Seattle

Port on Lake Washington in King County, Washington, USA, and the largest city in the Pacific Northwest; population (2000 est) 563,400, Greater Seattle (King, Snohomish, Pierce, and Kitsap counties) 3,275,800. It is the fifth-largest container port in the USA and the main transit point for supplies to Alaska; trade with Japan is important. Industries include aerospace (the manufacturing plants of the Boeing Corporation are here), timber, tourism, banking and insurance, paper industries, electronics, computing (Microsoft, based in adjoining Redmond, is one of several thousand software firms), biotechnology, ocean science, shipbuilding and repair, and fishing. Coffee has been an important commodity since the development of the Starbucks Company in the 1970s.

History
Seattle was named after the American Indian leader Sealth who gave land to the white settlers in 1852. It grew as a sawmill centre and the nearest port for Alaska, and was incorporated in 1865. The Great Northern Railroad arrived in 1893, and it became the main supply depot for the Yukon, Klondike, and Alaskan gold rushes of the 1890s. The city's entire business district was burnt down in 1889. It developed into a major seaport after the Lake Washington Ship Canal was opened in 1916.

In 1999 Seattle was the scene of serious rioting when protesters objected to the policies of the World Trade Organization which was holding its third ministerial meeting in the city.