Washington
State
State of Washington
Flag Seal
Nickname:  "The Evergreen State" (unofficial)[1]
Motto(s):  Al-ki or Alki, "by and by" in Chinook Jargon
Anthem: "Washington, My Home"
Map of the United States with Washington highlighted
Country	United States
Before statehood	Washington Territory
Admitted to the Union	November 11, 1889 (42nd)
Capital	Olympia
Largest city	Seattle
Largest county or equivalent	King
Largest metro and urban areas	Seattle
Government
• Governor	Jay Inslee (D)
• Lieutenant Governor	Denny Heck (D)
Legislature	State Legislature
• Upper house	State Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Judiciary	Washington Supreme Court
U.S. senators	Patty Murray (D) Maria Cantwell (D)
U.S. House delegation	8 Democrats 2 Republicans (list)
Area
• Total	71,362 sq mi (184,827 km2)
• Land	66,544 sq mi (172,587 km2)
• Water	4,757 sq mi (12,237 km2)  6.6%
• Rank	18th
Dimensions
• Length	240 mi (400 km)
• Width	360 mi (580 km)
Elevation	1,700 ft (520 m)
Highest elevation (Mount Rainier)	14,411 ft (4,392 m)
Lowest elevation (Pacific Ocean)	0 ft (0 m)
Population  (2023)
• Total	7,812,880
• Rank	13th
• Density	103/sq mi (39.6/km2)
• Rank	25th
• Median household income	$70,979 (2,017)[2]
• Income rank	7th[2]
Demonym	Washingtonian
Language
• Official language	None (de jure) English (de facto)
Time zone	UTC–08:00 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC–07:00 (PDT)
USPS abbreviation	WA
ISO 3166 code	US-WA
Traditional abbreviation	Wash.
Latitude	45°33′ N to 49° N
Longitude	116°55′ W to 124°46′ W
Website	wa.gov
ASN	4193

Washington, officially the State of Washington,^[3] is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state ^[a] to distinguish it from the national capital,^[4] both named for George Washington (the first U.S. president). Washington borders the Pacific Ocean to the west, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. The state was formed from the western part of the Washington Territory, which was ceded by the British Empire in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Olympia is the state capital, and the most populous city is Seattle.

Washington is the 18th-largest state, with an area of 71,362 square miles (184,830 km²), and the 13th-most populous state, with more than 7.8 million people.^[5] The majority of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry on Puget Sound,^[6][7] 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, center, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, center, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States, after California. Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the state's highest elevation at 14,411 feet (4,392 meters), and is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous U.S.

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. The state is the largest producer of apples, hops, pears, blueberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries in the U.S., and ranks high in the production of apricots, asparagus, dry edible peas, grapes, lentils, peppermint oil, and potatoes.^[8][9] Livestock, livestock products, and commercial fishing—particularly of salmon, halibut, and bottomfish—are also significant contributors to the state's economy.^[10] Washington ranks second only to California in wine production.

Manufacturing industries in Washington include aircraft, missiles, shipbuilding, and other transportation equipment, food processing, metals, and metal products, chemicals, and machinery.^[11] Washington has more than a thousand dams, including the Grand Coulee Dam, built for a variety of purposes including irrigation, electricity generation, flood control, and water storage.

One of the wealthiest and most socially liberal states in the country,^[12] Washington consistently ranks among the top states for highest life expectancy and employment rates.^[13] It was one of the first states (alongside Colorado) to legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis,^[14] was among the first states to introduce same-sex marriage,^[15] and was one of only four states to have provided legal abortions on request before Roe v. Wade in 1973.^[16] Washington voters also approved a 2008 referendum on the legalization of physician-assisted suicide,^[17] making it one of 10 states to have legalized the practice.^[18]

Etymology

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.^[19][20][21] Washington is the only U.S. state named after a president.^[22]

Confusion between the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D.C., led to renaming proposals during the statehood process for Washington in 1889, including David Dudley Field II's suggestion to name the new state "Tacoma"; these proposals failed to garner support.^[23] Washington, D.C.'s, own statehood movement in the 21st century has included a proposal to use the name "State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth", which would conflict with the current state of Washington.^[3] Residents of Washington (known as "Washingtonians") and the Pacific Northwest simply refer to the state as "Washington", and the nation's capital "Washington, D.C.", "the other Washington",^[24] or simply "D.C."

History

Early history

The 9,300-year-old skeletal remains of Kennewick Man, one of the oldest and most complete human remains found in North America, were discovered in Washington in the 1990s.^[25] The region has been home to many established tribes of indigenous peoples for thousands of years. They are notable for their ornately carved welcome figures, canoes, long houses and masks. Prominent among their industries were salmon fishing and, notably among the Makah, whale hunting.^[26][27] The peoples of the Interior had a different subsistence-based culture based on hunting, food-gathering and some forms of agriculture, as well as a dependency on salmon from the Columbia and its tributaries.

