Washington

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Washington can also mean Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States of America. Both the city and the state are named after George Washington, the first President of the United States.
State of Washington
Flag of Washington State seal of Washington
Flag of Washington Seal of Washington
Nickname(s): The Evergreen State
Motto(s): Alki (Chinook Wawa: "Eventually")
Map of the United States with Washington highlighted
Official language(s) None
Capital Olympia
Largest city Seattle
Area  Ranked 18
 - Total 71,342 sq mi
(184,824 km²)
 - Width 240 miles (385 km)
 - Length 360 miles (580 km)
 - % water 6.6
 - Latitude 45°32' N to 49°00' N
 - Longitude 116°57' W to 124°48' W
Population  Ranked 14th
 - Total (2000) 5,894,121
 - Density 88.6/sq mi 
34.20/km² (25th)
 - Median income  $48,688 (14th)
Elevation  
 - Highest point Mount Rainier[1]
14,410 ft  (4,395 m)
 - Mean 1,700 ft  (520 m)
 - Lowest point Pacific Ocean[1]
0 ft  (0 m)
Admission to Union  November 11, 1889 (42nd)
Governor Christine Gregoire (D)
U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D)
Maria Cantwell (D)
Time zone Pacific: UTC-8/-7
Abbreviations WA US-WA
Web site www.access.wa.gov

Washington is one of the 50 states in the United States of America. It is north of Oregon, west of Idaho, east of the Pacific Ocean, and south of British Columbia. (British Columbia is part of Canada). There are more than 6,000,000 people in Washington. Most live in the western part of Washington, which gets more rain. About a quarter of the people live in the east part, where it gets less rain, and some parts have a desert climate. The largest city on the east part is Spokane it is also the second biggest city in the state. The Cascade Mountains go down the middle of the state and break it into two sides. The state's nickname is the "Evergreen State" because it has a lot of pine trees. Washington was the 42nd state to join the United States, on November 11, 1889.

The capital of Washington is Olympia. Olympia is a small city on the west side of Washington, at the south end of Puget Sound. Washington's biggest city is Seattle, Seattle is also on Puget Sound.

Washington has many beautiful forests, rivers, gorges (gorges are small canyons), and mountains. Because it's next to the ocean, it has a long beach. However, because Washington is north of Oregon and California (the other two states on the West Coast of the United States), the ocean is cold, and usually not good to swim in.

The biggest universities in Washington are the University of Washington and Washington State University. Washington State University is in a small town called Pullman. Pullman is on the east side of the state.