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Washington, D.C.
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This article is about the capital of the United States. For the U.S. state, see Washington (state).
"District of Columbia" redirects here. For the history of the district as a separate legal entity, see District of Columbia (until 1871).
For other uses, see United States capital (disambiguation) and Washington (disambiguation).
Washington, D.C.
Federal capital city and federal district
District of Columbia
Aerial view of the Lincoln Memorial, reflecting pool, and Washington Monument
U.S. Capitol Building dome
The Gothic Washington National Cathedral
Train arriving at the McPherson Square metro station with a domed concrete ceiling
Colorful rowhouses in Adams Morgan
Planes suspended from the ceiling of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum lobby
Manicured South Lawn of the White House
Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Washington Metro, Air and Space Museum, White House, storefronts in Adams Morgan, National Cathedral
Flag of Washington, D.C.
Flag
Official seal of Washington, D.C.
Seal
Nickname(s): D.C., The District
Motto(s): Justitia Omnibus
(English: Justice for All)
Anthem: "Our Nation's Capital"[1]
Washington, D.C. is located in the United StatesWashington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Location within the United States
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Coordinates: 38.9101°N 77.0147°W
Country United States
Residence Act 1790
Organized 1801
Consolidated 1871
Home Rule Act 1973
Named for George Washington, Christopher Columbus
Government
• Mayor Muriel Bowser (D)
• D.C. Council
List
• U.S. House Eleanor Holmes Norton (D),
Delegate (At-large)
Area
• Federal capital city and federal district 68.34 sq mi (177.0 km2)
• Land 61.05 sq mi (158.1 km2)
• Water 7.29 sq mi (18.9 km2)
Highest elevation 409 ft (125 m)
Lowest elevation 0 ft (0 m)
Population (2019)[2]
• Federal capital city and federal district 705,749
• Rank US cities: 20th, U.S. as of 2019
• Density 11,506/sq mi (4,442/km2)
• Metro 6,280,487 (6th U.S.)
• CSA 9,814,928 (4th U.S.)
Demonym(s) Washingtonian[3][4]
Time zone UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST) UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes
20001–20098, 20201–20599
Area code(s) 202
Major airports
Washington Dulles
Reagan National
Baltimore/Washington
Commuter rail MARC train.svg Virginia Railway Express.svg
Rapid transit WMATA Red.svg WMATA Blue.svg WMATA Orange.svg WMATA Yellow.svg WMATA Green.svg WMATA Silver.svg
Website dc.gov
Washington, D.C., state symbols
Living insignia
Bird Wood Thrush
Flower American Beauty rose
Tree Scarlet Oak
Inanimate insignia
Beverage Rickey[5]
Dinosaur Capitalsaurus
Food Cherry
Rock Potomac bluestone
Slogan Federal City
State route marker
District of Columbia Route 295 marker
State quarter
Washington, D.C., quarter dollar coin
Released in 2009
Lists of United States state symbols
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and also known as D.C. or just Washington, is the capital city of the United States.[6] It is located on the Potomac River bordering Maryland and Virginia, with Congress holding its first session there in 1800. The city was named for George Washington, the first president of the United States and a Founding Father,[7] and the federal district is named after Columbia, a female personification of the nation. As the seat of the U.S. federal government and several international organizations, the city is an important world political capital.[8] It is one of the most visited cities in the U.S., with over 20 million visitors in 2016.[9][10]

The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of U.S. Congress; the district is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River near the country's East Coast. The City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the national capital. In 1801, the land, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia (including the settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria), officially became recognized as the federal district. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia, including the city of Alexandria; in 1871, it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the district.

