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| Apart from its role containing the capital city of the US, the '''District of Columbia''', coterminous with ], can also be described by its own historical, municipal, and physical geographic characteristics, many of which aren't well documented. The term "Washington" or "DC" is often used by residents for the metropolitan area including the ] and ] suburbs, while Washington proper is called simply "the District". The area is 61 sq. miles (135 sq. km). | |||
| ==History== | |||
| ] proposed by the ].]] | |||
| The District of Columbia was authorized by ] in 1790, after at least seven years of sometimes heated contention among states, as the permanent seat for the government of the new country. The new territory was to be made of land from the states of ] and ]. The United States was occasionally called '']'' during and after the time of the revolution, after ], and the new district (originally called a territory) received that name rather than the more unwieldy District of the United States. | |||
| The choice of the exact site on the ] was left to the first president, ]. He chose a 10-mile-(16 km)-square area that included the existing villages of Georgetown and Alexandria, and another called Hamburg in the Foggy Bottom area. A new city, eventually named Washington City, was laid out in undeveloped area within the district. The remainder of the territory was designated ] (on the Maryland side of the Potomac) and ] (on the Virginia side). | |||
| The land from the State of Virginia was eventually returned to the state in ]. This land in Virginia makes up the modern area of ] and the old part of ], both which are considered suburbs of Washington. In fact, the ] and the ] complex are both located in Arlington but are largely tied to the federal government in ]. Between ] and ], Alexandria was referred to as "Alexandria, D.C." | |||
| The District has many distinct historic neighborhoods, which include ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. | |||
| The '''Georgetown''' neighborhood was originally part of Maryland and was the only significant population in the area that would become the District of Columbia. Georgetown became part of the District in ] when the Federal City was first created, but Georgetown remained an independent city, referred to as "Georgetown, D.C.", until ], when it was merged with Washington City and Washington County, completing the process of Washington and the District of Columbia occupying the same geographic borders. | |||
| The '''monumental core''' of the city consists of the ] and many key federal buildings, monuments, and museums, including the ], ], and the ]. Its layout is based on that proposed by the ] report in ]. | |||
| ==Physical geography== | |||
| The physical ] of the District of Columbia is very similar to the physical geography of much of ]. The District has three natural flowing bodies of water: the ], the ], and ]. Both Anacostia River and Rock Creek are tributaries of the ]. There are also two man-made ]s: ], which crosses over the northwest border of the District from Maryland, and ] near ]. | |||
| The highest point in the District of Columbia is 410 feet (125 m) above sea level at Tenleytown. The lowest point is 1 foot, which occurs at least as far up the Potomac River as 0.35 miles (0.57 km) upstream from the terminus of Rock Creek. | |||
| ==Municipal geography== | |||
| {{merging | target=Washington, DC#Geography}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * | |||
| * http://www.rootsweb.com/~dcgenweb/dcmdva.html | |||
| * http://www.dc.gov/neigh_ciz/neigh_alpha.shtm | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Latest revision as of 14:49, 6 September 2005
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