Little more than a century ago, Seattle-nicknamed "The Emerald City" -was a pioneer outpost and a quiet lumbering town. Transformed by the Yukon gold rush into a thriving metropolis, Seattle has become the transportation, manufacturing, commercial, and services hub for the Pacific Northwest as well as the largest urban area north of San Francisco, California. The city's arts community has gained an international reputation, annually drawing audiences from throughout the United States and abroad. Nestled between two magnificent mountain ranges, with a breathtaking view of a lake and bay, Seattle enjoys a climate one observer has likened to "an airborne ocean bath."

Seattle, Washington (pop. 563,374; metropolitan area 3,275,847), the largest city and most prominent commercial center in the Pacific Northwest, lies on a narrow strip of land between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, framed by the Olympic and Cascade Mountains.

Euro-Americans settled in the area in 1851 and encountered the Duwamish leader, Chief Sealth, for whom the city is named. Early business leaders exploited natural resources, including lumber and coal, and developed a successful shipping industry on Puget Sound and along the west coast. Seattle weathered an Indian war (1856), losing the transcontinental railroad to Tacoma (1873), anti-Chinese riots (1886), and a fire that destroyed the commercial district (1889). The arrival of the Great Northern Railroad terminus and the discovery of gold in the Klondike in the 1890s occasioned exceptional growth through the first decade of the twentieth century, as Seattle became the supply center for the Alaskan gold rush.

Seattle's mild, temperate marine climate allows year-round outdoor recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, boating, team sports, and swimming. In town many people walk around Green Lake, through the forests and along the bluffs and beaches of 535-acre (2.2 km2) Discovery Park (the largest park in the city) in Magnolia, along the shores of Myrtle Edwards Park on the Downtown waterfront, along the shoreline of Lake Washington at Seward Park, or along Alki Beach in West Seattle.