Location of the San Juan Islands

Major islands in the San Juans. Those served by the state ferries are San Juan Island, Orcas Island, Shaw Island and Lopez Island. San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. MountConstitutionViewjpg|thumb|View eastwards from Mount Constitution over the Rosario Strait with Mount Baker visible]] Orcas Island is the largest of the San Shaw Island is the smallest of the San Juan Islands served by the Washington State Ferries. Lopez Island is the third largest of the US San Juan Islands, and the first stop of four on the Washington State Ferries ' San Juan Islands run

The San Juan Islands are a part of the San Juan Archipelago in the northwest corner of the continental United States. An archipelago (ɑrkəˈpɛləgoʊ is a chain or cluster of Islands The word archipelago literally means "chief Sea " from Italian The Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America (the term refers to the land not the ocean The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The archipelago is split into two groups of islands based on national sovereignty. Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself San Juan Islands are part of the U. S. state of Washington, while the Gulf Islands are part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Gulf Islands are the Islands in the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the mainland Pacific coast of British Columbia Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C There are over 450 islands in the entire archipelago at high tide, but fewer than one-sixth are permanently inhabited.

In the archipelago, fifteen islands are accessible by public ferry. Public ferries serve nine Gulf Islands and six San Juan Islands. The Gulf Islands are the Islands in the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the mainland Pacific coast of British Columbia

History

The islands were part of the traditional area of the Central Coast Salish. This article is about the Salish/Salishan language For the Tacoma Washington neighborhood see Salishan Tacoma Washington. Linguistically, the Central Coast Salish consisted of five groups: Squamish, Halkomelem, Nooksack, Northern Straits (which includes the Lummi dialect), and Klallam. Squamish ( 2006 census population 14949 is a community in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located at the north end of Halkomelem (also Halq'eméylem, Hul'qumi'num', and Hǝn'q'ǝmin'ǝm') is a Coast Salishan language of the First Nations The Lummi Nation is a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group in western Washington state in the United States Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities refers to four related indigenous Native Exploration and settlement by Europeans brought smallpox to the area by the 1770s. Smallpox is an Infectious disease unique to humans caused by either of two virus variants named Variola major and Variola minor. Events and trends For more events see 18th century United States Declaration of Independence ratified by the Continental Congress In 1843, the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Camosun at nearby Vancouver Island. Year 1843 ( MDCCCXLIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Fort Victoria was a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the headquarters of HBC operations in British Columbia. Vancouver Island is a large Island in British Columbia, Canada, one of several North American regions named after George Vancouver, the British

The 1846 Oregon Treaty forced by President Polk established the 49th parallel as the boundary between Canada and the U. For the game see 1846 (board game. Year 1846 ( MDCCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display The Oregon Treaty, officially known as the Treaty with Great Britain in Regard to Limits Westward of the Rocky Mountains, Buchanan-Packenham James Knox Polk ( November 2 1795&ndashJune 15 1849 was the eleventh President of the United States, serving from March 4 1845 to March 4 1849 The 49th parallel north is a Circle of latitude that is 49 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. S. , except in the San Juan archipelago. While both sides agreed that all of Vancouver Island would remain British, the treaty wording was left vague enough as to put the boundary between modern-day Gulf Islands and San Juan Islands in dispute. Conflicts over this border led to the Pig War in 1859. The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between American and British authorities over the boundary between the United States and British North America. Year 1859 ( MDCCCLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Skirmishes continued until the boundary issue was eventually placed in the hands of Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany for arbitration. The border was finally established in 1872. Year 1872 ( MDCCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year

