The Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3, 1999. Trade ministers and other officials from the WTO's 135 member nations met in an unsuccessful attempt to plan negotiations to further deregulate free trade. Tens of thousands of activists for many causes gathered to protest what they saw as the WTO's favoring of corporate interests over social and environmental concerns.

About 250 people protested dressed in homemade turtle costumes made of cardboard. The costumes were a response to the WTO's decision that banning the use of a particular style of shrimp net was a barrier to free trade. Some countries fished with nets that did not use a “turtle excluder device” and had been responsible for the deaths of large numbers of sea turtles. The costumes became an iconic image of the protests.

Caption information sources: "WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) - Part 1," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 9183; and "WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) - Part 2," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 9213.
Caption information source: “WTO Chronicles: Nancy Pennington Talks About Turtles” by Cassandra Tate, HistoryLink.org Essay 2871