[8] It developed as a vital link of the Atlantic coast and Midwest, as the mineral-rich Allegheny Mountains led to the region being contested by the French and British empires, Virginians, Whiskey Rebels, and Civil War raiders.

[10] Deindustrialization in the late 20th century resulted in massive layoffs among blue-collar workers as steel and other heavy industries declined, coinciding with several Pittsburgh-based corporations moving out of the city.

[22] Kingdom of France 1690s–1763  Great Britain 1681–1781  United States 1776–present The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee and several other settled groups of Native Americans.

Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements.

[29][30][31][32] During this period, the powerful nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, based in New York, had maintained control of much of the Ohio Valley as hunting grounds by right of conquest after defeating other tribes.

Because Pennsylvania had been established as a free state after the Revolution, enslaved African Americans sought freedom here through escape as refugees from the South, or occasionally fleeing from travelers they were serving who stayed in the city.

The Great Allegheny Passage and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath connect the city directly to downtown Washington, D.C. (some 335 miles [539 km] away) with a continuous bike/running trail.

The Firstside portion of Downtown borders the Monongahela River, the historic Mon Wharf and hosts the distinctive PPG Place Gothic-style glass skyscraper complex.

[87] Local rivers in Pittsburgh continue to exceed EPA pollution limits, primarily due to frequently overflowing untreated sewage from the city's outdated infrastructure.

[124] In the 1960s, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) aimed to revitalize East Liberty, resulting in the construction of Penn Center Mall and the displacement of about 3,800 people.

[129] Pittsburgh is also cited as the location where the earliest precursor to Jehovah's Witnesses was founded by Charles Taze Russell; today the denomination makes up approximately 1% of the population based on data from the Pew Research Center.

An analyst recently observed of the city's medical sector: "That's both more jobs and a higher share of the region's total employment than the steel industry represented in the 1970s.

[143] The region is home to Aurora, Allegheny Technologies, American Eagle Outfitters, Duolingo, EQT Corporation, CONSOL Energy, Howmet Aerospace, Kennametal and II-VI headquarters.

84 Lumber, Giant Eagle, Highmark, Rue 21, General Nutrition Center (GNC), CNX Gas (CXG), and Genco Supply Chain Solutions are major non-public companies headquartered in the region.

The global impact of Pittsburgh technology and business was recently demonstrated in several key components of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner being manufactured and supplied by area companies.

[145] A leader in environmental design, the city is home to 60 total and 10 of the world's first green buildings while billions have been invested in the area's Marcellus natural gas fields.

Pittsburgh also shaped 20th-century music with influential figures like Billy Strayhorn, who grew up in the city, and pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams, who honored her hometown with a 1966 album featuring Leon Thomas.

[157] Recent artists like Wiz Khalifa have continued Pittsburgh's musical legacy, with his hit Black and Yellow reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2011.

[173] Modern writers include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, as well as Michael Chabon, who writes about student and college life in Pittsburgh.

[175] Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard, whose memoir An American Childhood takes place in post-World War II Pittsburgh, also hails from the city.

Poet Terrance Hayes, winner of the 2010 National Book Award and a 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, earned his MFA at the University of Pittsburgh and was a faculty member there.

[193] Residents living in extremely low-lying areas near the rivers or one of the 1,400 creeks and streams may have occasional floods,[194] such as those caused when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan hit rainfall records in 2004.

The Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, often referred to as the Bucs or the Buccos (derived from buccaneer), is the city's oldest professional sports franchise, having been founded in 1881, and plays in the Central Division of the National League.

The Ed Debartolo owned Pittsburgh Maulers featured a Heisman Trophy winner in the mid-1980s, former superstar University of Nebraska running back Mike Rozier.

Local courses have sponsored annual major tournaments for 40 years: Many notable professional wrestlers and promoters have hailed from the city or started their careers in Pittsburgh, including Bruno Sammartino, Kurt Angle, Shane Douglas, Corey Graves, Dominic DeNucci, Elias, Britt Baker and many more.

[242] The major network television stations include KDKA-TV 2 (CBS), WTAE 4 (ABC), WPXI 11 (NBC), WINP-TV 16 (Ion), WPKD-TV 19 (Independent), WPNT 22 (The CW/MyNetworkTV), WPCB 40 (Cornerstone), and WPGH-TV 53 (Fox).

[248] From 2017 to 2023, Pittsburgh welcomed a series of major film and television productions like Fences, Mindhunter, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Sweet Girl, and I'm Your Woman, significantly contributing to the local economy.

Amtrak provides intercity rail service to Pittsburgh Union Station, via the Capitol Limited between Chicago and Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvanian to New York City.

The light rail runs from Acrisure Stadium to South Hills Village and Library, taking commuters through one of two routes: one which serves Castle Shannon, Mt.

Carnegie also founded the Union Railroad in 1894 for heavy freight services and it still serves the area's steel industry, while George Westinghouse's Wabtec has been a leader in rail engines and switching since 1869.