Named after an Indian chieftain, Seattle initially was a gathering place for native Indians. Settled in 1851-52, Seattle remained a small lumber town until the coming of the Great Northern Railway in 1893.

Despite strikes, riots, and a fire in 1889, growth was rapid. The city became a boomtown with the 1897 Alaska gold rush and developed into the nation's chief link with Alaska. It grew further with the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909), the opening of the Panama Canal (1914), and the completion of a canal (1917) and locks making the city both a saltwater and a freshwater port.

During the 1960s, Seattle's port expanded enormously. It now has numerous major terminals, a 600-boat commercial fishing terminal, and a huge marina for private boats. The shipment of cargo from and to the Seattle port reaches 23 billion tons per year, 90 percent of which goes to or from Asian countries, with China dominates most of the cargo.

Seattle is the region's commercial, financial, transportation, and industrial hub and a major port of entry, important in both East Asian and Alaskan trade.

As a center of aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding since World War II, the city is a major center for the Boeing Company, which employs a significant number of residents, as does the Microsoft Corp. in nearby Redmond. Aiding its industrial growth was the presence of coal in the area and the development of hydroelectric power.

There are also major electronics, banking, insurance, biomedical, food-processing, and lumber industries. Steel, textiles, clothing, metal and glass products, and beer are among the products manufactured in the city, which has an international airport.

Situated between the majestic Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, with Mt. Rainier to the southeast and Mt. Baker to the northeast, Seattle is not far from many national and state parks and recreation areas. The city is a cultural center with numerous museums and art galleries. It is the seat of the University of Washington, Seattle University., and Seattle Pacific University.

Seattle was the site of the 1962 world's fair. That fair's symbol -- a 183-meter Space Needle -- is a skyline landmark.

Most citizens of the city are immigrants or offspring of the immigrants, with large Chinese, Japanese and Philippine communities inside the city, forming a diverse and comprehensive culture.

On June 3, 1983, Seattle established a sister-city relationship with Chongqing, a city in southwest China. Chongqing is now the fourth municipality directly under the central government.