The name "San Juan" was given to the San Juan Islands by the Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza, who charted the islands in 1791, naming them Isla y Archiepelago de San Juan. Francisco de Eliza y Reventa (1759 &ndash February 19, 1825) was a Spanish naval officer Navigator, and Explorer. The expedition sailed under the authority of the Viceroy of Mexico, Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo and Eliza named several places for him, including the San Juan Islands and Orcas Island (short for "Horcasitas"). Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo 2nd Count of Revillagigedo ( Spanish, with variant name Juan Vicente de Güemes Pacheco de Padilla y Horcasitas MountConstitutionViewjpg|thumb|View eastwards from Mount Constitution over the Rosario Strait with Mount Baker visible]] Orcas Island is the largest of the San San Juan Island itself was first discovered (by a European) by one of the officers under Eliza's command, Gonzalo López de Haro (for whom Haro Strait is named). San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. Gonzalo López de Haro (bef 1788 &ndash 1823 was a Spanish explorer notable for his expeditions in the Pacific Northwest in the late 18th century Haro Strait, often referred to as the Haro Straits because it is really a series of straits is one of the main channels connecting the Strait of Georgia to the The Spanish had found the islands a year earlier during the exploring voyage of Manuel Quimper on the Princesa Real, but it was not clear that they were islands. Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino (c 1757 – April 1844 was a Peruvian born Spanish Explorer, Cartographer, naval officer and colonial official British merchant vessel Princess Royal From 1786 to 1788 the Princess Royal, under Charles Duncan accompanied the much larger Prince of Wales, under Subsequent explorations of the region by the British, under George Vancouver, and the Americans, under Charles Wilkes, resulted in many of the Spanish names being replaced with English ones. Captain George Vancouver Charles Wilkes ( April 3, 1798 &ndash February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer and explorer. Vancouver's expedition occurred within a year of Eliza's, and Vancouver encountered other Spanish ships and traded information. Thus Vancouver knew of the names given by Eliza's expedition and tended to keep them, although he renamed some things, like the Strait of Georgia. The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait (also known as the Gulf of Georgia) is a Strait between Vancouver Island (as well as its nearby Wilkes, sailing in 1841, had some British charts, but may not have been aware of the Spanish names and charts. He liberally gave new names to nearly every coastal feature not already named on the charts he had. The names Wilkes gave tended to be patriotically American (heroes of the War of 1812 for example), or to honor members of his crew. In 1847, due to the confusion of multiple names on different charts, the British Admiralty reorganized the official charts of the region. The project, led by Henry Kellett, applied only to British territory, which at the time included the San Juan Islands but not Puget Sound. Sir Henry Kellett ( November 2, 1806 - March 1, 1875) was a British Naval officer and Explorer. Puget Sound (ˈpjuːʤᵻt is an arm of the Pacific Ocean, connected to the rest of the Pacific by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in the Pacific Northwest Kellett systematically kept the British and Spanish names and removed nearly all of Wilkes' names. In some cases Kellett moved Spanish names around to replace names given by Wilkes. Thus in Puget Sound itself, the names given by Wilkes are common and Spanish names rare, while the reverse is true for the San Juan and Gulf Islands (although the Spanish did not explore Puget Sound as thoroughly as the British and Americans, resulting in fewer Spanish names to start with). Wilkes had given the name Navy Archipelago to the San Juan Islands, and named individual islands for distinguished officers of the US Navy, such as Rodgers Island for San Juan Island, and Hull Island for Orcas Island. Some of his names survived the editing of Kellett, such as Chauncey, Shaw, Decatur, Jones, Blakely, Perry, Sinclair, Lawrence, Gordon, and Percival, all named after American naval officers. ^[1]

San Juan Islands today

One of the San Juan Islands at Night

Today, the San Juan Islands are an important tourist destination, with sea kayaking and orca-watching two of the primary attractions. A Sea kayak or touring kayak is a Kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes bays and the ocean The Orca or Killer Whale ( Orcinus orca) less commonly Blackfish or Seawolf, is the largest species of the Oceanic dolphin family Part of the charm that attracts tourists and residents to the San Juan Islands is that each island seems to have a character of its own, both in terms of geography and of the lifestyle of the people who live there.

