Washington (state)
- Washington can also mean Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States of America. Both the city and the state are named after George Washington, the first President of the United States. See Washington (disambiguation) for other uses.
| State of Washington | |||||
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| Nickname(s): The Evergreen State | |||||
| Motto(s): Alki (Chinook Wawa: "Eventually") | |||||
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| Official language | None | ||||
| Capital | Olympia | ||||
| Largest city | Seattle | ||||
| Area | Ranked 18 | ||||
| - Total | 71,342 sq mi (184,824 km2) |
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| - Width | 240 miles (385 km) | ||||
| - Length | 360 miles (580 km) | ||||
| - % water | 6.6 | ||||
| - Latitude | 45°32' N to 49°00' N | ||||
| - Longitude | 116°57' W to 124°48' W | ||||
| Number of people | Ranked 13th | ||||
| - Total | 6,724,540[1] | ||||
| - Density | 101.2/sq mi (36.40/km2) Ranked 27th |
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| - Average income | $48,688 (14th) | ||||
| Height above sea level | |||||
| - Highest point | Mount Rainier[2] 14,410 ft (4,395 m) |
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| - Average | 1,700 ft (520 m) | ||||
| - Lowest point | Pacific Ocean[2] sea level |
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| Became part of the U.S. | November 11, 1889 (42nd) | ||||
| Governor | Jay Inslee (D) | ||||
| U.S. Senators | Patty Murray (D) Maria Cantwell (D) |
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| Time zone | Pacific: UTC-8/-7 | ||||
| Abbreviations | WA, US-WA | ||||
| Website | www |
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Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is north of Oregon, west of Idaho, east of the Pacific Ocean, and south of British Columbia. (British Columbia is part of Canada.) There are more than 6,000,000 people in Washington. Most live in the western part of Washington, which gets more rain. About a quarter of the people live in the east part, where it gets less rain, and some parts have a desert climate. The largest city on the east part is Spokane, and it is also the second biggest city in the state. The Cascade Mountains go down the middle of the state and break it into two sides. The state's nickname is the "Evergreen State" because it has a lot of pine trees. Washington was the 42nd state to join the United States, on November 11, 1889. It is often called "Washington State" so that it does not get confused with the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
The capital of Washington is Olympia. Olympia is a small city on the west side of Washington, at the south end of Puget Sound. Washington's biggest city is Seattle, Seattle is also on Puget Sound.
Washington has many beautiful forests, rivers, gorges (gorges are small canyons), and mountains. Because it's next to the ocean, it has a long beach. However, because Washington is north of Oregon and California (the other two states on the West Coast of the United States), the ocean is cold, and usually not good to swim in.
The biggest universities in Washington are the University of Washington and Washington State University. The University of Washington is in Seattle.[3] Washington State University is in a small town called Pullman. Pullman is on the east side of the state.
Lists of Federal land and reservations[change | change source]
National parks and monuments
There are three National Parks and two National Monuments in Washington:
- Mount Rainier National Park
- North Cascades National Park
- Olympic National Park
- Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
- Hanford Reach National Monument
National forests
Nine national forests are located (at least partly) in Washington:
- Colville National Forest
- Gifford Pinchot National Forest
- Idaho Panhandle National Forest
- Kaniksu National Forest
- Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
- Okanogan National Forest
- Olympic National Forest
- Umatilla National Forest
- Wenatchee National Forest
Federally protected wildernesses
31 wildernesses are located (at least partly) in Washington, like:
- Alpine Lakes Wilderness
- Glacier Peak Wilderness
- Goat Rocks Wilderness
- Henry M. Jackson Wilderness
- Juniper Dunes Wilderness
- Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness
- Mount Baker Wilderness
- Norse Peak Wilderness
- Olympic Wilderness
- Pasayten Wilderness
- Wild Sky Wilderness
National wildlife refuges
23 National Wildlife Refuges are located (at least partly) in Washington like:
- Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge
- Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge
- Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
- Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
- Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge
- San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge
- Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
- Willapa National Wildlife Refuge
Other federally protected lands
Other protected lands of note like:
- Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
- Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve
- Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
- Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
- Lake Chelan National Recreation Area
- Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
- Ross Lake National Recreation Area
- San Juan Island National Historical Park
- Whitman Mission National Historic Site
- 17 National Natural Landmarks
Military and related reservations
There are many large military-related reservations, like:
- Fort Lewis
- McChord Air Force Base
- Fairchild Air Force Base
- Naval Base Kitsap
- Hanford Site
- Yakima Training Center
- Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (Bremerton)
- Naval Air Station Whidbey Island
- Naval Station Everett
Related pages[change | change source]
References[change | change source]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Washington (state) |
- ↑ "Resident Population Data - 2010 Census". 2010.census.gov. 2011 [last update]. http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-dens-text.php. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Elevations and Distances in the United States". U.S Geological Survey. 29 April 2005. http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html#Highest. Retrieved 2006-11-9.
- ↑ "About the University". University of Washington. 2008. http://www.washington.edu/discovery/about.html. Retrieved 2009-9-28.
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