Northwest, also called Pacific Northwest, region, northwestern U.S., including the states of Oregon and Washington and part of Idaho.
Originally claimed by Spain, Britain, Russia, and finally the United States, the Northwest was jointly occupied by Britain and the United States until 1846, when the 49th parallel was made the boundary between the United States and British-held Canada. The area had been explored by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804–06 and by various trappers and fur traders, and settlers began arriving there by way of the Oregon Trail in the 1840s. Farming and trapping were the original economic mainstays, to be followed in later years by lumbering, fishing, and mining.
A region of spectacular beauty and valuable natural resources, the Northwest has attracted relatively few immigrants largely because of its basically wet climate. Furthermore, the economy has tended to rely on a few big industries, such as timber, and aeronautics in Washington, so that fluctuations in the business cycle are particularly severe in the region.
Growth rates in the Northwest have been high but generally below those of neighbouring states in the Southwest. Government has tended to be progressive and especially sensitive to environmental issues.
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
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climate change: Decadal variation… is relatively dry and the Pacific Northwest relatively wet (e.g., 1947–76), and “warm-phase” periods, characterized by relatively high precipitation in coastal Alaska and low precipitation in the Pacific Northwest (e.g., 1925–46, 1977–98). Tree ring and coral records, which span at least the last four centuries, document PDO variation.…
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Pacific Coast…Coast, known as the Pacific Northwest, had a somewhat different history from that of California. Initial Russian interest in the Bering Strait area led to the formation in 1799 of the Russian-American Company, which established trading posts in parts of Alaska. In 1867 Russia sold Alaska to the United States,…
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Marcus Whitman…who helped open the Pacific Northwest to settlement.…
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Frances Auretta Fuller Victor…United States, particularly the Pacific Northwest.…
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wave power…the British Isles and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Estimates of the annual wave energy potential along the continental shelf of the U.S. coasts range between 1,170 and 2,640 terrawatt-hours, equivalent to 33–65 percent of U.S. electricity demand in 2015.…
More About Northwest
5 references found in Britannica articlesAssorted References
- climatic variation and change
- Pacific Coast
- role of Whitman
- wave power
- In wave power
- writings by Victor