Washington History

People became living there 10,000 years ago. They could have come by a land bridge that became destroyed when water levels fell during the last Ice Age. Many years later, many Native American tribes, like the Yakima, Chinook, Nez Perce, and Puget Sound Salish. European explorers reached the area by boats in the 1700s, but they spent little time ashore before returning to Europe. Lewis and Clark, the first Americans sent on an expedition to explore the West, arrived in Washington in 1805—but they soon returned back east. For part of the early 19th century, the British and Americans shared ownership of the region. In 1889, Washington became a state.