Politically, the bulk of the San Juan Islands make up San Juan County, Washington, though some of the furthest east of the islands are in the mainland counties of Whatcom and Skagit, including Lummi, Guemes, Fidalgo, and Cypress Islands. San Juan County is a County located in the US state of Washington, composed of most of the San Juan Islands. Skagit County (ˈskædʒɨt is a County located in the US state of Washington. Lummi Island, one of the San Juan Islands, lies at the southwest corner of Whatcom County Washington, USA, between the mainland part of the county and Guemes Island is a small island in the southeastern part of the San Juan Islands chain in western Skagit County, Washington state, USA. Fidalgo Island is an Island in Skagit County, Washington, located about north of Seattle. Cypress Island Locationpng|thumb|left|Location of Cypress Island in the San Juans]] Cypress Island, is one of the least developed of the San Juan Islands in the state of

The majority of the San Juan Islands are quite hilly, the tallest mountain being Mount Constitution at almost exactly a half-mile (800 m) elevation (see Orcas Island), with some flat areas and valleys, often quite fertile, in between. Mount Constitution is a 2409 foot high (734 m mountain on Orcas Island. MountConstitutionViewjpg|thumb|View eastwards from Mount Constitution over the Rosario Strait with Mount Baker visible]] Orcas Island is the largest of the San The coastlines are a mixed bag of sandy and rocky beaches, shallow and deep harbors, placid and reef-studded bays. Gnarled, ochre-colored madrona trees (Arbutus) grace much of the shorelines while evergreen fir and pine forests cover large inland areas. Arbutus is a Genus of at least 14 species of Flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean

The San Juan Islands get less rainfall than Seattle, about 65 miles (100 km) to the south, due to the rain shadow of Olympic Mountains to the southwest. A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States For the Australian television series see Rain Shadow (TV series. The Olympic Mountains are a Mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States. Summertime high temperatures are around 70 °F (21 °C) while average wintertime lows are in the high thirties and low forties. Snow is infrequent in winter except for the higher elevations, but the islands are subject to high winds at times—those from the northeast sometimes bring brief periods of freezing and Arctic-like windchills.

Beginning in about 1900 the San Juan Islands became infested with European rabbits, an exotic invasive species, as the result of the release of domestic rabbits on Smith Island. Rabbits are small Mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world An introduced species (also known as naturalized species or exotic species) is an Organism that is not indigenous to a given location but Introduced species|Weed Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions Smith Island is an island located in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington, about mid-way between Admiralty Inlet and Lopez Island. Rabbits from the San Juan Islands were used later for several introductions of European rabbits into other, usually midwestern, states.

Art in the San Juans

Long a sustaining refuge for artists, the San Juan Islands have been home to such noted artists as Helen Loggie, James Hardman, Janis Miltenberger, and Carolyn Buchanan. Air Chief Marshal Sir James Donald Innes Hardman GBE, KCB, DFC (21 December 1899 &ndash 2 March 1982 was a senior Royal Air Force The largest collection of art by San Juan Islands' artists is currently housed at The Lambiel Museum on Orcas Island which is available for individual or group tours by appointment.

Transportation

Three ferry systems serve some of the San Juan Islands.

• The Washington State Ferries system serves Lopez Island, Shaw Island, Orcas Island, and San Juan Island (typically in that order), from a dock in Anacortes. This page is about the ferry system operated by the state of Washington Lopez Island is the third largest of the US San Juan Islands, and the first stop of four on the Washington State Ferries ' San Juan Islands run Shaw Island is the smallest of the San Juan Islands served by the Washington State Ferries. MountConstitutionViewjpg|thumb|View eastwards from Mount Constitution over the Rosario Strait with Mount Baker visible]] Orcas Island is the largest of the San San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. Anacortes (ˌænəˈkɔrtəs is a city in Skagit County, Washington, USA
• Skagit County serves Guemes Island, also from a dock in Anacortes
• Whatcom County serves Lummi Island, from a dock on the Lummi Indian Reservation. Skagit County (ˈskædʒɨt is a County located in the US state of Washington. Guemes Island is a small island in the southeastern part of the San Juan Islands chain in western Skagit County, Washington state, USA. Lummi Island, one of the San Juan Islands, lies at the southwest corner of Whatcom County Washington, USA, between the mainland part of the county and The Lummi Nation is a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group in western Washington state in the United States

Passenger-only ferries serve more islands. Passenger-only ferry service is usually seasonal and offered by private business.

The San Juan Islands

References

External links

• Gulf Islands, British Columbia at the Open Directory Project
• San Juan County, Washington at the Open Directory Project