Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest from space

This page is about the region that includes parts of Canada and the US. For the US only region, see Northwestern United States

The Pacific Northwest (abbreviated PNW, or PacNW) or Cascadia is a region in the northwest of North America. There are several partially overlapping definitions. The word "Pacific" indicates that the region borders the Pacific Ocean; it also helps distinguish the term from other terms such as Northwest Territory.

The region's biggest cities are Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Victoria, Spokane and Boise.

The area's biomes and ecoregions are distinct from the surrounding areas. The resource-rich Salish Sea (or Georgia Basin) is shared between British Columbia and Washington, and the Pacific temperate rain forests, comprising the world's largest temperate rain forest zone, stretch along the coast from Alaska to California.

It is often claimed that the region also has a shared political culture and/or common cultural values.

Definitions and related terms

Different definitions of Pacific Northwest and related terms. Click image for legend.

The name Cascadia, which is derived from the Cascade Range, is often used as a synonym to "Pacific Northwest" in geology, ecology and climatology, as well as by the Cascadia independence movement.

As a bioregion, the Pacific Northwest or Cascadia has been defined as "the watersheds of rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean through North America's temperate rainforest zone". This region extents from the ocean to the continental divide and includes all of Washington, most of Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, and adjoining parts of Alaska, Yukon Territory, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada and California.[1], [2]

Another, similar definition includes southeast Alaska, all of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and northern California and Nevada.

As this vast area has common economic concerns in the primary sector of industry, it is a matter of debate whether the arid rain shadowed areas further east (such as Eastern Washington) should be included.

In the United States, the term is also used for various definitions that are limited to the Lower 48. These are described under Northwestern United States.

History

Initial exploration

Landscape in Oregon Country, by Charles Marion Russell.

British Captain and erstwhile privateer Francis Drake sailed off the Oregon coast in 1579 and during the early 1740s, Imperial Russia sent the Dane Vitus Bering to the region. Sometime in the same era a Greek captain in the employ of the Portuguese Empire is believed to have found the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which bears his name.

In 1774 Juan Pérez commanded a fleet of ships sent by the viceroy of New Spain up to lat. 55° N. This was followed by another Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra who got it as far as Prince of Wales Sound, reaching 59° N in 1775. In 1776 English mariner Captain James Cook visited Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island and also voyaged as far as Prince William Sound. In the 1790s Captain George Vancouver charted the Pacific Northwest on behalf of Great Britain, including the bays and inlets of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and the Johnstone Strait-Queen Charlotte Strait and the rest of the British Columbia Coast and Alaska Panhandle shorelines. In 1786 Jean François La Pérouse, representing France, sailed to the Queen Charlotte Islands after visiting Nootka Sound but any possible French claim to this region were lost when La Pérouse and his men and journals were lost in a shipwreck near Australia. Captain James Barclay (also spelled Barkley) also visited the area flying the flag of the Austrian Empire. American Sea-Captain and Explorer Robert Gray traded along the coast and discovered the mouth of the Columbia River.

Territorial disputes

US Navy Admiral Charles Wilkes' 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory from "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition." Philadelphia: 1845

The United States established a claim following the exploration of the region by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, partly through the negotiation of former Spanish claims north of the Oregon-California boundary. From the 1810s until the 1840s, modern-day Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana, along with most of British Columbia, were part of what Americans called the Oregon Country and the British called the Columbia District. This region was jointly claimed by the United States and Great Britain after the Treaty of 1818, which established a condominium of interests in the region in lieu of a settlement. In 1840 American Charles Wilkes explored in the area. John McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, headquartered at Fort Vancouver, was the de facto local political authority for most of this time.

This arrangement ended as U.S. settlement grew and President James K. Polk was elected on a platform of calling for annexation of the entire Oregon Country. The famous slogan of this platform was "Fifty-four Forty or Fight", referring to 54 degrees latitude, 40 minutes north - the northward limit of the region. After a war scare with the United Kingdom, the Oregon boundary dispute was settled in the 1846 Oregon Treaty, partitioning the region along the 49th parallel and resolving most but not all of the border disputes (see Pig War).

The mainland territory north of the 49th Parallel remained unincorporated until 1858, when a mass influx of Americans and others during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush forced the hand of Colony of Vancouver Island's Governor James Douglas, who declared the mainland a Crown Colony, although official ratification of his unilateral action was several months in coming. The two colonies were amalgamated in 1866 to cut costs, and joined the Dominion of Canada in 1871. The U.S. portion became the Oregon Territory in 1848; it was later subdivided into territories that were eventually admitted as states, the first of these being Oregon itself in 1859. See Washington Territory.

American expansionist pressure on British Columbia persisted after the colony became a province of Canada, even though Americans living in the province did not harbor annexationist inclinations. The Fenian Brotherhood openly organized and drilled in Washington State, particularly in the 1870s and the 1880s, though no cross-border attacks were experienced. During the Alaska Boundary Dispute, U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt threatened to invade and annex British Columbia if Britain would not yield on the question of the Yukon ports. In more recent times, during the so-called "Salmon War" of the 1990s, Washington State Senator Slade Gorton called for the U.S. Navy to "force" the Inside Passage, even though it is not an official international waterway.

