislative districts.

Washington has 11 electoral votes in presidential elections, and sends two senators and nine representatives to the US Congress. Traditionally, the state has been divided between a strongly Democrat and liberal west, based around Seattle, and a conservative, Republican-leaning east. The Democrats hold the upper hand in state politics and voters have favoured the Republican party's candidate in US presidential elections from 1988.

The governor and lieutenant governor of Washington also serve four-year terms of no more than eight years in any 14-year period. The governor's powers include the right to appoint more than 350 lesser state officials, to appoint elective executive offices and Supreme Court judges, and to selectively veto bills, or aspects of bills, already passed by the legislature. Senior officials include the secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, commissioner of public lands, and insurance commissioner, and all serve four-year terms with an unlimited number of terms in office.

The state Supreme Court, with nine judges elected to six-year terms, is the highest court. Three Supreme Court judges are elected every two years in the general election. The chief justice is whichever judge has the shortest term remaining. The state court of appeals has 19 justices elected to six-year terms.

Economy Washington's economy is service-industry led. Its computer software industry is dominated by Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen and based in Washington since 1979. Amazon.com, one of the first and largest companies to sell products over the Internet, is based in Seattle. Commercial links with Asian high-tech industries and markets are important in the region. Aircraft manufacturing is centred on Boeing Company, founded near Seattle in 1916. The processing of lumber, fish and shellfish, and agricultural produce also provide a significant sources of revenue. Farm products include apples and other fruits, potatoes, and livestock. The Yakima Valley is noted for its vineyards. Aluminium smelting is another major industry.

Water is one of the state's most valuable resources, with around 90 dams providing enormous reserves of hydroelectric power as well as irrigation for agriculture.

History American Indians and the first Europeans American Indian peoples living in the region included the Chinook, Makah, Quileute, Quinault, Lummi, and Snohomish on the Pacific Coast, and the Cayuse, Nez Percé, Okinagan, Palouse, Spokane, Yakama, and Wenatchee on the Columbian Plateau. The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish explorers and Russian fur traders in the 1770s. The English explorer James Cook sailed along the coast in 1778 but was unable to land.

Colonization and settlement In 1792 George Vancouver sailed into Puget Sound, enabling England to claim the region, which then became part of the Oregon Country. In the same year the US explorer Robert Gray also sailed into the area, forming the basis for US claims to the region. In 1805 the US government surveyors Meriwether Lewis and William Clark accessed the region through the Rocky Mountains, following the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. The Canadian explorer David Thompson travelled a similar route. The Canadian North West Company established a fur trading post at Spokane, in the east of the region, while the US fur trader John Jacob Astor set up Fort Okanogan, within what is now Washington State.

The 49th parallel British and US explorers and traders coexisted uneasily until border disputes concerning the territory reached a pitch during the 1844 presidential campaign, when James K Polk claimed that all the region south of latitude 54° 40' belonged to the USA, inspiring the slogan ‘Fifty-Four Forty or Fight’. In 1846 a treaty between Britain and the USA finally established the 49th parallel as the boundary between Canada and the USA's Oregon Territory, with Britain retaining Vancouver Island.

Washington Territory In 1853 Oregon, approaching statehood conditions, was separated from what became the Washington Territory; at the time the territory also included present-day Idaho and part of Montana. Isaac Ingalls Stevens was appointed the first governor of the new territory. Stevens initiated the use of treaties with the American Indians that restricted them to Indian reservations in order to free up more land for US settlers. Although the coastal American Indians signed agreements, those on the Colombian Plateau resisted and war ensued. The treaties were only ratified in 1859 after the American Indians were defeated.

Statehood Settlers continued to stream into the state, attracted by the prospect of gold, land, and new resources. A railroad link to the East was completed in 1883, and the development of Washington began in earnest. The Northern Pacific Railroad, followed by the Great Northern Railway, extended across the state, making the rapid growth of Seattle and Tacoma possible. The arid eastern stretches of the state were successfully irrigated and farmed. Lumbering, fishing, and mining industries grew, and internal transport and communication links steadily improved. In 1887 the Dawes General Allotment Act divided the Indian reservations into 65-ha/160-acre allotments for American-Indian individuals and families, and the remaining lands were sold off to non-Indians, resulting in severe losses of land at many reservations, including Colville in the northeast.

Economic diversification In the 1900s and 1920s, workers in the shipbuilding, lumber, coalmining, and other industries engaged in major radical labour actions, but post-World War I reaction brought these to an end. The Great Depression and the subsequent New Deal era brought many public works projects to the region, including major dams. Boeing became the largest employer in the state during World War II, contributing to its further development and diversification of skills. In 1962 Seattle held the Century 21 world fair to promote tourism, now a major element of the economy. In 1980, Mount St Helens in the southwest of the state erupted, causing 57 deaths and extensive damage.

Contemporary Washington From the 1980s Microsoft became a major element in the local economy, eventually becoming the world's leading supplier of computer software. In 1995 Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com, an Internet bookseller that turned into an international retailer of a diverse range of products, from his garage in Seattle, Washington. In 1999 the opening of the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle, Washington, was delayed by an antiglobalization protest that erupted into violence, resulting in a curfew and the declaration of a state of civil emergency. At the end of the 20th century Washington continued to espouse liberal politics. In 1996 Gary Locke became the first person of Chinese ancestry to be elected governor of a US state.

In 2005 Washington became the first US state to have women occupying all three major statewide offices, of governor (Chris Gregoire) and US senators (Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell).

Famous people sport Fred Couples (1959– ), golfer

the arts Bing Crosby (1904–1977), singer and actor; Mary McCarthy (1912–1989), novelist and critic; Gypsy Rose Lee (1914–1970), entertainer; Merce Cunningham (1919– ), choreographer; Tom Robbins (1936– ), novelist; Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970), rock guitarist; Kurt Cobain (1967–1994), rock musician; Hilary Swank (1974– ), actor

science Chester F Carter (1906–1968), inventor of Xeroxing technology; E Donnall Thomas (1920– ), transplant surgeon and Nobel Prize winner; Edmond Fischer (1920– ), biochemist and Nobel Prize winner

economics Paul Allen (1953– ), computer software entrepreneur; Bill Gates (1955– ), computer software entrepreneur; Jeff Bezos (1964– ), Internet retailer

politics and law Arthur Langlie (1900–1966), lawyer and state governor; Eugene Dennis (1905–1961), US Communist Party leader; Dixie Lee Ray (1914–1994), Independent state governor.