[1] The department is located in Seattle, Washington and has been highly ranked among leading geography graduate programs in the United States.

[2] Coursework in geography have been offered at the University of Washington at least since the 1890s, although no department was formally established.

When the university was reorganized at its new location between Lake Union and Lake Washington in 1895, geography coursework was offered through the Department of Geology and Mineralogy in Denny Hall.

Direction for new geographic coursework came under Henry Landes, who was head of the department, and had studied with William Morris Davis at Harvard University.

George T. Renner (Columbia) was hired in 1927 as the first geographer, and expanded the course offerings, which were dominated by physical geography.