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Washington is part of a region known as the Pacific Northwest , a term which always includes 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.
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. Helens , and Mount Adams. All are active volcanoes. 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.
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 temperate rainforests in the continental United States. Eastern Washington —the part of the state east of the Cascades—has a relatively dry climate, in distinct contrast to the west side.
Farther east, the climate becomes less arid, with annual rainfall increasing as one goes east to The Palouse southeast region of Washington was grassland that has been mostly converted into farmland, and extends to the Blue Mountains. As described above, Washington's climate varies greatly from west to east. A Mediterranean Climate predominates in western Washington, and a much drier semi-arid climate prevails east of the Cascade Range.
Major factors determining Washington's climate include the large semi-permanent high pressure and low 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.
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 relatively warm and moist air masses 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 tropical and near-tropical Pacific regions into the Pacific Northwest.
Despite western Washington's having a marine climate similar to many coastal cities of Europe, there are exceptions such as the "Big Snow" events of , , , and , and the "deep freeze" winters of —, —, —, and —, among others. During these events, western Washington experienced up to 6 feet 1.
The Southern Oscillation greatly influences weather during the cold season. In , the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington published The Impacts of Climate change in Washington's Economy , a preliminary assessment on the risks and opportunities presented given the possibility of a rise in global temperatures and their effects on Washington state. Rainfall in Washington varies dramatically going from east to west.
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 inches or 5, millimeters water equivalent in the country. Precipitation then increases again eastward toward the Rocky Mountains. 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. Mount Baker , near the state's northern border, is one of the snowiest places in the world.
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 grassland and shrub-steppe.
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 occasionally experiences extreme climate. Arctic cold fronts in the winter and heat waves in the summer are not uncommon.
Forests cover about half the state's land area, mostly west of the North Cascades. Approximately two-thirds of Washington's forested area is publicly owned, including 64 percent of federal land. The Pacific shore surrounding the San Juan Islands are heavily inhabited with killer , gray, and humpback whales.
Mammals native to the state include the bat , black bear , bobcat , cougar , coyote , deer , elk , gray wolf , moose , mountain beaver , muskrat , opossum , pocket gopher , raccoon , river otter , skunk , and tree squirrel. This range includes raptors, shorebirds, woodland birds, grassland birds, ducks, and others. There are five species of salmon that ascend the Western Washington area, from streams to spawn. Washington has a variety of National Park Service units.
Almost 95 percent , acres, , hectares, 3, The skeletal remains of Kennewick Man , one of the oldest and most complete human remains found in North America, were discovered in Washington. Prominent among their industries were salmon fishing and, notably among the Makah , whale hunting.
The peoples of the Interior had a very 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 smallpox epidemic of the s devastated the Native American population. The first recorded European landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in , 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. It was not discovered until Charles William Barkley , captain of the Imperial Eagle , sighted it in The straits were further explored by Spanish explorers Manuel Quimper in and Francisco de Eliza in , and British explorer George Vancouver in The British-Spanish Nootka Convention of 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.
He named the river after his ship, the Columbia. Beginning in , Gray established trade in sea otter pelts. The Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the state on October 10, Explorer David Thompson , on his voyage down the Columbia River, camped at the confluence with the Snake River on July 9, , and erected a pole and a notice claiming the country 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 , which established the 49th Parallel as the international boundary west from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.
Resolution of the territorial and treaty issues, west to the Pacific, was deferred until a later time.
Spain, in , ceded their rights north of the 42nd Parallel to the United States, although these rights did not include possession. 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. 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.
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, In , 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 territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez Perce Indian tribes.
Whitman's settlement would in help the Oregon Trail , the overland emigration route to the west, get established for thousands of emigrants in the following decades.
Marcus 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 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 They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon's Black Exclusion Law , which prohibited African Americans from entering the territory while simultaneously prohibiting slavery.
The growing populace 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 , Congress passed legislation and President Millard Fillmore signed into law on March 2, , the creation of a new Washington Territory. The creation of Idaho Territory in established the final eastern border. A Washington State constitution was drafted and ratified in , but it was never officially adopted.
It was used extensively during the drafting of Washington State's constitution, the one and only official Constitution of the State of Washington. Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, Early prominent industries in the state included agriculture and lumber.
In eastern Washington, the Yakima River Valley became known for its apple orchards, 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. For a long period, Tacoma had large smelters where gold, silver, copper, and lead ores were treated.
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. 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 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam , the largest concrete structure in the United States. During World War II, the state became a focus for war industries. While the Boeing Company produced many of the nation's 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, a number of whom were quartered at Golden Gardens Park.
In eastern Washington, the Hanford Works atomic energy plant was opened in , and played a major role in the construction of the nation's atomic bombs. On May 18, , following a period of heavy tremors and eruptions, the northeast face of Mount St. Helens erupted violently , destroying a large part of the top of the volcano. The eruption flattened the forests, 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.
As of the Census, the population of Washington was 6,, The center of population of Washington in was in an unpopulated part of the Cascade Mountains in rural eastern King County , southeast of North Bend , northeast of Enumclaw , and west of Snoqualmie Pass. Washington's proportion of residents under age five was 6. According to the American Community Survey , In , Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number. While the population of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest is scarce overall, they are mostly concentrated in the South End and Central District areas of Seattle, and in inner Tacoma.
The westernmost and Pacific coasts have primarily American Indian communities, such as the Chinook , Lummi , and Salish. Urban Indian communities formed by the U. The city was named for Chief Seattle in the very early s when European Americans settled the sound. Seattle, Bellevue , and Redmond , which are all within King County, have sizable Chinese communities including Taiwanese , as well as significant Indian and Japanese communities.
The Chinatown-International District in Seattle has a historical Chinese population dating back to the s, who mainly emigrated from Guangdong Province in southern China, and is home to a diverse East and Southeast Asian community.
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Koreans are heavily concentrated in the suburban cities of Federal Way and Auburn to the south, and in Lynnwood to the north. Tacoma is home to thousands of Cambodians , and has one of the largest Cambodian-American communities in the United States, along with Long Beach, California , and Lowell, Massachusetts. They were reported to at least date as far back as the s.
Additionally, Washington has a large Ethiopian community, with many Eritrean residents as well.