Washington, a federated state of the USA (176,479 km2 with 6,664,195 inhabitants in 2009), the northernmost of the north-western states. It faces the Pacific Ocean to the W and borders Canada to the north, Idaho to the east and Oregon to the south. Capital: Olympia. The territory is divided into two parts by the Chain of Cascades (Mountain Rainier 4392 m): to the E extends a series of plateaus covered during the tertiary era by basalt flows (1500-2000 m); in the western, mountainous regions, a depressed area extends from Puget Sound reaches up to the river Columbia(the main river of the state) and which, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the N and the Pacific to the West, borders the Olympic Peninsula. The climate, temperate oceanic, with abundant rainfall on the ocean and in the Puget Sound, becomes distinctly continental, arid, E of the Cascade Range. Agriculture and animal husbandry retain a leading role (agricultural crops, very diversified thanks to the diffusion of irrigation; exploitation of the forest heritage; sheep breeding for wool; fishing, especially salmon). Gold, silver, zinc, uranium, lead and coal are extracted from the subsoil. The industry has developed in the steel, metallurgical, shipbuilding, aeronautical and railway construction, chemical, wood and food sectors. The state is crossed by the Northern Pacific railroad.
Detached from Oregon on March 2, 1853, according to abbreviationfinder, the State of Washington was erected into territory (initially under the name of Columbia), comprising Idaho and a section of Montana. In 1855 the discovery of gold deposits caused a huge influx of population and a war with the Indians (1856-59). In 1859 a part of the Oregon territory became a State of the Union, while a part was added to the Washington territory. Meanwhile, new discoveries of deposits had caused further influxes of immigrants; so in 1863 Idaho was detached and the territory was reduced to its present borders. It was admitted as a state into the Union on 11 November 1889. In 1885-86 violent anti-Chinese agitations were suppressed with the intervention of federal troops.
According to countryaah, Washington has the following main cities:
Olympia
Capital of the state of Washington (United States), capital of Thurston County; it stands at the mouth of the Deschutes River in the southern cove of Puget Sound and is 116 km away. by rail from Seattle. It is a town of modest proportions, with a temperate climate with a Mediterranean tendency: average annual temperature 10 °, 3; January average, 3rd, 7th; of July, 17th, 2; abundant rainfall (1384 mm. per year), with maximums in December (249 mm.) and minimum in July (17 mm.); little snow (250 mm. per year). The population has risen from 1203 inhab. in 1870 to 4698 in 1900, to 7795 in 1920, to 11,733 in 1930. In that year the whites indigenous and born to foreign parents represented 88.3%; whites born abroad 10.4%. The city is favored by the abundant water energy of the river, which has three waterfalls with a drop of 24 m. The main industries concern wood processing, fruit preserves, knitting, etc. Oyster farming is also flourishing. Olympia serves the Union Pacific and Northern Pacific Railroads; shipping lines and airlines.
Seattle
Seattle City of the USA (598,541 inhab. In 2008; 3,950,000 considering the whole urban agglomeration, which includes the cities of Tacoma and Bremerton), in the state of Washington, located on the isthmus between Lake Washington and the Puget Sound, not far from the slopes of the Chain of Cascades. It was founded in 1852 by colonists from Illinois and experienced a notable development following the arrival of the first railway (1884) and then, from 1897, with the gold rush in Alaska. New impetus for the expansion of the city came with the opening of the Panama Canal and with the installation, during the Second World War, shipyards and aeronautical industries. The commercial and fishing port is of great economic importance and controls a large part of the traffic with Alaska and the Far East. In the last decades of the 20th century, the development of the computer industry was very remarkable (in Redmond, in the metropolitan area of S., it is the headquarters of the Microsoft) and today the city’s economy depends mainly on the activities of the high-tech sectors. The traditional aeronautical sector, which has favored the development of research centers in the missile and aerospace field, shipbuilding and woodworking (Tacoma), remains important. An important cultural and financial center, S. is home to prestigious universities, rich libraries and notable museums. The contribution of tourism is growing.
The city, as a result of a fire that devastated the business district in 1889, has a modern appearance. Among the notable architectures: Seattle Art Museum (Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown with Olson, Sundberg Ass., 1991); St. Ignatius Chapel in the University of S. (S. Holl, 1995); Seattle Public Library (R. Koolhaas / OMA, 2004).
Conventions of S. They were elaborated by the International Labor Conference, the assembly body of the International Labor Organization, which met in S. in 1946, and define the hygiene, health, food, accommodation and welfare regulations of merchant marine crews. Although they have not been ratified by all Member States of the Organization, they are still in force and form the basis of national legislative provisions in these matters.
