Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington, the first U.S. president, the state was made out of the western part of the Washington Territory, which was ceded by the British Empire in 1846, in accordance with the Oregon Treaty in the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute.
The skeletal remains of Kennewick Man, one of the oldest and most complete human remains found in North America, were discovered in Washington. The area has been known to host megathrust earthquakes in the past, the last being the Cascadia earthquake of 1700. Before the Europeans arrived, the region had many established tribes of aboriginal Americans, notable for their totem poles and their ornately carved canoes and masks.The smallpox epidemic of the 1770s devastated the Native American population.