Juan de Fuca in the context of "Olympic Peninsula"

Oregon (/ˈɒrɪɡən, -ɡɒn/ ORR-ih-ghən, -⁠gon) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The 42° north parallel delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. The western boundary is formed by the Pacific Ocean.

Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 19th century, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established soon afterward by trappers and fur traders. The United States received joint occupation rights to the region from the United Kingdom through the Treaty of 1818. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 formally brought Oregon under American sovereignty, and the Oregon Territory was created two years later. Oregon was admitted to the United States on February 14, 1859, becoming the 33rd state.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about 96 miles (83 nmi; 154 km) long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre of the Strait.

It was named in 1787 by the maritime fur trader Charles William Barkley, captain of Imperial Eagle, for Juan de Fuca, the Greek navigator who sailed in a Spanish expedition in 1592 to seek the fabled Strait of Anián. Barkley was the first recorded person to find the strait, unless Juan de Fuca's story was true.

The Juan de Fuca plate or Juan de Fuca microplate is a small oceanic tectonic plate (microplate) generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that is subducting beneath the northerly portion of the western side of the North American plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. It is named after the explorer of the same name. One of the smallest of Earth's tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca microplate is a remnant part of the once-vast Farallon plate, which is now largely subducted underneath the North American plate.

In plate tectonic reconstructions, the Juan de Fuca microplate is referred to as the Vancouver plate between the break-up of the Farallon plate c. 55–52 Ma and the activation of the San Andreas Fault c. 30 Ma.