The area has been known to host megathrust earthquakes in the past, the last being the Cascadia earthquake of 1700.^[28]

European exploration

The first recorded European landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775,^[29] on board the Santiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora. He claimed the coastal lands up to Prince William Sound for Spain as part of their claimed rights under the Treaty of Tordesillas, which they maintained made the Pacific a "Spanish lake" and all its shores part of the Spanish Empire. Soon thereafter, The smallpox epidemic of the 1770s devastated the Native American population.^[30]

In 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook sighted Cape Flattery, at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but Cook did not realize the strait existed.^[31] It was not discovered until Charles William Barkley, captain of the Imperial Eagle, sighted it in 1787.^[32] The straits were further explored by Spanish explorers Manuel Quimper in 1790 and Francisco de Eliza in 1791,^[33][34] and British explorer George Vancouver in 1792.^[35]

European settlement

The British–Spanish Nootka Convention of 1790 ended Spanish claims of exclusivity and opened the Northwest Coast to explorers and traders from other nations, most notably Britain and Russia as well as the fledgling United States.^[36][37] American captain Robert Gray (for whom Grays Harbor County is named) then discovered the mouth of the Columbia River. He named the river after his ship, the Columbia.^[38] Beginning in 1792, Gray established trade in sea otter pelts. The Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the state on October 10, 1805.^[39]

Explorer David Thompson, on his voyage down the Columbia River, camped at the confluence with the Snake River on July 9, 1811,^[40] and erected a pole and a notice claiming the territory for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site.

Britain and the United States agreed to what has since been described as "joint occupancy" of lands west of the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean as part of the Anglo–American Convention of 1818, which established the 49th Parallel as the international boundary west from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.^[41] Resolution of the territorial and treaty issues west to the Pacific was deferred until a later time. In 1819, Spain ceded its rights north of the 42nd Parallel to the United States.^[42]

Negotiations with Great Britain over the next few decades failed to settle upon a compromise boundary and the Oregon boundary dispute was highly contested between Britain and the United States. Disputed joint occupancy by Britain and the U.S. lasted for several decades. With American settlers pouring into Oregon Country, Hudson's Bay Company, which had previously discouraged settlement because it conflicted with the fur trade, reversed its position in an attempt to maintain British control of the Columbia District.^[43]

Fur trapper James Sinclair, on orders from Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, led some 200 settlers from the Red River Colony west in 1841 to settle on Hudson Bay Company farms near Fort Vancouver.^[44] The party crossed the Rockies into the Columbia Valley, near present-day Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, then traveled south-west down the Kootenai River and Columbia River. Despite such efforts, Britain eventually ceded all claims to land south of the 49th parallel to the United States in the Oregon Treaty on June 15, 1846.^[45]

In 1836, a group of missionaries, including Marcus Whitman, established several missions and Whitman's own settlement Waiilatpu, in what is now southeastern Washington state, near present-day Walla Walla County, in the territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez Perce Indian tribes.^[46] Whitman's settlement would in 1843 help the Oregon Trail, the overland emigration route to the west, get established for thousands of emigrants in the following decades. Whitman provided medical care for the Native Americans, but when Indian patients—lacking immunity to new, "European" diseases—died in striking numbers, while at the same time many white patients recovered, they held "medicine man" Marcus Whitman personally responsible, and murdered Whitman and twelve other white settlers in the Whitman massacre in 1847.^[47] This event triggered the Cayuse War between settlers and Indians.

Fort Nisqually, a farm and trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company and the first European settlement in the Puget Sound area, was founded in 1833.^[48] Black pioneer George Washington Bush and his Caucasian wife, Isabella James Bush, from Missouri and Tennessee, respectively, led four white families into the territory and founded New Market, now Tumwater, in 1846.^[49] They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon's black exclusion law, which prohibited African Americans from entering the territory while simultaneously prohibiting slavery.^[50][51] After them, many more settlers, migrating overland along the Oregon Trail, wandered north to settle in the Puget Sound area.

Spanish and Russian claims to the region were ceded in the early 19th century through a series of treaties. The Spanish signed the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, and the Russians the Russo-American Treaty of 1824 and 1825.

The Oregon Question remained contested between the United Kingdom and the United States until the 1846 Oregon Treaty established the border between British North America and the United States along the 49th parallel until the Strait of Georgia.^[45] Vague wording in the treaty left the ownership of the San Juan Islands in doubt; during the so-called Pig War, both nations agreed to a joint military occupation of the islands.^[52] Kaiser Wilhelm I of the German Empire was selected as an arbitrator to end the dispute, with a three-man commission ruling in favor of the United States in 1872. The border established by the Oregon Treaty and finalized by the arbitration in 1872 remains the boundary between Washington and British Columbia.

