Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle, chief city of the state of Washington, U.S., seat (1853) of King county, the largest metropolis of the Pacific Northwest, and one of the largest and most affluent urban centres in the United States. A major port of entry and an air and sea gateway to Asia and Alaska, Seattle lies alongside Puget Sound, a deep inland arm of the northern Pacific Ocean, and is at the centre of a conurbation that is defined roughly by Everett to the north, Bellevue to the east, and Tacoma to the south.

The city was settled on November 13, 1851, at what is now West Seattle. It was relocated the following year to a site across Elliott Bay near a Duwamish Indian village. It owes its name to the Native American leader Seattle, chief of the Duwamish, Suquamish, and other tribes of the Puget Sound area. Areas of great natural beauty, including the densely forested Olympic Peninsula and the Cascade Range, surround the city. Its urban centre, dominated by tall skyscrapers that overlook Elliott Bay and enhanced by the city’s abundant parks and neighbourhoods, also offers a handsome prospect.

Seattle, Washington

Like other western cities in the United States, Seattle commands the resources of a broad hinterland, one that extends far east to the Great Plains of Montana. Linked by road, rail, ship, and air to global distribution networks, the city has grown to take on international economic importance, a development that owes much to Seattle’s role as one of the world’s leading centres for the manufacture of high technology and for Internet-based commerce. Inc. town, 1865; city, 1869. Area 83.9 square miles (217.3 square km). Pop. (2010) 608,660; Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metro Division, 2,644,584; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metro Area, 3,439,809; (2020) 737,015; Seattle-Bellevue-Kent Metro Division, 3,097,632; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metro Area, 4,018,762.