The following summaries contain general information about a few of the major cities in the United States.

Atlanta
Host to the 1996 Olympic Summer Games, the once-quiet capital of the state of Georgia has risen rapidly in recent decades to become a leading U.S. and world city. The unofficial capital of the "new South," it is the most important industrial, commercial, and financial center in a once-depressed region that has been transformed by an economic and population boom. Leading manufactures include aerospace products, automobiles, chemicals, and textiles. It is the corporate headquarters of Coca-Cola, the world's most widely marketed soft drink, and of Cable News Network (CNN), the worldwide television service.

Atlanta holds a special place in U.S. history as the site of one of the climactic battles of the Civil War. A Northern army left the city in ruins in 1864, a disaster that inspired the most widely read literary work concerning the war, Atlanta-native Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind." The modern city's center is dominated by the towers of the Peachtree Center complex and neighboring business skyscrapers. Much of an earlier and more leisurely era survives in residential suburbs that surround the center of the city, with shade trees and turn-of-the-century homes lining the curving streets. The area is especially beautiful in spring when dogwood trees and multi-hued azaleas burst into bloom.

The metropolitan area has a population of more than three million.

Baltimore
Founded in 1729 by Lord Baltimore, an English nobleman, Baltimore has a long and eventful history. It was a leading seaport from its start, exporting tobacco and other agricultural products to Europe and receiving manufactured goods and tens of thousands of immigrants. Its successful resistance to an attack by British warships in the War of 1812 inspired the writing of the U.S. national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner." The new nation's first railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, worked its way west from the city, which by 1850 was the second largest city in the U.S.

Baltimore has continued to thrive, with trade still providing the basis of the economy. Grain, coal, and manufactures pass through the port, one of the busiest in the U.S. An ongoing urban renewal program has given the city a distinctive skyline, studding the old downtown and harbor areas with gleaming modern skyscrapers, some considered architectural landmarks.

The city is the hub of a metropolitan area with a population of two and a half million.

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Boston
One of the oldest U.S. cities, Boston has always been one of the most important. It was founded by religious dissenters in 1630 and named for their home city in England. Situated on a natural harbor, it quickly became a major seaport and the largest population center in Britain's North American colonies. The earliest incidents of the war for independence took place in and around Boston. In the 1800s, thousands of Irish immigrants arrived, changing the character of what had been the preeminent "Yankee" city. They were followed by Italians, Portuguese, and other nationalities, so that today the city has an interesting ethnic mix reflected in its lively politics.

As has happened in many other U.S. cities, urban renewal has changed the look of Boston in recent decades. Office towers now soar above the narrow streets and low buildings of the old city; and a current, massive construction project designed to relocate highways and mass transit will further modernize the city. The port is still a mainstay, but investment banking, manufacturing, and high technology also contribute to the thriving economy. In recent decades, hundreds of computer and other high-tech firms have located in the Boston area, which rivals California's "Silicon Valley" as a center of cutting-edge industry. It is also a center of higher education, the home of Harvard, M.I.T., Boston University, Boston College, Tufts, and some 50 other universities and colleges.

The metropolitan area of Boston has a population of approximately four million, while Boston proper has nearly 600,000.

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Chicago
A relatively young city founded in 1830 on the site of a military post in the Indian wars, Chicago grew rapidly along with the westward expansion of the nation. It acquired a reputation as "stormy, husky, brawling," in the words of native-son poet Carl Sandburg, a grimy place of smoking factories, sprawling stockyards, and fortunes made overnight. It became the country's most important transportation hub, the meeting point for all the major railroad systems. Although reduced to smoking ruins by a great fire in 1871, it was rapidly rebuilt. By the turn of the century, Chicago was the second largest and the most dynamic city in the U.S.

Today's Chicago is still the "City of big shoulders," another Sandburg description, but no longer rough and grimy. It remains a major industrial center, but the older factories and malodorous stockyards are gone. The lakefront skyline, with several of the world's tallest buildings, rivals Manhattan's. It is the second most important financial center in the U.S., the home of the world's largest commodities market, and a cultural center. Many suburban residential communities surround the city proper, extending northward along the shore of Lake Michigan into the neighboring state of Wisconsin.

The metropolitan area has a population of 8.5 million.

