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Washington State
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State | |
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State of Washington | |
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Flag Seal | |
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Nickname(s): "The Evergreen State" (unofficial)[1] | |
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Motto(s): Al-ki or Alki, "by and by" in Chinook Jargon | |
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Anthem: "Washington, My Home" MENU 0:00 | |
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Map of the United States with Washington highlighted | |
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Country |
United States |
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Before statehood |
Washington Territory |
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Admitted to the Union |
November 11, 1889 (42nd) |
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Capital |
Olympia |
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Largest city |
Seattle |
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Largest metro and urban areas |
Greater Seattle |
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Government | |
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• Governor |
Jay Inslee (D) |
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• Lieutenant Governor |
Denny Heck (D) |
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Legislature |
State Legislature |
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• Upper house |
State Senate |
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• Lower house |
House of Representatives |
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Judiciary |
Washington Supreme Court |
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U.S. senators |
Patty Murray (D) Maria Cantwell (D) |
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U.S. House delegation |
7 Democrats 3 Republicans (list) |
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Area | |
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• Total |
71,362 sq mi (184,827 km2) |
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• Land |
66,544 sq mi (172,587 km2) |
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• Water |
4,757 sq mi (12,237 km2) 6.6% |
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Area rank |
18th |
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Dimensions | |
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• Length |
240 mi (400 km) |
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• Width |
360 mi (580 km) |
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Elevation |
1,700 ft (520 m) |
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Highest elevation (Mount Rainier) |
14,411 ft (4,392 m) |
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Lowest elevation (Pacific Ocean) |
0 ft (0 m) |
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Population (2020) | |
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• Total |
7,705,281[2] |
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• Rank |
13th |
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• Density |
103/sq mi (39.6/km2) |
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• Density rank |
25th |
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• Median household income |
$70,979 (2,017)[3] |
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• Income rank |
11th[3] |
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Demonym(s) |
Washingtonian |
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Language | |
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• Official language |
None (de jure) English (de facto) |
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Time zone |
UTC−08:00 (Pacific) |
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• Summer (DST) |
UTC−07:00 (PDT) |
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USPS abbreviation |
WA |
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ISO 3166 code |
US-WA |
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Traditional abbreviation |
Wash. |
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Latitude |
45°33′ N to 49° N |
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Longitude |
116°55′ W to 124°46′ W |
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Website |
access.wa.gov |
Washington (/ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/ ( listen)), officially the State of 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 formed from 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.[4][5]
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 7.7 million people.[6] The majority of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry on Puget Sound,[7][8] 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. 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.[9][10] Livestock, livestock products, and commercial fishing—particularly of salmon, halibut, and bottomfish—are also significant contributors to the state's economy.[11] 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.[12] 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.
Washington is one of the wealthiest as well as most socially liberal states in the country.[13] The state consistently ranks among the best for life expectancy and low unemployment.[14] Along with Colorado, Washington was one of the first to legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis,[15] was among the first states to legalize same-sex marriage in 2012,[16] and was one of only four U.S. states to have been providing legal abortions on request before the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade loosened abortion laws nationwide.[17] Similarly, Washington voters approved a 2008 referendum on legalization of physician-assisted suicide,[18] and Washington is currently one of ten states—along with Washington, D.C.—to have legalized the practice.[19]
Etymology[edit]
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.[20][21][22] Washington is the only U.S. state named after a president.[23]
Confusion over 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.[24] 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.[4] 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",[25] or simply "D.C."
History[edit]
Main article: History of Washington (state)
Early history[edit]
A farm and barren hills near Riverside, in north central Washington
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.[26] The area has been known to host megathrust earthquakes in the past, the last being the Cascadia earthquake of 1700.[27] Before the arrival of Europeans, the region had many established tribes of indigenous peoples, notable for their totem poles and their ornately carved canoes and masks. Prominent among their industries were salmon fishing and, notably among the Makah, whale hunting.[28][29] 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 smallpox epidemic of the 1770s devastated the Native American population.[30]
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