Statehood

The growing population of Oregon Territory north of the Columbia River formally requested a new territory. As a result of the Monticello Convention, held in present-day Cowlitz County, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to create Washington Territory. It was signed into law by President Millard Fillmore on March 2, 1853.^[53][21] The boundary of Washington Territory initially extended farther east than the present state, including what is now the Idaho Panhandle and parts of western Montana, and picked up more land to the southeast that was left behind when Oregon was admitted as a state; the creation of Idaho Territory in 1863 established the final eastern border. A Washington state constitution was drafted and ratified in 1878, but it was never officially adopted.^[54] Although never approved by the United States Congress, the 1878 constitution is an important historical document that shows the political thinking of the time; it was used extensively during the drafting of Washington state's 1889 constitution, the one and only official Constitution of the State of Washington. Washington became the 42nd state of the United States on November 11, 1889.^[55]

Early prominent industries in the new state included agriculture and lumber. In Eastern Washington, the Yakima River Valley became known for its apple orchards,^[56] while the growth of wheat using dry farming techniques became particularly productive. Heavy rainfall to the west of the Cascade Range produced dense forests, and the ports along Puget Sound prospered from the manufacturing and shipping of lumber products, particularly the Douglas fir. Other industries that developed in the state included fishing, salmon canning and mining.^[10][57]

Post–statehood

For a long period, Tacoma had large smelters where gold, silver, copper, and lead ores were treated.^[58] Seattle was the primary port for trade with Alaska and the rest of the country, and for a time, it possessed a large shipbuilding industry. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during the period including World War I and World War II, and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area.^[59]

During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia River as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest concrete structure in the United States and the largest dam in the world at its construction.^[60]

During World War II, the state became a focus for war industries. While the Boeing Company produced many heavy bombers, ports in Seattle, Bremerton, Vancouver, and Tacoma were available for the manufacture of warships. Seattle was the point of departure for many soldiers in the Pacific, several of whom were quartered at Fort Lawton, which later became Discovery Park.^[61] In Eastern Washington, the Hanford Works atomic energy plant was opened in 1943 and played a major role in the construction of atomic bombs.^[62]

After the end of World War II, and with the beginning of the civil rights movement, the state's growing Black or African American population's wages were 53% above the national average. The early diversification of Washington through the Great Migration led to successful efforts at reducing discrimination in the workplace.^[63][64] In 1950, Seattle's first black representative for the state's legislature was elected. At the 1970 U.S. census, the black population grew to 7.13% of the total population.^[65]

In 1970, the state was one of only four U.S. states to have been providing legal abortions before the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade which loosened abortion laws nationwide.^[16][66]

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.^[67][68]

Geography

Major cities in Washington

Bellingham Everett Kennewick Tacoma Seattle Spokane Vancouver Yakima Olympia class=notpageimage| A physical map of Washington with the cities of Bellingham, Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Vancouver, Spokane, Yakima, and Kennewick pinned.

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 (about 117°02'23" west), 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 to keep Walla Walla's fertile farmland in Washington.

To the west of Washington lies the Pacific Ocean.^[69] Its northern border lies mostly along the 49th parallel, and then via marine boundaries through the Strait of Georgia, Haro Strait, and Strait of Juan de Fuca, with the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north.^[70]

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 "Westside" and the "Eastside", "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.

Western Washington

Major volcanoes in Washington

Mount Baker Glacier Peak Mount Rainier Mount St. Helens Mount Adams class=notpageimage| A physical map of Washington with the volcanic peaks Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St Helens pinned.

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.^[71]

Mount Rainier—the tallest mountain in the state—^[72] is 50 miles (80 km) south of the city of Seattle, from which it is prominently visible. The U.S. Geological Survey 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.^[73] It is also covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in the contiguous 48 states.^[74]

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.^[75] While Western Washington does not always experience 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.^[76]

Eastern Washington

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.^[77] 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.