Geology

The Pacific Northwest's geology is dominated by the subduction of oceanic plates (the Gorda, Juan de Fuca, and Explorer) beneath the North American Plate in the Cascadia subduction zone. The subduction zone lies just offshore, posing a serious earthquake and tsunami hazard. The subducted plates are also the source of the heat driving the volcanics of the Cascade Range.

Geography

The Pacific Northwest is dominated by several mountain ranges, including the Coast Mountains, the Cascade Range, the Columbia Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Immediately inland from the Coast Mountains and the Cascade Range there is a broad plateau, narrowing progressively northwards, and also getting higher. In the US this region, semi-arid and often completely arid, is known as the Columbia Plateau, while in British Columbia it is the Interior Plateau, also called the Fraser Plateau. Because many areas have plentiful rainfall and a relatively low population density, the Pacific Northwest has:

• some of North America's most lush and extensive forests, and at one time, the largest trees in the world. Coastal forests in some areas are classified as temperate rain forest, or in some local slang, "cold jungle".
• a large number of aluminum refineries, due to plentiful and inexpensive hydroelectric power from, for example, the hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River run by agencies such as the Bonneville Power Administration.

The major cities of Vancouver, Portland, and Seattle all began as seaports supporting the logging, mining, and farming industries of the region, but have developed into major technological and industrial centers (such as the Silicon Forest), which benefit from their location on the Pacific Rim.

The region has four U.S. National Parks: Crater Lake in Oregon, and Olympic, Mount Rainier, and North Cascades in Washington. Other outstanding natural features include the Oregon Coast, the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. St. Helens, and Hells Canyon on the Snake River between Oregon and Idaho. There are several Canadian National Parks in the Pacific Northwest, from Pacific Rim National Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and Mount Revelstoke National Park and Glacier National Park in the Selkirk Range alongside Rogers Pass, as well as Kootenay National Park and Yoho National Park on the British Columbia flank of the Rockies. Although unprotected by national parks and only a handful of provincial parks, the south-central Coast Mountains in British Columbia contain the five largest mid-latitude icefields in the world and Canada's highest waterfall (Hunlen Falls in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park).

Climate

The Pacific Northwest experiences very wet winters with mild temperatures, and dry cool summers.

Population

Map of Cascadia megacity, showing population density (shades of yellow/brown), highways (red), and major railways (black). Federal land shown in shades of green.

Most of the population of the Pacific Northwest is concentrated in the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland corridor. This area is sometimes seen as a megacity (also known as a conurbation, an agglomeration, or a megalopolis). This megacity stretches along Interstate 5 in the states of Oregon and Washington and BC 99 in the province of British Columbia. As of 2004, the combined populations of the Greater Vancouver Lower Mainland, the Seattle metropolitan area and the Portland metropolitan area totaled almost nine million people.

Economy

Some of the notable industries and products from the region:

• Aerospace (Boeing)
• High Technology and E-commerce (Microsoft, Tektronix, Amazon.com)
• Fishing (Crab and Salmon)
• Lumber (Weyerhauser)
• Shoes & Apparel (Nike, Columbia)
• Hydroelectric power (Grand Coulee Dam, Bonneville Dam)
• Agriculture (Washington Apples, Idaho potatoes, Tillamook Cheese)

Culture

The Pacific Northwest's culture is quite varied, and to a certain degree reflects the varied geography of the region. While the majority of inhabitants of the western regions (which include most of the large cities) are considered to be supporters of the political left-wing, the less-populated areas east of the Cascade Range tend to be politically and culturally more conservative; their residents are often considered to be part of Middle America.

Environmentalism is very popular in most Pacific Northwest cities, from small towns such as Ashland, Oregon to large cities like Seattle or Portland. Ecologically conscious services such as recycling and public transportation are fairly well-developed and generally available in the more populated areas as well. The international organization Greenpeace was born in Vancouver in 1970 as part of a large public opposition movement in British Columbia to US nuclear weapons testing on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.

In his book Nine Nations of North America, author Joel Garreau claimed that the Pacific Rim region he called Ecotopia had a different culture from that of what he called The Empty Quarter to the east, and was necessarily different economically as well as ecologically. It must be noted that the concept of "Ecotopia," which is specific in its boundaries, does not identically match that of "Cascadia," which varies in its definition.

The rainy weather promotes an indoor culture; video game usage is higher per-capita than any other region of the country.

Washington, Oregon and California are also known for supporting progressive political views relating to other--sometimes controversial--subjects. All three states have relatively liberal abortion laws, legalized medical marijuana, and are supportive of LGBT rights. Oregon was the first (and remains the only) U.S. state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, with the Death with Dignity Act of 1994.

The Pacific Northwest is also known for indie music, especially grunge and so-called alternative rock. Foods of the area include salmon, huckleberries, and coffee.

