Washington, D.C.
, formally the District of Columbia and commonly known
as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The
city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders
with Maryland to its north and east. It was named after George Washington, the
first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia, the
female personification of the nation.
The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under
the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of
any state, and is not one itself. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved
the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in
1791, and the 6th Congress held the first session in the unfinished Capitol Building in
1800 after the capital moved from Philadelphia. In 1801, the District of Columbia,
formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements
of Georgetown and Alexandria, was officially recognized as the federal district; initially,
the city was a separate settlement within the larger district. In 1846, Congress reduced
the size of the district when it returned the land originally ceded by Virginia, including
the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it created a single municipality for the district. There have
been several unsuccessful efforts to make the district into a state since the 1880s;
a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by
the U.S. Senate. To become law it would have to be passed by the Senate and signed
by the president; it would have renamed the city Washington, Douglass
Commonwealth and shrunk the Federal District to about the size of the National Mall.
Designed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the city is divided into quadrants, which
are centered on the Capitol Building and include 131 neighborhoods. As of the 2020
census, the city had a population of 689,545.[3] Commuters from the city's Maryland and
Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the
workweek.[12] The Washington metropolitan area, which includes parts of Maryland,
Virginia, and West Virginia, is the country's seventh-largest metropolitan area, with a
2023 population of 6.3 million residents.[6] A locally elected mayor and 13-member
council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress retains the power to
overturn local laws. Washington, D.C. residents do not have voting representation in
Congress, but elect a single non-voting congressional delegate to the U.S. House of
Representatives. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with
the Twenty-third Amendment, passed in 1961.
Washington, D.C. anchors the southern end of the Northeast megalopolis. As the seat
of the U.S. federal government, the city is an important world political capital.[13] The city
hosts the buildings that house federal government headquarters, including the White
House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court Building, and multiple federal departments and
agencies. The city is home to many national monuments and museums, located most
prominently on or around the National Mall, including the Jefferson Memorial,
the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. It hosts 177 foreign
embassies and the global headquarters of the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund, the Organization of American States, and other international organizations. Home
to many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think
tanks, the city is known as a lobbying hub, which is centered on and around K Street.
[14]
It is also among the country's top tourist destinations; in 2022, it drew an estimated
20.7 million dome