The city is divided into quadrants centered on the Capitol Building, and there are as many as 131 neighborhoods. The estimated population of 705,749 as of July 2019,[11] makes it the 20th-most populous city in the U.S. and gives it a population larger than that of two U.S. states: Wyoming and Vermont.[12] Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek.[13] Washington's metropolitan area, the country's sixth-largest (including parts of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia), had a 2019 estimated population of 6.3 million residents.[14]

The three branches of the U.S. federal government are centered in the district: Congress (legislative), the president (executive), and the Supreme Court (judicial). Washington is home to many national monuments and museums, primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 177 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, trade unions, non-profits, lobbying groups, and professional associations, including the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, the AARP, the National Geographic Society, the Human Rights Campaign, the International Finance Corporation, and the American Red Cross.

A locally elected mayor and a 13-member council have governed the district since 1973. Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D.C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, but the district has no representation in the Senate. District voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961.


Contents
1 History
1.1 Foundation
1.2 Burning during the War of 1812
1.3 Retrocession and the Civil War
1.4 Growth and redevelopment
1.5 Civil rights and home rule era
2 Geography
2.1 Climate
3 Cityscape
3.1 Architecture
4 Demographics
4.1 Crime
5 Economy
6 Culture
6.1 Landmarks
6.2 Museums
6.3 Arts
6.4 Sports
7 Media
8 Government and politics
8.1 Politics
8.2 Budgetary issues
8.3 Voting rights debate
8.4 Sister cities
9 Education
9.1 Higher education
10 Infrastructure
10.1 Transportation
10.2 Utilities
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 External links
History
For the capitals of the United States before the founding of Washington, D.C., see List of capitals in the United States § Capitals of the US.
Further information: History of Washington, D.C.; Timeline of Washington, D.C.; and District of Columbia (until 1871)
Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people (also known as the Conoy) inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century. One group known as the Nacotchtank (also called the Nacostines by Catholic missionaries) maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland.[15]

In his Federalist No. 43, published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety.[16] Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers had besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia. Known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security.[17]

Article One, Section Eight, of the Constitution permits the establishment of a "District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States".[18] However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital. In what is now known as the Compromise of 1790, Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson came to an agreement that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the Southern United States.[19][a]

Foundation
On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, who signed the bill into law on July 16. Formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side, totaling 100 square miles (259 km2).[20]

Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory: the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751,[21] and the city of Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1749.[22] During 1791–92, a team under Andrew Ellicott, including Ellicott's brothers Joseph and Benjamin and African-American astronomer Benjamin Banneker, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point.[23] Many of the stones are still standing.[24]

A new federal city was then constructed on the north bank of the Potomac, to the east of Georgetown. On September 9, 1791, the three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The same day, the federal district was named Columbia (a feminine form of "Columbus" wink , which was a poetic name for the United States commonly in use at that time.[25][26] Congress held its first session there on November 17, 1800.[27][28]

Congress passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government. Further, the unincorporated area within the district was organized into two counties: the County of Washington to the east of the Potomac and the County of Alexandria to the west.[29] After the passage of this Act, citizens living in the district were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which therefore ended their representation in Congress.[30]

Burning during the War of 1812
Main article: War of 1812

Following their victory at the Battle of Bladensburg, the British entered Washington, D.C., burning down buildings, including the White House.
On August 24–25, 1814, in a raid known as the Burning of Washington, British forces invaded the capital during the War of 1812. The Capitol, Treasury, and White House were burned and gutted during the attack.[31] Most government buildings were repaired quickly; however, the Capitol was largely under construction at the time and was not completed in its current form until 1868.[32]

Retrocession and the Civil War
See also: District of Columbia retrocession and Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War

President Abraham Lincoln insisted that construction of the United States Capitol dome continue during the American Civil War (1861).
In the 1830s, the district's southern territory of Alexandria went into economic decline partly due to neglect by Congress.[33] The city of Alexandria was a major market in the American slave trade, and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the district, further depressing the economy. Alexandria's citizens petitioned Virginia to take back the land it had donated to form the district, through a process known as retrocession.[34]

The Virginia General Assembly voted in February 1846 to accept the return of Alexandria and on July 9, 1846, Congress agreed to return all the territory that had been ceded by Virginia. Therefore, the district's area consists only of the portion originally donated by Maryland.[33] Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the district, although not slavery itself.[35]