Latinos make up much of the agricultural labor force and population east of the mountain ranges, and are an increasing presence in the general labor force in the western regions as well. African Americans are less numerous than either Asians or Latinos in many communities in the Pacific Northwest. They are concentrated in western urban areas such as Seattle and Portland, though unlike other regions, there are fewer majority black communities than the majority Asian communities that can be found in Vancouver and Seattle. As of the 2000s, many Asians were moving out and into middle class suburbs, though some would voice concern about preserving historical communities. African Americans have held the positions of Mayor and King county executive, while Washington state elected a Chinese American Governor during the 1990s, Gary Locke.

Language

The Pacific Northwest English accent is considered to be "very neutral" to most Americans and Canadians. Although it does possess the low back vowel merger, or the Cot-caught merger, it is one of the closest living accents to conservative General American English. It lacks the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, and does not participate as strongly in the California Vowel Shift or the Canadian raising as do other regional accents. Because of its lack of any distinguishing vowel shift, the accent is very similar to and hard to distinguish from conservative speakers in other dialect regions especially the Northern Midlands, California, and the prairies.

Chinook Jargon was a pidgin or trade language established among the indigenous inhabitants of the region. After contact with Europeans, French, English and Cree words entered the language, and "eventually Chinook became the lingua franca for as many as 250,000 people along the Pacific Slope from Alaska to Oregon". [3] Chinook Jargon reached its height of usage in the 19th century though remained common in resource and wilderness areas, particularly but not exclusively by Native Americans and Canadian First Nations people, well into the 20th Century. Today its influence is felt mostly in place names and a handful of localized slang terms, particularly the word skookum, which remains hallmark of people raised in the region.

Of the non-indigenous languages in the region, Chinese has been common since the gold rushes of the mid-19th Century, particularly in British Columbia. Since the 1980s the Toishan, a Cantonese-based dialect which was predominant in the area, has been replaced by mainstream Cantonese and by Mandarin because of large-scale immigration from Asia. Punjabi is also very common in British Columbia, which has a large Sikh community, and because of Canada's entrenched multiculturalism policies a host of other languages are spoken in the Greater Vancouver area.

Spirituality and religion

The Pacific Northwest is the least church-going part of English-speaking North America; this is most pronounced on the part of the region west of the Cascades. Nevertheless, three of the four large international charities in the region are faith-based: Northwest Medical Teams International, World Concern, and World Vision International. The fourth is Mercy Corps. The archetype of the Skid Road mission, a shelter offering soup and sermons to down-and-out workers and inebriates, was launched on the skid roads of Seattle and Vancouver, with the Salvation Army having deep roots in Vancouver's Gastown district, dating back to the era of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1880s) and attained prominence in the same centers during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Despite its low rate of church attendance, the region is also known as a magnet for unique Christian groups, ranging from the Doukhobors to the Mennonites of British Columbia, and countless religiously-based communal efforts by ethnic groups such as Finns, Norwegians, Danes and others. The Mennonite Central Committee Supportive Care Services is based in Abbotsford, BC. Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Disaster Service enjoy a heavy rate of enlistment and donations from the strong Mennonite community in BC's Fraser Valley. Also within the region there is a fairly strong representation of Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, Serbian and others) as well as the Ukrainian Uniate Catholic church.

"American Buddhist with Thai Buddha", Living Enrichment Center, Wilsonville, Oregon, 1998.

Exploration of eastern religions (especially Buddhism and Taoism) has been fashionable in the Pacific Northwest for many years, and Tibetan Buddhism in particular has a strong local following. The Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association, claimed to be the largest organization of its kind in the world, was founded in Portland in 1993. Yogic teachings, Sufism, tribal and ancient beliefs and other philosophies are widely studied and appreciated. Because of immigration to Canada the Lower Mainland of British Columbia has a very large Sikh community and cultural presence as well as a major growth in Chinese Buddhist temples and congregations since the increase in immigration from Asia in the 1980s. There is a small Hindu population, a number of Parsee (Zoroastrians), and an emerging Muslim population from India, the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Also attracted to the area are alternative religions and spirituality, such as New Age spirituality and Neo-Paganism. A more controversial example was the commune run by Brother Twelve in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia early in the 20th Century. Established in more recent times, the training school of the immortal (according to the organization) being Ramtha is headquartered in Yelm, Washington. The followers of the Guru Rajneesh, the sannyasins, established a center for their beliefs and lifestyle near Antelope, Oregon, which included an ashram complex as well as, for a while, a near-takeover of the local economy. The Emissaries of the Divine Light are a notable presence in the region of 100 Mile House, BC.

See also

• Oregon Country
• Oregon boundary dispute
• Alaska Boundary Dispute
• Chinook Jargon

External links

• Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
• American Indians of the Pacific Northwest from the Library of Congress
• What is the Northwest? and a "Provocative description", articles from a commercial website
• The Cascadia Institute promotes consciousness of a bioregion extending along the coast from northern California up to northern British Coumbia and extending east into parts of Idaho and Alberta.