The term seven hills of Seattle refers unofficially to the

hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

the U.S. city was built on and around, though there is no consensus on exactly which hills it refers to. The term has been used to refer to several other cities, most notably

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

The seven hills

Walt Crowley Walter Charles Crowley (June 20, 1947 – September 21, 2007) was an American historian and activist from Washington state. He first entered the public sphere in Seattle through his involvement with the social and political movements of the 1960s, ...

considered the main candidates for the seven hills to be:Crowley 2003 *

First Hill First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is named for the hill on which it is located, which in turn is so named for being the first hill encountered while traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washington ...

, nicknamed "Pill Hill" because of the many hospitals and clinics located there * Yesler Hill – presently Yesler Terrace * Cherry Hill — located to the east of First Hill (previously called Second Hill or Renton Hill – both these names have passed out of common usage) * Denny Hill – regraded, now called the

Denny Regrade The Denny Triangle is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, that stretches north of the central business district to the grounds of Seattle Center. Its generally flat terrain was originally a steep hill, taken down as part of a ...

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

* Queen Anne Hill * Beacon Hill The hills above were associated with seven boulders in the City of Seattle's Seven Hills Park. Other hills people sometimes consider among the "seven hills of Seattle" include: *

West Seattle West Seattle is a conglomeration of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington, United States. It comprises two of the thirteen districts, Delridge and Southwest, and encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. It was incorporated as an i ...

– originally incorporated as a separate city, and not annexed by Seattle until 1907Wilma 2005 *

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

* Crown Hill – not annexed until 1954 *

Mount Baker Mount Baker (Lummi: '; nok, Kw’eq Smaenit or '), also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington in the United States. Mount ...

Geology

Seattle's topography is due largely to

Pleistocene ice age The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

glaciation. Nearly all of the city's seven hills are characterized as

drumlins A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...

(Beacon Hill, First Hill, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne Hill, Mount Baker) or

drift Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** Drift, Cornwall, village ** Drift Reservoir, associated with the village ...

uplands (Magnolia, West Seattle).

"Seven Hills of Seattle" annual walk

The Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association (

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, particularly through the establishment of "sister cities"� ...

) sponsors an annual "Seven Hills of Seattle" walk. Seattle's sister city,

Bergen, Norway Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

, is known as the City of Seven Mountains.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *, narrated by

Nick Zentner Nick Zentner is an American academic who works as a geology professor at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. Outside of his work with the university, he is known for his online videos covering the geology of the Northwestern ...

(Central Washington University Department of Geological Sciences). Uploaded March 2, 2015 by Hugefloods.com (Nick Zentner and Tom Foster: Discover the Ice Age Floods). *{{citation, last1=Troost , first1=Kathy Goetz, last2=Booth, first2=Derek B. , title=Geography of Seattle and the Seattle area, Washington , year=2008, publisher=Geological Society of America , doi=10.1130/2008.4020(01), url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neA6HWzDUVQC&pg=PA1, isbn=9780813741208 Landforms of Seattle Hills of Washington (state) Landforms of King County, Washington Moraines of the United States

The seven hills

Geology

"Seven Hills of Seattle" annual walk

See also

Notes

References