Washington was the 42nd state in the USA - it became a state on November 11, 1889. - state capital is Olympia. - nickname is The Evergreen State. - state tree is the Western Hemlock. - state animal is the Marmot, a ground squirrel.
Washington's official flag was adopted in 1923. - The flag has a deep green background with the state seal in the center. - The state seal pictures George Washington, the first president of the United States - "THE SEAL OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON" is written in black on the yellow band surrounding George Washington. - The state seal was designed in 1889 by Charles Talcott. - This is the only US state flag that pictures a president and the only one with a green background.
Washington is the 18th largest state. - the 13th most populous state, with more than 7.4 million people. - Approximately 60 percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry along Puget Sound an inlet of the Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords and bays carved out by glaciers. - The remainder of the state consists of deep temperate rain forests in the west, mountain ranges in the west, central, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, central, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States after California. - an active stratovolcano is the state's highest elevation, at almost 14,411 feet (4,392 meters), and is the 2nd topographically prominent mountain in the continental United States, the first being Denali in Alaska.