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Cleveland
Founded in 1796 on the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland was a village struggling for survival until a canal linking the lake and the Ohio River was completed in 1832. Immigrants from Europe flooded into the city as it grew rapidly into a shipping and industrial center. Steel, automobiles, coal, oil, and iron ore were the foundations of its economic growth. Unfortunately, by the middle of this century, Cleveland had acquired a reputation as the "Mistake on the Lake," an example of the extent to which industrial development could harm the environment. At one point, the polluted Cuyahoga River, which flows through the city's industrial heart, caught fire.

In recent decades, Cleveland has experienced a renaissance. The river has been cleaned and the area previously noted for heavy industry has become a picturesque entertainment district. Modern office towers dominate the rejuvenated downtown. The city is noted for medical research and treatment and as a cultural center, with one of the world's great symphony orchestras. The core city is surrounded by attractive residential suburbs to the east, south, and west.

The metropolitan area has a population of three million.

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Columbus
For much of its history Columbus, founded in 1812, was important primarily as the capital city of the state of Ohio. Since World War II, it has experienced rapid growth and has become a center of scientific and technological research and development. It is the base of the Battelle Institute, a leading research facility that developed the photocopier, and almost 200 other high-tech and aerospace enterprises. It is also a center of the insurance industry. The city, which has followed a policy of incorporating suburban areas as the population grows, has numerous attractive residential areas. The metropolitan area has a population of 1.4 million.

Dallas
The eighth-largest and one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., Dallas owes its recent success to oil. It was already an important regional banking and business center when extensive oil discoveries beginning in the 1930s made it a symbol of sudden wealth. The boomtown atmosphere has given way to a cosmopolitanism manifested by a skyscraper skyline, some striking modern architecture, and a growing reputation as a cultural center. It is the home of a number of prominent universities and colleges, but oil and money are still what Dallas is based on. The Trinity River, redirected into an artificial channel to control flooding, flows through the city. Getting about in the downtown area can be confusing as streets are not laid out in a grid. The preferred residential areas are north of the downtown area.

The metropolitan area, which includes neighboring Fort Worth, has a population of 4.2 million.

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Denver
The metropolis of the Mountain West, modern Denver has changed dramatically from the rough mining camp that was the beginning of the city in the 1850s. Gold and silver have been replaced by manufacturing and energy as the basis of the economy. It is a center of research into fossil fuels and development of alternative energy sources. It is also the distribution and transportation hub of the entire northern Rocky Mountain region. Glass-walled office towers now march along downtown streets that were once dusty trails lined with shacks. The cosmopolitan modern city retains some of the flavor of its colorful past, however. Businessmen in the downtown towers as often as not may be wearing cowboy boots. There is also a strong Hispanic influence.

Denver is known as the "Mile-High City" because of its altitude of 1,609.76m/5,280 ft. It has an unusual network of parks located outside the city proper on the lower slopes of surrounding mountains. Adjacent to the center of the city are several large residential suburbs.

The metropolitan area population is more than two million.

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Detroit
The "Motor City," as Detroit is known worldwide, is the headquarters of the U.S. automobile industry and the birthplace of the factory production line. It is also much more. Manufactures other than vehicles include office equipment and rubber products. It is a steel and pharmaceuticals center as well as an important inland port, to which it owes its founding by French settlers in 1701. They called the strategic location d'etroit, or "straits," in reference to the short river that was part of the passage between two of the Great Lakes, Erie and Huron. The area passed to Britain in 1763 and to the U.S. in 1783. Location was again important in the early 1800s as commerce increased on the Great Lakes. At the beginning of this century, Detroit was a prosperous but small city when Henry Ford began production of his horseless carriage. In less than two decades, Detroit was one of the largest cities in the U.S. and an industrial giant among world cities.

Following World War II, Detroit entered a period of decline. It was troubled by race riots and the loss of business by U.S. auto manufacturers to foreign competition. Many jobs disappeared as companies retrenched and modernized. Renewal projects have restored some life to the city center and the auto makers are again prospering; but work forces are smaller, and unemployment in the city remains high.

The metropolitan area has a population of more than five million.

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Houston
Like other Texas cities, Houston owes its importance to oil; but it is refining and transportation, rather than production, that has fueled the city's growth. Connected to the Gulf of Mexico 80 km/50 mi. away by the Houston Ship Channel, the city is a major seaport, exporting refined petroleum, petrochemicals, synthetic rubber, steel, and other industrial products. It is also a center of medical research and plays an important space age role as the home of the National Air and Space Administration's (NASA) Houston Space Center, from which U.S. manned space flights are directed.

The climate, which tends to be hot and humid, is not one of the city's more attractive features.

The metropolitan area has a population of some four million.

