It is known for its Aboriginal people; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore.

[7] It contains some of Earth's oldest rock formations, and includes landscapes of coastal plains and mountain ranges with cliffs and gorges.

[citation needed] It has a population of more than 45,000,[9] most of whom live in the western third of the region, in towns such as Port Hedland, Karratha, Wickham, Newman and Marble Bar.

In 2007, some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth was found in 3.4 billion-year-old sandstones at Strelley Pool, which preserve fossils of sulphur-processing bacteria.

[10] The mineralised spheres, which were found on an ancient beach and have a cell-like morphology, were chemically analysed, revealing that they used sulphur for fuel.

Settlements along the coast at Tien Tsin Harbour (later Cossack), Roebourne and Condon (officially Shellborough; later abandoned) were established over ensuing decades, mainly as centres of the rangeland livestock (grazing/pastoral) industry or pearling ports.

[16] In the 1950s, three British nuclear weapons tests were carried out in the Montebello Islands, 130 km (81 mi) off the Pilbara coast.

Archaeological evidence indicates that people were living in the Pilbara even during the harsh climatic conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum.

Near the town of Dampier is a peninsula known as Murujuga, which contains a large collection of World Heritage-listed petroglyphs, dating back thousands of years.

Working conditions in the pearling and pastoral industries for Aboriginal people in the Pilbara region around 1900 have been described as slavery, with no wages paid, kidnapping as well as severe and cruel punishments for misbehaviour and absconding all common practices.

[citation needed] Jan Richardson, wife of Victorian Aboriginal activist Stan Davey, wrote a biography of McLeod as a doctoral thesis.

[24] Many Pilbara communities face the many complex effects of colonisation, and lack adequate access to housing, health and education.

[27] At the McClelland Royal Commission into British nuclear testing, Aboriginal people from the Pilbara provided evidence regarding the explosion on the Montebello Islands.

[6][34] Due to the low population density in the Pilbara region, cyclones rarely cause large scale destruction or loss of life.

This was challenged by employers from the mid-1980s onwards and the region now has a very low level of union membership compared to other parts of Australia.

Geoscience Australia calculated that the country's "economic demonstrated resources" of iron amounted to 24 gigatonnes, or 24 billion tonnes.

The region also has a number of cattle-grazing stations, and a substantial tourist sector, with popular natural attractions including the Karijini and Millstream-Chichester national parks and the Dampier Archipelago.

Several species of acacia (wattle) trees are endemic to the Pilbara and are the focus of conservation programs, along with wildflowers and other local specialities.

[citation needed] "Fairy circles" (known as "linyji" in the Manyjilyjarra language and "mingkirri" in the Warlpiri language) which are circular patches of land barren of plants, varying between 2 and 12 metres (7 and 39 ft) in diameter and often encircled by a ring of stimulated growth of grass, are found in the western part of the Great Sandy Desert in the Pilbara.

Birds include the Australian hobby, nankeen kestrel, spotted harrier, mulga parrot and budgerigars.

The freshwater region is characterized by intermittent rivers which form deep gorges, and brackish-water caves that host endemic species.