Portal:Pacific Northwest

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The Pacific Northwest Portal

P:PNWP:PNW

The Pacific Northwest (PNW; French: Nord-Ouest Pacifique), also referred to as Cascadia, is a bi-national geographic and cultural region in Western North America defined by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Some broader conceptions reach north into the Alaska Panhandle and Yukon, south into Northern California, and east into Western Montana. Other conceptions may be limited to the coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains.

The Northwest Coast is the coastal region of the Pacific Northwest, and the Northwest Plateau (known simply 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's largest metropolitan areas are Greater Seattle, Washington, with 4 million people; Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, with 3.4 million people; Greater Portland, Oregon, with 2.5 million people; the Boise, Idaho metropolitan area with 845,877 people, and the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area with 793,285 people.

The culture of the Pacific Northwest is influenced by the Canada–United States border, which had been 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...)

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Columbia River from Rowena Crest with Interstate 84 on the right

The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: Wimahl or Wimal; Sahaptin: Nch’i-Wàna or Nchi wana; Sinixt dialect swah'netk'qhu) is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river forms in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 kilometers) long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven states of the United States and one Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by flow, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any river into the eastern Pacific.

The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the region's many cultural groups. The river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. These fish—especially the salmon species—provided the core subsistence for native peoples. (Full article...)

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Knight in 1999

Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman who is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., a global sports footwear, equipment and apparel company. He was previously its chairman and CEO. As of October 2025, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$35.4 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika. Knight is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was part of the track and field club under coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon with whom he would later co-found Nike.

Knight has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to each of his alma maters, as well as Oregon Health & Science University. (Full article...)

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Largest cities of the Pacific Northwest

City	State/Province	Population	Metropolitan Area	Urban Area
Seattle	Washington	704,000^[1]	3,905,026^[2]	3,059,393^[3]
Portland	Oregon	658,347^[2]	2,753,168^[2]	1,849,898^[3]
Vancouver	British Columbia	631,486^[4]	2,737,698^[5]	2,264,823^[6]
Surrey	British Columbia	598,530^[4]	^{[n 1]}	^{[n 1]}
Burnaby	British Columbia	257,926^[4]	^{[n 1]}	^{[n 1]}
Boise	Idaho	226,570^[7]	691,423^[2]	349,684^[3]
Spokane	Washington	222,081^[1]	573,493 ^[8]^[9]	486,225^[3]
Richmond	British Columbia	216,046^[4]	^{[n 1]}	^{[n 1]}
Tacoma	Washington	198,397^[1]	^{[n 2]}	^{[n 2]}
Salem	Oregon	178,309^[1]	^{[n 3]}	^{[n 3]}

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The following are images from various Pacific Northwest-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The North Cascades are heavily eroded by glaciers (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 2Vancouver'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)
Image 3None 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 4May 1915 Lassen Peak eruption column (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 5Image of the Juan de Fuca Plate that produced the magnitude 8.7–9.2 Cascadia earthquake in 1700. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 6State Route 302 after the Nisqually earthquake (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 7Lumen Field, home of Seattle Seahawks and Sounders FC (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 8Washington State Ferries' MV Wenatchee on Puget Sound. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 9The Coquihalla River in the Canadian Cascades. (from Cascade Range)
Image 10Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail overview map (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 11Geology of the Cascade Range-related plate tectonics. (from Cascade Range)
Image 12The Pacific Northwest from space (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 13Lava Butte, Oregon, erupted roughly 5000 years BCE (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 14Map of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt centers. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 15Mount Edziza, a large shield volcano in northwestern British Columbia (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 16The Columbia Gorge marks where the Columbia River splits the Cascade Range between the states of Washington and Oregon. (from Cascade Range)
Image 17Oval-leaf blueberry on Mount Pilchuck. (from Cascade Range)
Image 18Pacific Northwest Trail at Blanchard Mountain in Washington (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 19The Seawall around Stanley Park in Vancouver is the longest uninterrupted waterfront pathway in the world, and includes a popular bike route. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 20Magnetic 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 21The Cascades range (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 22U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory from "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition". Philadelphia: 1845 (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 23Mountain goat on Wallaby Peak in the North Cascades. (from Cascade Range)
Image 24Map of most of the Cascadia urban megaregion, showing population density (shades of yellow/brown), highways (red), and major railways (black). Public land shown in shades of green. This map omits the southern Willamette Valley, which is typically considered part of the megaregion. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 25A map of the Snake River Plain, showing its smooth topography (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 26Lassen Peak in the California Cascades. Southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range and part of Lassen Volcanic National Park. (from Cascade Range)
Image 27The Columbia River basalts cover portions of three states (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 28The Pacific Northwest from outer space (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 29The Boundary Trail section of the PNT in Horseshoe Basin, Pasayten Wilderness (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 30The immense floods created channels that are presently dry, such as the Drumheller Channels (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 31Mount St. Helens erupts on May 18, 1980 (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 32The Coast Mountains are heavily eroded by glaciers, including Mount Waddington (far background, center). (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 33The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. (from Cascade Range)
Image 34Mount Hood is the tallest point in the U.S. state of Oregon. (from Cascade Range)
Image 35The Golden Hinde on Vancouver Island was formed by erosion carving into basalt. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 36Map of the Anahim Volcanic Belt centers. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 37West side view of Mount Shuksan in summer as seen from Artist Point in Washington. (from Cascade Range)
Image 38A man in Portland, Oregon with Cascadian flag on International Workers' Day, 2012 (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 39HMS Discovery was the lead ship used by George Vancouver. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 40Notable volcanoes in the US portion of the Cascades. (from Cascade Range)

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... that an Oregon TV station planned to be off the air for two to four weeks to complete a move—but did not fully return to air for nearly two years?
... that Frederick Prigg and his predecessor as secretary of the Provisional Government of Oregon were both doctors who drowned in a river at Oregon City just three years apart?
... that the Oregon Garden obtained the Gordon House because of a misunderstanding?
... that LaVonne Griffin-Valade, the Oregon Secretary of State, has published four crime fiction novels?
... that a president of the Oregon Senate crawled along a ledge of the State Capitol to access an unsecured window of the absent governor's office to place bills on his desk?
... that Joan Phillip offered to give any MLAs who were rude to her a whack with her Saskatoon berry stick?