West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in the West Coast. The U.S. Census groups the three states of California, Oregon, and Washington together as the Pacific region.[1] The states of Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona are often considered part of the West Coast due to large cultural influences from the West Coast states, particularly from California, but do not geographically form a part of the region since they don't border the Pacific Ocean.
Contents |
As of the 2010 Census, the estimated population of the Census Bureau's Pacific Region was approximately 47.8 million (56.9 million if Nevada and Arizona are included) - about 15.3% (18.2% with Nevada and Arizona) of US population. [2]
Major cities and metropolitan areas on the West Coast include (from north to south):
The history of the West Coast begins with the arrival of the earliest known humans of the Americas, Paleo-Indians, crossing the Bering Strait from Eurasia into North America over a land bridge, Beringia, that existed between 45,000 BC and 12,000 BC (47,000–14,000 years ago).>
Later, Spanish, British, Mexican, Russian and American explorers and settlers began colonizing the area.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||