The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 led to the expansion of the federal government and notable growth in the district's population, including a large influx of freed slaves.[36] President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862, which ended slavery in the district of Columbia and freed about 3,100 enslaved persons, nine months prior to the Emancipation Proclamation.[37] In 1868, Congress granted the district's African American male residents the right to vote in municipal elections.[36]

Growth and redevelopment
By 1870, the district's population had grown 75% from the previous census to nearly 132,000 residents.[38] Despite the city's growth, Washington still had dirt roads and lacked basic sanitation. Some members of Congress suggested moving the capital further west, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to consider such a proposal.[39]

Congress passed the Organic Act of 1871, which repealed the individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, and created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia.[40] President Grant appointed Alexander Robey Shepherd to the position of governor in 1873. Shepherd authorized large-scale projects that greatly modernized the City of Washington, but ultimately bankrupted the district government. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member Board of Commissioners.[41]

The city's first motorized streetcars began service in 1888 and generated growth in areas of the district beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries. Washington's urban plan was expanded throughout the district in the following decades.[42] Georgetown's street grid and other administrative details were formally merged to those of the legal City of Washington in 1895.[43] However, the city had poor housing conditions and strained public works. The district was the first city in the nation to undergo urban renewal projects as part of the "City Beautiful movement" in the early 1900s.[44]

Increased federal spending as a result of the New Deal in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in the district,[45] though the chairman of the House Subcommittee on District Appropriations Ross A. Collins from Mississippi justified cuts to funds for welfare and education for local residents, saying that "my constituents wouldn't stand for spending money on niggers."[46]

World War II further increased government activity, adding to the number of federal employees in the capital;[47] by 1950, the district's population reached its peak of 802,178 residents.[38]

Civil rights and home rule era

Crowds surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during the March on Washington, 1963
External video
video icon 1960s Washington DC, 4K from 35mm Kinolibrary
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the district three votes in the Electoral College for the election of president and vice president, but still no voting representation in Congress.[48]

After the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in the district, primarily in the U Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors, centers of black residential and commercial areas. The riots raged for three days until more than 13,600 federal troops and D.C. Army National Guardsmen stopped the violence. Many stores and other buildings were burned; rebuilding was not completed until the late 1990s.[49]

In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, providing for an elected mayor and thirteen-member council for the district.[50] In 1975, Walter Washington became the first elected and first black mayor of the district.[51]

Geography
Main article: Geography of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. is located in Washington Metropolitan AreaCalvertCharlesFrederickMontgomeryPrince George'sAlexandriaAlexandriaArlingtonClarkeFairfaxFairfaxFairfax CountyFalls ChurchFalls ChurchFauquierLoudounManassasManassasManassas ParkManassas ParkPrince WilliamSpotsylvaniaStaffordFredericksburgFredericksburgWarrenWashingtonWashingtonJefferson
The Washington Metropolitan Area has a population of 6,131,977, as of 2014.[13]

Satellite photo of Washington, D.C. by ESA
Washington, D.C., is located in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. East Coast. Due to the District of Columbia retrocession, the city has a total area of 68.34 square miles (177 km2), of which 61.05 square miles (158.1 km2) is land and 7.29 square miles (18.9 km2) (10.67%) is water.[52] The district is bordered by Montgomery County, Maryland to the northwest; Prince George's County, Maryland to the east; Arlington County, Virginia to the west; and Alexandria, Virginia to the south. Washington, D.C., is 38 miles (61 km) from Baltimore, 124 miles (200 km) from Philadelphia and 227 miles (365 km) from New York City.

