The Seattle area has been inhabited for at least 4,000 years, but European settlement began only in the mid-19th century. The first permanent white settlers—Arthur A. Denny and those subsequently known as the Denny Party—arrived November 13, 1851. Early settlements in the area were called "New York-Alki" ("Alki" meaning "by and by" in the local Chinook Jargon) and "Duwamps". Seattle residents are known as Seattleites. Seattle is the birthplace of rock legend Jimi Hendrix and grunge music, including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee are also buried at Lakeview cemetery. Seattle has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption; coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks, Seattle's Best Coffee, and Tully's. There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafes.Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Seattle the most literate city of America's sixty-nine largest cities in 2005 and 2006, second most literate in 2007 (after Minneapolis), and tied with Minneapolis in 2008.  Additionally, survey data by the United States Census Bureau indicated that Seattle was the most educated city in the U.S., with 52.5 percent of residents aged 25 and older having a bachelor's degree. In terms of per capita income, a study by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked the Seattle metropolitan area 17th out of 363 metropolitan areas in 2006.

Seattle Washington is the largest metropolitan city in the entire state, and has everything you might expect in a Pacific Northwest experience. Visitors new to the city will find hundreds of lodging options in Seattle, ranging from the European style Mediterranean Inn of Lower Queen Anne, which has weekly and monthly rentals, to the historic Renaissance Madison hotel, with its stunning views of Puget Sound from the 25th floor of this Seattle hotel.

Seattle is located between an inlet of the Pacific Ocean to the west called Puget Sound and Lake Washington to the east. The city's chief harbor, Elliott Bay, is an inlet of the Sound. West beyond the Sound are the Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula; east beyond Lake Washington and the eastside suburbs are Lake Sammamish and the Cascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow out through the Lake Washington Ship canal, a series of two man-made canals and Lake Union, to the Hiram C. Chittenden Locks at Salmon Bay, to Shilshole Bay, which is part of Puget Sound. The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. Areas lending themselves well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking may be reached almost year-round.
The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so. Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills; the lists vary, but typically include Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the former Denny Hill. The Wallingford and Mount Baker neighborhoods are technically located on hills as well. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, the result of two of the many regrading projects that reshaped the topography of the city center. The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of a seawall and the artificial Harbor Island (completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway.

North of the city center, Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water: Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Union Bay.