Farther east, the climate becomes less arid, with annual rainfall increasing as one goes east to 21.2 inches (540 mm) in Pullman, near the Washington–Idaho border.^[78] The Okanogan Highlands and the rugged Kettle River Range and Selkirk Mountains cover much of the state's northeastern quadrant. The Palouse southeast region of Washington was grassland that has been mostly converted into farmland, and extends to the Blue Mountains.^[79]

Climate

The state of Washington has a temperate climate. The eastern half of Washington has a semi-arid climate, while the western side of Washington as well as the coastal areas of the state have a cool oceanic climate. Major factors determining Washington's climate include the large semi-permanent low pressure and high pressure systems of the north Pacific Ocean, the continental air masses of North America, and the Olympic and Cascade mountains. In the spring and summer, a high-pressure anticyclone system dominates the north Pacific Ocean, causing air to spiral out in a clockwise fashion. For Washington, this means prevailing winds from the northwest bring relatively cool air and a predictably dry season.^{[81][failed verification]}

In the autumn and winter, a low-pressure cyclone system takes over in the north Pacific Ocean. The air spiraling inward in a counter-clockwise fashion causes Washington's prevailing winds to come from the southwest, and bring cool and overcast weather and a predictably wet season. The term "Pineapple Express" is used colloquially to describe atmospheric river events, where repeated storm systems are directed by this persistent cyclone from the tropical Pacific regions a great distance into the Pacific Northwest. Western Washington is very cloudy during much of fall, winter, and early spring. Seattle averages the least sunshine hours of any major city in the United States.^[82]

Despite Western Washington's marine climate similar to many coastal cities of Europe, there are exceptions such as the "Big Snow" events of 1880, 1881, 1893, and 1916,^[83][84] and the "deep freeze" winters of 1883–1884, 1915–1916, 1949–1950, and 1955–1956, among others.^[85] During these events, Western Washington experienced up to 6 feet (1.8 m) of snow, sub-zero (−18 °C) temperatures, three months with snow on the ground, and lakes and rivers frozen over for weeks.^[84] Seattle's lowest officially recorded temperature is 0 °F (−18 °C) set on January 31, 1950, but low-altitude areas approximately three hours away from Seattle have recorded lows as cold as −48 °F (−44 °C).^[86]

The Southern Oscillation greatly influences weather during the cold season. During the El Niño phase, the jet stream enters the U.S. farther south through California, therefore late fall and winter are drier than normal with less snowpack. The La Niña phase reinforces the jet stream through the Pacific Northwest, causing Washington to have more rain and snow than average.^[87]

In 2006, the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington published The Impacts of Climate change in Washington's Economy, a preliminary assessment of the risks and opportunities presented given the possibility of a rise in global temperatures and their effects on Washington state.^[88]

Rain shadow effects

Rainfall in Washington varies dramatically going from east to west. The Olympic Peninsula's western side receives as much as 160 inches (4,100 mm) of precipitation annually, making it the wettest area of the 48 conterminous states and a temperate rainforest. Weeks may pass without a clear day. The western slopes of the Cascade Range receive some of the heaviest annual snowfall (in some places more than 200 inches or 5,100 millimeters water equivalent) in the country. In the rain shadow area east of the Cascades, the annual precipitation is only 6 inches (150 mm). Precipitation then increases again eastward toward the Rocky Mountains (about 120 miles (190 km) east of the Idaho border).

The Olympic mountains and Cascades compound this climatic pattern by causing orographic lift of the air masses blown inland from the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the windward side of the mountains receiving high levels of precipitation and the leeward side receiving low levels. This occurs most dramatically around the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Range. In both cases, the windward slopes facing southwest receive high precipitation and mild, cool temperatures. While the Puget Sound lowlands are known for clouds and rain in the winter, the western slopes of the Cascades receive larger amounts of precipitation, often falling as snow at higher elevations.^[89] Mount Baker, near the state's northern border, is one of the snowiest places in the world. In 1999, it set the world record for snowfall in a single season—1,140 inches (95 ft; 29 m).^[90]

East of the Cascades, a large region experiences strong rain shadow effects. Semi-arid conditions occur in much of Eastern Washington with the strongest rain shadow effects at the relatively low elevations of the central Columbia Plateau—especially the region just east of the Columbia River from about the Snake River to the Okanagan Highland. Thus, instead of rain forests, much of Eastern Washington is covered with dry grassland, shrub-steppe, and dunes.

Temperatures

The average annual temperature ranges from 51 °F (11 °C) on the Pacific coast to 40 °F (4 °C) in the northeast. The lowest temperature recorded in the state was −48 °F (−44 °C) in Winthrop and Mazama. The highest recorded temperature in the state was 120 °F (49 °C) at Hanford on June 29, 2021.^[91][92] Both records were set east of the Cascades. Western Washington is known for its mild climate, considerable fog, frequent cloud cover, long-lasting drizzles in the winter and warm, temperate summers. The eastern region, which does not benefit from the general moderating effect of the Pacific Ocean, occasionally experiences extreme climate. Arctic cold fronts in the winter and heat waves in the summer are not uncommon. In the Western region, temperatures have reached as high as 118 °F (48 °C) in Maple Valley^[93] during the June 2021 heat wave, and as low as −6 °F (−21 °C) in Longview,^[94] and even -8 F (-22 C) in Sammamish.^[95]