Cityscape

The District of Columbia lies across the Potomac River from Virginia and borders Maryland to the northwest, northeast, and southeast. Another river, the Anacostia, enters the Potomac from the southeastern part of the city. The District of Columbia and the city of Washington occupy the same plot of land, which measures about 69 square miles (179 square kilometers) in area.

Washington is a planned city, with straight streets, broad diagonal avenues, and parks at the places where the avenues meet. The most important public buildings are arranged around a broad stretch of lawn known as the Mall. A monument honoring George Washington was intended to be on the Mall at the exact center of the original, diamond-shaped District of Columbia. The monument is actually slightly off center, because the ground on the intended site was not firm enough to bear the weight. The Capitol and the White House face the monument from different directions. With the monument they form what is called the Federal Triangle.

Places of interest

The Capitol, where U.S. laws are made, and the White House, where the U.S. president lives, are familiar around the world. The country's highest court is housed in the Supreme Court building. Of the city's prominent monuments, the tallest is the Washington Monument, an obelisk, or tapered stone pillar. At 555 feet (169 meters), the monument is the only structure in the city that is taller than the Capitol dome. The Lincoln Memorial, with its massive statue of Abraham Lincoln and many columns, sits at the western end of the Mall. The circular Jefferson Memorial stands south of the Washington Monument. The popular Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a granite wall below ground level on which the names of America's Vietnam War dead are carved.

The Library of Congress, housed in three large buildings near the Capitol, is the city's—and the world's—largest library. Nearby is the Folger Shakespeare Library. The National Archives houses original copies of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

In addition to the Mall, Washington enjoys many parks and gardens. Rock Creek Park in the northwest part of the city is a quiet, wooded nature preserve. The park also contains the National Zoo and 15 miles (24 kilometers) of hiking and riding trails. Another huge park, the National Arboretum, is in northeast.

The surrounding suburbs are home to many attractions as well. These include Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland.

People

Washington's population is about three-fifths African American and less than one-third white. The remaining tenth is a mixture of Asians, Africans, Latin Americans, and other ethnic minorities. In contrast, the suburban population is predominantly white, with a sizable African American minority. Because it is the national capital the city is home to many foreign embassies and missions. Washington therefore has a fairly large population of temporary residents who are connected with those embassies.

Culture

Through the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. government operates many large museums of art, history, and science in Washington. These include the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Air and Space Museum. Other museums in Washington include the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, built as a memorial to the assassinated president, has theaters for music, opera, and drama. At the theater of the Folger Shakespeare Library, plays by William Shakespeare and other classic dramatists are performed. Among the city's oldest theaters are Ford's Theater, where President Lincoln was shot in 1865, and the National Theater.

Washington has many institutions of higher education. Georgetown University, founded in 1789 as a seminary, is the country's oldest Roman Catholic university. Howard University, chartered in 1867, is a distinguished historically black institution. Gallaudet University is one of the world's leading institutions of higher education for the deaf and hard of hearing. Other universities include the Catholic University of America, George Washington University, and American University.

Economy

The federal government is by far the largest employer in Washington. Most government agencies have their headquarters there. A few government agencies do more than office work. For example, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing prints money and postage stamps there. In addition, many organizations representing industries, professions, and interest groups have their head offices in Washington. These organizations want to have a say in the making of laws and government rules that affect their members. Washington is also the home of such international organizations as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

After government, tourism is Washington's second largest industry. The class trip to Washington is a tradition in many schools. Many organizations also chose the city as the site of their annual conventions.

History

In 1783, the leaders of the newly created United States began discussing plans to create a new federal district. In the district, they intended to build a permanent capital city. It took them several years to choose a location. Finally, in 1790, president George Washington himself picked the location, on the banks of the Potomac River in Maryland and Virginia. The site was near the informal boundary between the North and the South. Native Americans of Algonquian groups had lived there before the coming of settlers from the Old World.

The District of Columbia was originally shaped like a square, each side of which was 10 miles (16 kilometers) long. For decades the city of Washington shared the district with older towns such as Georgetown and Alexandria. In 1847, the part of the diamond south of the Potomac was returned to Virginia, and later in the 19th century the city of Washington took over all the territory in what remained of the district.

The plan for Washington was drawn up by the French-born engineer Pierre-Charles L'Enfant. L'Enfant laid out the streets and diagonal avenues on a grand scale. The city was surveyed by Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker. Banneker was a distinguished African American mathematician. The cornerstone for the Capitol building was laid in 1793, and government offices were moved from Philadelphia in 1800.

Many people scorned the new capital as an outpost in the wilderness, clogged with mud and far from civilization. The War of 1812 changed the city's fortunes. In 1814, near the end of the war, British invaders burned the White House, the Capitol, and the Navy Arsenal. This outrage firmly established Washington as the national capital in the minds and hearts of Americans. The district's population doubled after the American Civil War. The city attracted many African Americans and became a center of African American culture.

In the 19th and 20th centuries the city continued to grow as many new monuments and government buildings went up. As in many large cities, older parts of the city were neglected and fell into disrepair. Some of these areas were revived beginning in the late 20th century.

Washington was different from other large cities in one particular sense, however. As the symbol of the United States and its government, the city became a special target of terrorism. On September 11, 2001, terrorists flew an airplane into the Pentagon, which is across the Potomac from Washington. The building is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Many people were killed and a large section of the building was heavily damaged. The attack was the deadliest terrorist act ever against federal property on American soil. On the same day another attack in New York City destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center and killed many more people. The attacks led to a greater concern for security, especially around government buildings. Population (2000 census), 572,059.