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Seattle is located in the western part of Washington State between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. It is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. and one of the leading cities in that country in a number of respects. The Seattle area was inhabited for thousands of years by tribes who enjoyed its relatively mild climate, abundant supply of foodstuffs nd magnificent scenery. It takes its name from Chief Noah Sealth, who was chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. The first people of European descent settled in Seattle in 1851. As of 2006, the city had an estimated population of roughly 570,000 million, and the metropolitan area as a whole had a population of about 3.8 million. The Seattle area is the home to some of the best-known U.S. companies, including Boeing, Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft. It also hosts the University of Washington, the premier university in the Pacific Northwest and one of the leading research universities in the U.S. In some ways Seattle resembles San Francisco, including its climate, topography (including the fact that it is a waterfront city and has a lot of hills), the progressive nature of its populace, the widespread use of trolleybuses and its excellent scenery. However, a major difference is that Seattle could be considered a blander version of San Francisco, that is without the latter's extremes, both good and bad. Some of the best things about Seattle are its good scenery, well-educated population, low crime rate, good food and water, abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities and generally good quality of life. Some of the worst things are its high cost of living (but cheaper than San Francisco), occasional long rainy spells and inferior transportation system (no high speed rail network yet). Created October 28, 2006. |