The south bank of the Potomac River forms the district's border with Virginia and has two major tributaries: the Anacostia River and Rock Creek.[53] Tiber Creek, a natural watercourse that once passed through the National Mall, was fully enclosed underground during the 1870s.[54] The creek also formed a portion of the now-filled Washington City Canal, which allowed passage through the city to the Anacostia River from 1815 until the 1850s.[55] The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal starts in Georgetown and was used during the 19th century to bypass the Little Falls of the Potomac River, located at the northwest edge of Washington at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line.[56]

The highest natural elevation in the district is 409 feet (125 m) above sea level at Fort Reno Park in upper northwest Washington.[57] The lowest point is sea level at the Potomac River.[58] The geographic center of Washington is near the intersection of 4th and L Streets NW.[59][60][61]

The district has 7,464 acres (30.21 km2) of parkland, about 19% of the city's total area and the second-highest percentage among high-density U.S. cities.[62] This factor contributed to Washington, D.C., being ranked as third in the nation for park access and quality in the 2018 ParkScore ranking of the park systems of the 100 most populous cities in the United States, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.[63]

The National Park Service manages most of the 9,122 acres (36.92 km2) of city land owned by the U.S. government.[64] Rock Creek Park is a 1,754-acre (7.10 km2) urban forest in Northwest Washington, which extends 9.3 miles (15.0 km) through a stream valley that bisects the city. Established in 1890, it is the country's fourth-oldest national park and is home to a variety of plant and animal species, including raccoon, deer, owls, and coyotes.[65] Other National Park Service properties include the C&O Canal National Historical Park, the National Mall and Memorial Parks, Theodore Roosevelt Island, Columbia Island, Fort Dupont Park, Meridian Hill Park, Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, and Anacostia Park.[66] The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation maintains the city's 900 acres (3.6 km2) of athletic fields and playgrounds, 40 swimming pools, and 68 recreation centers.[67] The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates the 446-acre (1.80 km2) U.S. National Arboretum in Northeast Washington.[68]

Climate
Washington is in the humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen: Cfa).[69] The Trewartha classification is defined as an oceanic climate (Do).[70] Winters are usually cool with light snow, and summers are hot and humid. The district is in plant hardiness zone 8a near downtown, and zone 7b elsewhere in the city, indicating a humid subtropical climate.[71]

Spring and fall are mild to warm, while winter is cool with annual snowfall averaging 15.5 inches (39 cm). Winter temperatures average around 38 °F (3 °C) from mid-December to mid-February.[72] However, winter temperatures in excess of 60 °F (16 °C) are not uncommon.[73]

Summers are hot and humid with a July daily average of 79.8 °F (26.6 °C) and average daily relative humidity around 66%, which can cause moderate personal discomfort. Heat indices regularly approach 100 °F (38 °C) at the height of summer.[74] The combination of heat and humidity in the summer brings very frequent thunderstorms, some of which occasionally produce tornadoes in the area.[75]

Blizzards affect Washington, on average, once every four to six years. The most violent storms are called "nor'easters", which often affect large sections of the East Coast.[76] From January 27 to 28, 1922, the city officially received 28 inches (71 cm) of snowfall, the largest snowstorm since official measurements began in 1885.[77] According to notes kept at the time, the city received between 30 and 36 inches (76 and 91 cm) from a snowstorm in January 1772.[78]


The Washington Monument, seen across the Tidal Basin during 2007's National Cherry Blossom Festival
Hurricanes (or their remnants) occasionally track through the area in late summer and early fall but are often weak by the time they reach Washington, partly due to the city's inland location.[79] Flooding of the Potomac River, however, caused by a combination of high tide, storm surge, and runoff, has been known to cause extensive property damage in the neighborhood of Georgetown.[80]

Precipitation occurs throughout the year.[81]

Washington's climate will grow warmer and rainfall will increase as the result of climate change.[82]

The highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on August 6, 1918, and on July 20, 1930.[83] while the lowest recorded temperature was −15 °F (−26 °C) on February 11, 1899, right before the Great Blizzard of 1899.[76] During a typical year, the city averages about 37 days at or above 90 °F (32 °C) and 64 nights at or below the freezing mark (32 °F or 0 °C).[72] On average, the first day with a minimum at or below freezing is November 18 and the last day is March 27.[84][85]