The Northwest Coast is the coastal region of the Pacific Northwest, and the Northwest Plateau (also commonly known as "
the Interior" in British Columbia), is the inland region. The term "Pacific Northwest" should not be confused with the
Northwest Territory (also known as the Great Northwest, a historical term in the United States) or the
Northwest Territories of
Canada. The region is sometimes referred to as Cascadia, which, depending on the borders, may or may not be the same thing as the Pacific Northwest.
The region's largest metropolitan areas are
Greater Seattle, Washington, with 4 million people;
Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, with 2.84 million people; and
Greater Portland, Oregon, with 2.5 million people.
The culture of the Pacific Northwest is influenced by the
Canada–United States border, which the United States and the
United Kingdom established at a time when the region's inhabitants were composed mostly of
indigenous peoples. Two sections of the border—one along the
49th parallel south of British Columbia and one between the
Alaska Panhandle and northern British Columbia—have left a great impact on the region. According to Canadian historian
Ken Coates, the border has not merely influenced the Pacific Northwest—rather, "the region's history and character have been determined by the boundary". (Full article...)
Neil Edward Goldschmidt (born June 16, 1940) is an American businessman and
Democratic politician from the
state of
Oregon who held local, state and federal offices over three decades. After serving as the
United States Secretary of Transportation under
President Jimmy Carter and
governor of Oregon, Goldschmidt was at one time considered the most powerful and influential figure in Oregon's politics. His career and legacy were severely damaged by revelations he raped a young teenage girl in 1973, during his first term as mayor of Portland.
Goldschmidt was elected to the
Portland City Council in 1970 and then as
mayor of
Portland in 1972, becoming the youngest mayor of any major American city. He promoted the revitalization of
Downtown Portland and was influential on Portland-area transportation policy, particularly with the scrapping of the controversial
Mount Hood Freeway and the establishment of the
MAX Light Rail system. He was appointed
U.S. Secretary of Transportation by
PresidentJimmy Carter in 1979; in that capacity he worked to revive the ailing automobile industry and to
deregulate several industries. He served until the end of Carter's presidency in 1981 and then served as a senior executive with
Nike for several years. (Full article...)
Image 10Magnetic anomalies around the Juan de Fuca and Gorda Ridges, off the west coast of North America, color coded by age. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 18None of the multiple possible definitions of the Pacific Northwest is universally accepted. This map shows three possibilities: (1) The shaded area shows the historical
Oregon Country. (2) The green line shows the
Cascadia bioregion. (3) The labeled states and provinces include Washington, Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 19Lumen Field, home of Seattle Seahawks and Sounders FC (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 20Pacific Northwest Trail at Blanchard Mountain in Washington (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 21The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens (from Cascade Range)
Image 22Geology of the Cascade Range-related plate tectonics. (from Cascade Range)
Image 24Map of "
megacity", showing population density (shades of yellow/brown), highways (red), and major railways (black). Public land shown in shades of green. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 25The Boundary Trail section of the PNT in Horseshoe Basin, Pasayten Wilderness (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 29The Coast Mountains are heavily eroded by glaciers, including Mount Waddington (far background, center). (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 33Public transportation is used in the Pacific Northwest region. Vancouver's
SkyTrain rapid transit system achieves daily ridership of over 500,000 passengers per day on weekdays and the overall transit ridership levels in the
Metro Vancouver area rank third in North America per capita. (from Pacific Northwest)
... that future state senator William T. Vinton was sent to jail for contempt of court when he refused to sign a city paving contract, but was later vindicated by an
Oregon Supreme Court decision?