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Indianapolis
Its location at the geographical center of Indiana is the reason for the existence of Indianapolis. The city was founded in 1820 to be the capital of the then new state. Settlers and industry soon followed government. One of the early centers of the U.S. automobile industry, the city since 1911 has been the site of the most important auto race in the U.S., the Indianapolis 500, held annually on Memorial Day at the end of May. More recently, technology has come to the forefront. Numerous computer software firms, several producers of automation equipment and robotics, and one of the largest U.S. pharmaceutical firms are based in the city. Located in the heart of the agricultural Midwest, Indianapolis is an important grain and livestock market as well as meat-processing center.

Indianapolis was a typical U.S. industrial city until a comprehensive urban renewal was initiated in the 1960s. It now ranks as one of the cleanest large U.S. cities. The city has incorporated many adjacent communities as population expanded.

The metropolitan area has a population of 1.4 million.

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Los Angeles
The second largest city in the U.S., Los Angeles was created by the automobile. It sprawls over 1,205 sq. km/465 sq. mi with no clearly defined urban center. The entire area is laced with freeways, and the automobile is for most residents the only practical way to get around although the daily traffic jams are legendary. Founded in 1781, Los Angeles was of little significance until early in this century when the infant motion picture industry was attracted by the dry and sunny climate which permitted producers to film inexpensively out of doors. The explosive growth of the movies, and later radio and television, made Los Angeles a national and world entertainment center. More recently, the oil, aerospace, and electronics industries have become major contributors to the economy.

Present-day Los Angeles is a city of broad, palm-lined boulevards, with prestigious neighborhoods of mansions surrounded by green lawns where movie stars and other wealthy residents live, luxury hotels, and gleaming office towers. It is also a city of decaying neighborhoods where the large communities of Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, and other less fortunate residents live.

It is a conglomeration of many separate and often very different communities within a metropolitan area of more than 15 million. Los Angeles has been described by some as more a state of mind than a real city.

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Miami
Now the gateway to and from the Caribbean and northern Latin America, Miami got its start in the first decades of this century as a popular winter resort for wealthy people from the northern U.S. Many ornate pastel-colored hotels and other older buildings still testify to this earlier and more leisurely time that ended in the 1950s with revolution in Cuba and upheavals elsewhere in the Caribbean. Waves of refugees and immigrants from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Central America, and elsewhere swept into the city and surrounding region. Spanish is now as much used as English, if not more so. Hispanics, especially Cubans, are the dominant political community. The city's transformation also has been economic. Tourism is still important, but Miami has become an important business center oriented toward Latin America. It provides a basis of operations for more than 300 international banks and multinational corporations.

Miami proper is a sprawling urban conglomeration on the Florida mainland with many ethnic communities, such as "Little Havana" and "Little San Juan," that indicate the origins of the inhabitants. The sister city of Miami Beach, separated from Miami by Biscayne Bay, occupies a narrow peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean, filled with huge resort hotels.

The metropolitan area, including numerous other suburban communities, has a population of 3.3 million.

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Milwaukee
This is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin, deep in the midwestern heartland of the U.S., which also may be the most ethnically varied in the country. Revolutions in Europe in 1848 brought thousands of German refugees to the small city on Lake Michigan. They became a powerful influence and, for a time, German was required to be taught in the public schools. Germans were followed by Poles, Irish, Italians, Scandinavians, and some 30 other nationalities. Over the subsequent generations, they merged into a common nationality -- American; but the early diversity has left its mark on the city.

Milwaukee is still thought of as the city made famous by beer; and brewing remains an important industry, but it has been joined by others. Milwaukee is a center of production for machine tools, electrical generating equipment, precision instruments, farm equipment, and aerospace guidance systems. The city has numerous attractive residential areas, some containing elaborate mansions built at the turn of the century by wealthy brewers. The metropolitan area has a population of 1.9 million.

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Minneapolis-St. Paul
Twin cities situated on opposite banks of the upper Mississippi River, this is another U.S. urban center that has attracted a diverse immigrant population from Europe, primarily Scandinavia and Germany. Minneapolis, the larger of the two and a commercial center, has a modern skyline of steel and glass office towers. St. Paul, the capital of the state of Minnesota, is more traditional, with a low-key city center of stone and brick. Founded in the early 1800s, the settlements did not begin their real growth until after mid-century, when waterfalls on the river were utilized to provide power. Flour-milling and lumber-processing were the first important industries. Grain remains a staple of the Minneapolis economy. The city is the headquarters of several major processing and marketing firms. St. Paul prospered initially as a river port and grain-shipping point. Later-developing industries include auto assemblies, computers, and electronic systems.

