Portland - geography.

« In the 19th century Portland had large Chinese, Scandinavian, and Italian immigrant communities.

Today, however, little remains of these early communities, and the cityhas relatively small minority populations.

According to the 2000 census, whites made up 77.9 percent of the population, blacks 6.6 percent, Asians 6.3 percent, NativeAmericans 1.1 percent, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0.4 percent.

People of mixed heritage or not reporting race were 7.7 percent of the population.Hispanics, who may be of any race, constituted 6.8 percent of the people.

Asians and Hispanics have been the most rapidly growing population groups since 1980. IV EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS Portland’s largest institution of higher education is Portland State University (founded in 1946).

Other important colleges and universities in the city are Lewis and ClarkCollege (1867, relocated to Portland in 1938), the University of Portland (1901), Reed College (1909), Concordia University (1905), Oregon Health Sciences University(1974), Warner Pacific College (1937), and the Pacific Northwest College of Art (1909).

On the fringes of the metropolitan area are Linfield College (1849), in McMinnville;Pacific University (1849), in Forest Grove; and George Fox University (1891), in Newberg. Important cultural institutions cluster around the South Park Blocks, a 25-block oasis of trees and grass through the heart of downtown Portland.

They include the PortlandArt Museum, with one of the Pacific Northwest’s most extensive displays of American and European art, a world-class collection of Native American art, and Asian works.The Oregon History Center emphasizes the state’s Native American peoples, early exploration, and pioneers.

Also on the South Park Blocks is the Portland Center for thePerforming Arts, home to the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Portland Opera, and Oregon Ballet Theater.

On the east bank of the Willamette River are the Oregon ConventionCenter and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, which in addition to extensive interactive displays includes tours of the last nonnuclear submarine built for theUnited States Navy. Every June Portland stages the Rose Festival.

First held in 1907, the festival’s parades and sporting events draw visitors from throughout the Pacific Northwest.

ChamberMusic Northwest offers classical music every summer. V RECREATION Portland is noted for parks and open spaces.

Covering about 1,900 hectares (about 4,800 acres), Forest Park is one of the largest natural areas within the boundaries of aU.S.

city.

Washington Park, on the hills overlooking downtown, is the location for the Oregon Zoo (notable for success in breeding Asian elephants), World Forestry Center,Hoyt Arboretum, Japanese Garden, and nationally known International Rose Test Gardens.

Portland tore out a four-lane highway in its downtown to create a riverfront park,now heavily frequented by pedestrians and the site of many community events. On clear days Portland residents enjoy the city’s views of Mount Hood.

Located less than 80 km (less than 50 mi) away, Mount Hood provides a location for hiking andwinter sports.

Portland is also within a 90-minute drive of the spectacular Oregon coast to the west.

Equally close to the east are the hiking trails of the Columbia RiverGorge National Scenic Area and the trails and ski slopes of Mount Hood National Forest.

The Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association play in the RoseGarden arena, which opened in 1995.

In 2000 the Portland Fire, an expansion Women's National Basketball Association team, began play in the Rose Garden as well. VI ECONOMY Portland enjoys a diversified economy.

Major manufactured products include paper, transportation equipment, metal products, sportswear, and electronic components andequipment.

Major corporations headquartered in the metropolitan region include Nike, a leader in the manufacture of sports footwear, in Beaverton; Louisiana-Pacific, awood-products manufacturer, in Portland; and Tektronix, a maker of scientific measuring devices and color printers, in Beaverton.

High-technology manufacturing is agrowing component of the city’s economy, with such firms as Intel, a leader in microprocessor production, opening plants in the area.

Portland is the wholesaling, financial,and medical center for much of Oregon and parts of Idaho and Washington. Although Portland is inland from the Pacific Ocean, the 150 km (90 mi) of the Columbia River between the city and the sea is fully open to navigation.

Oceangoing shippinghelped the city develop, and it remains a major transportation center.

The Port of Portland, one of the busiest in the western United States, manages five marine terminalsand a ship repair yard in addition to Portland International Airport.

Two interstate highways, major railroads, and barges on the Columbia-Snake river system serve the city.Chief exports are wood products and farm produce.

A prominent import is automobiles from Japan and South Korea. VII GOVERNMENT Portland incorporated in 1851.

Since 1913 it has operated under the commission form of city government.

Voters select in nonpartisan elections a mayor and fourcommissioners to overlapping four-year terms.

These five officials meet together as the city council to adopt budgets and make city policy.

In addition, they are individuallyresponsible for administering separate divisions of city bureaus and agencies. Three regional public agencies play significant roles in the three core counties of the metropolitan area (Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties).

The governor ofOregon appoints the commissioners of the Port of Portland and the board of the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Tri-Met), which operates the area’s busand light-rail system.

Voters directly choose the council and executive of Metro, the only elected multi-county government in the United States.

Metro coordinates regionalplanning and operates several regional services. VIII HISTORY The Portland area was long home to Native Americans.

Chinook peoples concentrated on lowlands along the Columbia River, such as Sauvie Island, where it was easy toharvest fish, birds, and wild plants.

A second center for native peoples was below the falls on the Willamette River, near present-day Oregon City.

The Tualatin Valley (inwhat is now Washington County) was home to groups of the Kalapooia people who depended heavily on wild game.

Measles and malaria, introduced by nonnatives in theearly 1800s, killed most of the native peoples because they lacked natural immunities to these diseases. Although Fort Vancouver was established on the Washington side of the Columbia River in 1825 and settlers traveling the Oregon Trail began reaching the Willamette Valleyin the early 1840s, Portland’s beginnings as an English-speaking community date to 1845.

Initial growth was based on the sale of lumber and grain to California during thegold rush of the 1850s.

Discovery of gold around the headwaters of the Columbia River in the 1860s further expanded the city’s importance as a river port. Completion of transcontinental railroad connections in the 1880s gave new impetus to industrial growth.

In 1905 the city staged the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition,marking the 100th anniversary of the arrival in the region by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

As the first world’s fair on the West Coast, this event attracted business andinvestment, and Portland continued to grow rapidly as the business center for the Columbia River region. A new era of rapid change came in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Hydroelectric power from the new Bonneville Dam and Grand Coulee Dam fueled industrial development,especially aluminum smelting.

Available electric power was also a factor in making Portland a major shipbuilding center during World War II (1939-1945).

More than120,000 workers at three Kaiser Corporation shipyards in Portland and Vancouver produced more than 1,000 ships for the U.S.

war effort.

The war also changed Portland’ssocial character by drawing many blacks to shipbuilding jobs. In the 1970s Portland embarked on systematic efforts at revitalization.

The city assisted neighborhood renewal projects and a reinvigoration of the downtown, which now. »