Seattle, Washington

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Elliot Bay is the principal supply base for Alaska, plays an important part in American trade with Asia and is the most important fishing port in the United States. As for industry, simply naming the city's two largest companies - Boeing and Microsoft - is enough to indicate the significance of its role.

From being a rather dull port and industrial centre, Seattle has undergone an astonishing transformation. Driven only in part by its flourishing economy - for which Microsoft in particular provides the natural base - it is today an energetic, forward-looking city at the forefront of innovation technologically, culturally and in terms of its easy going lifestyle. It is no accident that Seattle is the "Coffee Capital" of the United States, with an espresso bar on almost every corner - quite something for a country brought up with a rather different idea of coffee. Then in addition there is the city's magnificent mountain setting: to the east is the ice pyramid of Mount Rainier National Park, rising out of the Cascade Mountains, to the west the partly snow-capped peaks of the Olympic National Park, towering backcloths to a series of ocean inlets and lakes.

History The first white settlers in this area were given a friendly welcome in November 1851 by the famous Chief Seattle, and soon after being incorporated as a town Seattle had a population of over 1000. In the early days logging and fishing formed the basis of the town's economy. In 1889 the town was destroyed in a great fire but was quick to recover. In 1893 the transcontinental railroad reached Seattle. In 1896 the first ocean-going vessel from Japan put in at the port, and in that year also the gold rush in Alaska brought a great flood of immigrants to the town. By the turn of the 19th c. the population had risen to 80,000.

The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 and the two world wars gave further boosts to the town's economy, and shipbuilding and aircraft construction developed on a tremendous scale. In 1962 a very successful World Fair was held in Seattle. Since the 1990s Seattle has increasingly led the way in expanding American trade with the Asian countries of the Pacific Rim.

Seattle is a resilient city that has weathered many economic and natural disasters but still stands strong. It has also become the home of several biotechnology companies and research institutes as well as aerospace and computing. The city is well-known for annual cultural events such as the Seattle International Film Festival, Seafair, Northwest Folklife, Hempfest and Independence Day celebrations. Seattle is also home to a thriving art scene and the Woodland Park Zoo that underwent renovations in 2006.