Vancouver, Whistler & Vancouver Island - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 843

History
The human history of the Pacific Northwest started about 20,000 years ago,
when people first stepped into North America via a land bridge from Siberia
to Alaska. This area, now underwater, is known as the Bering Strait. These
early hunter-gatherers, the ancestors of Native Americans, spread down
through the Americas over millennia, and a multitude of tribes, each with its
own culture and language, flourished around the Pacific Northwest.
Today, Oregon has 10 federally recognized Native American tribes, while Washington has
nearly 30 and British Columbia over a hundred.
In the mid-16th century, however, white people came knocking, which spelled the gradual
demise of the First Nations. Explorers from Portugal, Spain, Britain and Russia all sought
territorial claims, but it was the famed expedition of Lewis and Clark that first seriously
mapped out the region and later nabbed an American foothold. A wealth of beavers and
otters brought riches to many in the fur trade, and the principal British trading post of Fort
Vancouver became an agricultural hub. Soon after, Oregon City was established, becom-
ing the first incorporated city west of the Rockies.
The Northwest's population continued to thrive, with trading posts, farming and mis-
sionary work, and in 1843 the region's first government was voted into existence. There
now existed opportunities for whole families to stake out new land and settle down. Thou-
sands loaded up their possessions in covered wagons and headed west, following the
sometimes treacherous Oregon and Applegate Trails, and often traveling up to eight
months to reach their destinations.
By the 1880s the abundant land yielded fortunes in agriculture, fishing and logging.
Railroads were built, making access and trading even easier. With the discovery of gold in
the Canadian Klondike, Seattle flourished, and the two World Wars' demands on lumber
and shipbuilding brought more industry to the area. Later in the 20th century the local
economy shifted to high-tech and gave the area its 'Silicon Forest' nickname.
During the last ice age, so much water was trapped in huge glaciers that sea levels were
up to 400ft lower than today. This created a land bridge between Alaska and Asia thought
to have been over 1000 miles wide. Today the Bering Strait, at its narrowest, is 53 miles
wide.