Although the winter climate can be severe, the area is one of the most agreeable in the U.S. in which to live. In addition to many parks and attractive residential neighborhoods, there are more than 1,000 lakes in the metropolitan area, which has a population of 2.6 million.

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New Orleans
The product of four distinctive cultures, New Orleans is like no other city in the U.S. and perhaps the world. Founded by French explorers on marshland near the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1718, the settlement was ceded to Spain in 1762. In 1803 it was returned to France, which promptly sold it, along with the Louisiana Territory, to the United States. New American arrivals coexisted and eventually began to blend with the established Franco-Spanish society, called Creole. Africans, imported as slaves by French, Spanish, and Americans alike, were an additional element in the population mix. The African culture has profoundly influenced not only the culture of the city, but that of the U.S. and the world. Jazz had its origins among the black people of New Orleans. The city is still the place to hear jazz at its best. It is also famed for its Mardi Gras, the most extravagant pre-Lenten carnival in the U.S. which attracts revelers from throughout the country.

Situated between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain, a large but shallow body of water, New Orleans has an unusual location for a major city. Much of it is below river level and must be protected by barriers, called levees, along the banks. The climate is not ideal, ranging from very hot and humid to chilly and humid. Nevertheless, the city very early became a major port and commercial center, which it remains today.

The French Quarter, the historic Franco-Spanish city, centered on Jackson Square; and St. Louis Cathedral remains the heart of modern New Orleans. Bourbon, Rampart, and Basin are among its famous and still bustling streets. The Garden District, a residential area spreading out to the west, is a very different New Orleans. This is where Americans arriving after 1803 built their sprawling mansions along shaded, curving streets. St. Charles Ave., which still has a streetcar line with picturesque wooden cars, is the main thoroughfare. The central city is surrounded by numerous suburbs.

The metropolitan area has a population of some 1.3 million.

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New York City
New York City is the capital of the U.S. in virtually all respects except political. It is the hub of finance, corporate business, trade, communications, publishing, entertainment, and cultural activity. It is the leading seaport and a manufacturing center. Despite the recent rapid growth of southwestern and western challengers, it remains the largest U.S. city by far. The metropolitan area has a population of almost 20 million. Founded as New Amsterdam by Dutch explorers in 1613, it passed to British control and was renamed in 1664. Following U.S. independence, it was the seat of Congress for the period between 1785 and 1790 and, therefore, the de facto capital of the new nation.

The modern city, created in 1898 when previously separate municipalities were consolidated, comprises five boroughs -- the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Richmond, today known as Staten Island.

Manhattan, the oldest and smallest in area, occupies the island of the same name and is the skyscraper-studded heart of the city. Millions of immigrants reached the U.S. through New York and many remained, making the present-day city a quintessential melting pot. There are many distinctive ethnic neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. Among the most recent arrivals are Russians, many of whom have settled in an area of Brooklyn called Brighton Beach, now often referred to as "Little Odessa." The city proper is the hub of many suburban residential communities in the states of Connecticut and New Jersey as well as upstate New York.

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Philadelphia
A city whose name was derived from classical Greek meaning "City of Brotherly Love," Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, a wealthy Englishman and member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, as a place where people of all faiths could live together and worship as they wished. It was the largest city in the colonies by the time of the revolution against British rule, the site of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, as well as the national capital for most of the period between 1776 and 1800.

Philadelphia has never ceased to be one of the largest and most important U.S. cities. It is a center of commerce, finance, industry, and higher education. Situated on the navigable Delaware River, its port is one of the country's busiest. The suburban residential areas to the west are particularly attractive, with tree-covered hills and many parks. The metropolitan area has a population of six million.

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Phoenix
In many respects, this Arizona metropolis is an archetypal modern U.S. city. At the beginning of the century, Phoenix was a desert village of less than 6,000 people. Today, it is the ninth largest city in the country with a population just under 1 million and a metropolitan area with a population of 2.4 million. Its rapid growth has been based on water and climate. A dam constructed in 1911 on the nearby Salt River provided power for industrial plants and transformed arid desert into irrigated agricultural land. Year-round sun and low humidity attracted many new residents who were seeking a pleasant climate, especially those with health problems. The area has become a retirement area for older people from throughout the U.S. Cotton, citrus fruits, and vegetables are the area's primary agricultural products. Electronics, technological research and development, and aerospace are the leading industries.

