Seattle is the largest city in Washington, and the in fact in the entire Pacific Northwest region of the United States As of 2006, Seattle had an estimated population of 573,911, and the Seattle metropolitan area had an estimated population of 3,263,497.

The city, which was founded in 1851, and is named after Chief Sealth, who was a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes. Seattle's official nickname is "Emerald City", which was chosen in the 1980s and is a reference to the evergreen trees of the area, but other popular nicknames include "Gateway to Alaska", "Queen City", and "Jet City" - the last of these, a reference to the local influence of The Boeing Company.

Some of the attractions in the Seattle area include:

- Frye Art Museum

- Northwest Seaport

- Seattle Aquarium

- Space Needle

- Woodland Park Zoo

- Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Here are some other facts about the area:

- Some of the major companies that have based their headquarters in Seattle include Amazon.com, Cray Inc., Nordstrom, Starbucks Corporation and Washington Mutual.

- Professional sports franchises in Seattle include the baseball team, the Seattle Mariners, the basketball team, the Seattle SuperSonics, the NFL American football team, the Seattle Seahawks, and the USL-1 soccer team, Seattle Sounders.

- Probably the best known educational institution in Seattle is the University of Washington. The University of Washington is a public research university, and the largest university in the northwestern United States.

- The principal airport for Seattle is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (which is actually in SeaTac).