The Southern Coast lands: Hazzards

Heavy winter storms sweep through Seattle which can cause bad traffic accidents sometimes resulting in death. Also it is not uncommon for residents to occasionally get snowed in. A 2001 Nisqually Earthquake caused millions in damages. In 1700 the Cascadia earthquake which tallied at 7.1, had Seattle(not formed yet) in its grid. It caused a tsunami that hit Japan(not the current one). Seattle lays in proclaimed, "earth quake country"


Cascadia earthquake on grid.

Appalachia and the Ozarks

Seattle's river system has been charged with much pollution. the EPA claimed the Duwamish river had been 80 percent contaminated in the year 2000. Since then the public has got into the issue trying to fight for a clean up. They have spent 75 million dollars trying to fix the river but still pollution contaminates it. At this point only 2 percent of the original river flow is left. More restoration is on the way, but it's to little to late.

The Bypassed East

"Liberal tourism" is huge in Seattle. They host many festivals including the Seattle Film Festival, Gay Pride Festival(100,000 people in attendance), and Hemp Fest. Also they have anime festivals. The cruise industry has grown recently with cruises making it's way to Alaska they stop by Seattle. Over 850,000 people come through Seattle as cruise tourists.

The Changing South

Regional Organization and Continental Integration.  Seattle's location provides access to many waterways which have created many harbors. In fact they have created a complete man made island, entitled the greatly original title "Harbor Island". They have vast fish markets, in which some throw fishes around bolstering around like car salesmen. Harbor Island was created with 24 million pounds of earth taken from the banks of a lake.

The Economic Character Of The Region Cities

Along with being a port city with access to harbors, lots of the economic prosperity has come from software and hardware developers. Microsoft is the most famous example of a start up company that rose to corporate power. a huge video game company Valve software spawned from Microsoft employees. Nintendo of America is located in Seattle.Many start up companies have come out of Seattle besides software, Starbucks coffee came out of this city. As well as music company, Sub Pop Records which was the first to sign Nirvana. The financial success can be attributed to 54% of the citizens having college degrees, the highest in all united states cities.

Gabe Newell of Valve, an ex Microsoft employee started his own company.  A prime example of the entrepreneurship of Seattle.

Problems in Megalopolis

A big problem Seattle faces is traffic congestion. It is number one in the country! Railways that dominated Seattle in the early 20th century were built over with routes for buses which then became routes for cars. Similar to early Los Angeles that also had railway cars. It has become a huge public issue that has had PSA's played on TV.  Through this they created a new commuter rail system to help fight traffic, It connects Seattle to Everett to Tacoma. In  the 1990's cult film Singles  one of the main protagonists can be seen trying to pitch a railway system to the mayor in an attempt to help fight traffic.

Fun on a Seattle freeway.

Foundations of Human Activity

The city of Seattle itself is named after an Indian, Chief Seattle. Seattle sought to bring peace in between the white settlers and the Indians. He stayed neutral during the Battle of Seattle(1856), which was an attack on a settlement by Native Americans.  Much controversy surrounds Chief Seattle, as he gave a famous speech welcoming governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens. in which it has been interpreted many different ways.  Some people claim he was helping the peace, while others claim he "gave in to the man". Statues reside in Seattle to this day commemorating Chief Seattle.


Chief Seattle statue.

Geographic Patterns Of The Physical Environment: Climate

Seattle is known for its damp climate. It rains pretty frequently however not as much as east coast cities like New York. The big difference between other rainy cities is the sky itself. When rain stops on the east coast the sky becomes clear, while in Seattle it stays cloudy. This has lead to Seattle having one of the highest suicide rates in the entire country. During the summer it does heat up however, into the low 90's.  The average precipitation per year is 37.07 inches.

Region and Themes

In 1950 Seattle had 150 square miles of urbanized land. By 1980 the amount was at 485. however within the ten year span to 1990 the amount had grown to 588 square miles(blame Nirvana).

Seattle's political board, consists of nine city council members and one mayor.  Seattle leans to the left side of the political spectrum. The democratic party usually reigns supreme in elections. But third party's have actually had success in the election. Republican never fare well. The city was nearly the first to elect a  Jewish mayor, and was the first city to elect a female into office.

An example of minor political activity in Seattle on election day 2008.