Phoenix has its share of the business towers that characterize the centers of other U.S. cities, but it is also a conglomeration of shopping centers and suburbs. The immediate metropolitan area includes several suburbs such as Glendale, Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe that are large cities in their own right.

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Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh and steel are virtually synonymous. Founded as a military post at a strategic river junction and fought over by Britain and France in their 18th-century struggle for dominance in North America, this city in western Pennsylvania was in the right place with the right assets when the U.S. entered the industrial age. At the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers joined to form the Ohio, Pittsburgh quickly became an important river port. Iron ore could be transported via the Great Lakes and river network from deposits in the upper Midwest. Coal was available in abundance nearby. Pittsburgh became a prosperous prototype of the industrial city, steel mills lining its river banks and belching black smoke into the sky day and night.

Prosperity had its drawbacks, however. With the city constantly shrouded in smoke, Pittsburgh was an unpleasant and unhealthy place to live. After World War II, a massive clean-up effort was launched. Mills installed pollution-control equipment, older buildings were cleaned, and gleaming new skyscrapers constructed. Present-day Pittsburgh is one of the most attractive of U.S. cities, spread out on wooded hills overlooking its rivers and with numerous parks. Steel is still an important but diminished industry. The city is also noted for the manufacture of electrical appliances and processed foods. It is a cultural center with several major universities. The metropolitan area has a population of 2.4 million.

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St. Louis
St. Louis is another major U.S. city with French origins. It was established on the west bank of the Mississippi River in 1764 as a fur-trading post and the first settlers came from New Orleans. It came under U.S. control with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. With the arrival of the railroad in the 1850s, St. Louis attracted large numbers of immigrants from Europe, especially Germany. It was a starting point for settlers moving to new lands in the West. Along with other U.S. cities, St. Louis experienced urban decay following World War II. Renewal efforts resulted in a revived downtown with modern office towers. The soaring Gateway Arch was constructed on the riverfront as a memorial to the opening of the West. Brewing, a St. Louis tradition, is still a leading industry. The city is also a center of auto production, electronics, aerospace, and food processing.

The metropolitan area has a population of two and a half million.

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Salt Lake City
The city is located in a basin between Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch Mountains. It is the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, among the fastest growing of Christian denominations. The church dominates the city with its physical structures - the soaring Temple and massive Tabernacle on Temple Square - as well as culturally and politically. The city is laid out on a grid pattern, with streets running north-south and east-west. Many are exceptionally wide, conforming to the dictum of Brigham Young, the city's founder, that they must be broad enough to permit a wagon drawn by oxen to turn around without difficulty.

The region's economy, long based upon agriculture, in recent decades, has seen a shift to computer and other high-tech activity. Several leading U.S. software companies are headquartered in the area.

The city itself is relatively small, with less than 200,000 inhabitant. Numerous sizable nearby communities, such as Logan, Ogden, and Provo, give the metropolitan area a population of more than one million, representing more than half that of the entire state of Utah.

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San Antonio
This most Hispanic of U.S. cities has a long and eventful history. Founded in 1718 as a Franciscan mission and settled by colonists from the Canary Islands, it has been under the rule of Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the U.S. Settlers from the U.S. arrived in the area in the 1820s. In 1836, English- and Spanish-speaking Texans were besieged in the old mission, called the Alamo, and overwhelmed by a Mexican army. That battle was lost but the war was won the next year. Texas became a U.S. state in 1846 and a new wave of immigration from Europe followed. For a time, street signs were in three languages English, Spanish, and German. Homes from that era can be seen in the historic district. There are numerous attractive plazas and parks, notably the Paseo del Rio or Riverwalk, a 4 km/2.5 mi. tree-shaded promenade along the winding San Antonio River.

Raising and marketing beef cattle has long been an important economic activity. Before the railroad reached the area in the 1870s, great herds were annually driven north to Kansas on the historic Chisholm Trail. There is a long military tradition dating back to Spanish times. Today, four U.S. air bases are located in and near the city. The population of the metropolitan area is 1.4 million.

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San Diego
Today San Diego is the second largest city in California and the sixth largest in the U.S., having grown rapidly since World War II when it became the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The move attracted industry and a continuing influx of new residents. A short distance north of the U.S. border with Mexico, the city sprawls eastward across 825 sq. km/320 sq. mi. from one of the Pacific Coast's best natural harbors to inland hills and desert. In addition to the continuing naval presence, the economy benefits from aerospace facilities, scientific research, shipping, commercial tuna fishing, and agriculture.

Some of the San Diego of an earlier day, including the original Spanish mission, have been preserved in the Old Town historic district. Extensive Balboa Park, located just east of the downtown, contains the San Diego Zoo, one the world's largest. Mission Bay is an even larger aquatic park, comprising 196 sq. km/76 sq. mi. of land and water areas.

The metropolitan area has a population of 2.6 million.

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San Francisco
Considered by many the most beautiful city in the U.S. and possibly the world, San Francisco sits on 40 hills on a narrow peninsula at the entrance to San Francisco Bay, one of the world's great natural harbors. Its history goes back to 1776 and the establishment of a Spanish military post, the present-day Presidio, a national park. Its real growth and most colorful period came much later, however, with the discovery of gold nearby in 1848. Almost overnight, the population increased from a few hundred to more than 10,000. The gold eventually gave out, but San Francisco continued to thrive. Seven times the city burned to the ground, the last time following the devastating earthquake of 1906, but each time was rebuilt.

A mecca for immigrants from throughout the world, the population and culture are cosmopolitan mixtures from many sources - American, Asian, European, and other. Appropriately, the charter of the United Nations was adopted at an international conference here in 1946. The city is also an important commercial location. It is the most important U.S. financial center west of New York City and Chicago. The port is one of the busiest in the U.S. The metropolitan area, including nearby San Jose as well as Oakland and other cities on San Francisco Bay, has a population of six and a half million.

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San Jose
Part of the San Francisco metropolitan area, San Jose has a larger city population than San Francisco itself. It lies in a mountain valley some 90 km/56 mi. southeast of San Francisco. Founded in 1777, its importance was largely agricultural until the 1960s when some of the trailblazers of the embryo computer industry made it their base of operations. The San Diego area came to be known as "Silicon Valley" and has been a booming center of technological research and development ever since.

Agriculture is still important. There are more than 50 wineries in the area, some within the city limits. Many have free tours.

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Seattle
Situated on a hilly isthmus between Puget Sound and a large lake at the northwestern corner of the continental U.S., Seattle is one of the country's most scenic cities as well as an important business, shipping, and industrial center. An excellent harbor and timber resources drew settlers to the area in the 1850s. It further prospered as the gateway to Alaska after gold was discovered there in the 1890s. Today, the thriving economy is diversified and high-tech oriented. The Seattle area is the headquarters of Boeing, the world's leading aircraft manufacturer, and of Microsoft, the leading computer software producer. Forest products are still an important industry. The closest U.S. port to Asia, Seattle does a booming import-export trade in agricultural products, timber, energy, and various manufactures. The U.S. Navy has a naval base and shipyard at Bremerton, across Puget Sound.

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The climate is cool and moist, with mild, rainy winters. The area is noted for its recreational opportunities. There is skiing in the nearby Cascade Mountains, boating and fishing on Puget Sound and numerous lakes, and the scenic wilderness of Olympic National Park on the rugged Olympic Peninsula just across Puget Sound. There are numerous easily accessible suburban communities to the north of the city, on the eastern shore of Lake Washington, and across Puget Sound.

The metropolitan area, including the nearby city of Tacoma at the southern end of Puget Sound, has a population of more than three million.

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Washington, D.C.
The capital of the U.S. since 1800, Washington is located in a federal enclave called the District of Columbia. It is under the direct jurisdiction of Congress, which delegates most of its authority to an elected municipal government. The location on the Potomac River between the states of Maryland and Virginia was selected by George Washington, the first president, as the site of the new national capital. He appointed a French engineer, Pierre L'Enfant, to design the city. L'Enfant produced a plan of broad intersecting avenues, numerous green spaces, and imposing public buildings and monuments. Washington came close to having a very short history. In 1814, British troops occupied and burned much of it, including the incomplete Capitol building and the White House, then called the President's House. The city was rebuilt after the war. Washington was on the front lines of the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, when two of the most famous battles were fought on its southern outskirts.

Washington remained a relatively small city until well into this century. It grew rapidly during and following World War II. The center city and northwestern residential areas are very beautiful, with many trees and parks. Elsewhere, however, there are many blighted neighborhoods. The population of the city proper is about 70 percent African-American, with a high unemployment rate. Government is the mainstay of the economy. Many large corporations and high-tech enterprises have headquarters or operations in the area, but there is virtually no manufacturing. The population of the metropolitan area, which includes many residential suburbs in the adjacent states of Maryland and Virginia, is four and a half million.

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