Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States. It is coterminous with the District of Columbia (abbreviated as "D.C."). The city and the district are located on the banks of the Potomac River and bordered by the states of Virginia (to the west) and Maryland (to the north, east and south). The city was planned and developed in the late 18th century to serve as the permanent national capital; the federal district was formed to keep the national capital distinct from the states.
The city was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States. The district's name, "Columbia," is an early poetic name for the United States and a reference to Christopher Columbus, an early explorer of the Americas. The city is commonly referred to as Washington, The District, or simply D.C. In the 19th century, it was called the Federal City or Washington City.
The centers of all three branches of the U.S. government are located in the District. Also situated in the city are the headquarters for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other national and international institutions, including labor unions and professional associations. Washington is a frequent location for political demonstrations and protests, large and small, particularly on the National Mall. A center of American history and culture, Washington is a popular destination for tourists, the site of numerous national landmarks and monuments, the world's largest museum complex (the Smithsonian Institution), galleries, universities, cathedrals, performing arts centers and institutions, and native music scenes. The District also includes substantial areas of surprisingly wild natural habitat, particularly along the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, as well as most parts of Rock Creek Park and Theodore Roosevelt Island (located in the Potomac River).
The District of Columbia and the city of Washington are governed by a single municipal government and for most practical purposes, are considered to be the same entity. This has not always been the case: until 1871, when Georgetown ceased to be a separate city, there were multiple jurisdictions within the District.[3] Although there is a municipal government and a Mayor, Congress has the supreme authority over the city and district, which results in citizens having less self-governance than residents of the states. The District has a non-voting at-large Congressional representative. In the financial year 2004, federal tax collections were $16.9 billion[4] while federal spending in the District was $37.6 billion.[5]
The population of the District of Columbia is about 588,292.[1] The Washington Metropolitan Area is the eighth-largest in the United States with more than five million residents, and the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area has a population exceeding eight million. If Washington, D.C., were a state, it would rank last in area (behind Rhode Island), second to last in population (ahead of Wyoming), first in population density, and 35th in gross state product.
History
The District of Columbia, founded on July 16, 1790, is a federal district as specified by the United States Constitution. The land forming the original District came from the state of Maryland and Commonwealth of Virginia. However, the area south of the Potomac River (39 square miles or about 100 km²) was returned, or "retroceded", to Virginia in 1847 and now is incorporated into Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. The remaining land that constitutes the District of Columbia is the territory originally ceded by Maryland, including islands in the Potomac River.
Planning
Pierre Charles L'Enfant's Plan of the City of Washington, as revised by Andrew Ellicott
A Southern site for the new country's capital was agreed upon at a dinner between James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, hosted by Thomas Jefferson. The site was part of the deal that led to the new national government's assumption of debts from the Revolutionary War.[6] (The southern states had largely paid off their war debts; collectivizing debt was to northern advantage, so a southern capital was a compromise.) The city's plan was largely the work of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French-born architect, engineer and city planner who first arrived in the American colonies as a military engineer with Major General Lafayette. L'Enfant drew up a basic plan for Washington, D.C. in 1791; the city layout owed much to the Baroque style, which was the dominant style in many North American and European planned cities of the day. The plan incorporated broad avenues and major streets which radiate out from traffic circles and rectangular parks, providing open space and landscaping, sites for various statues and smaller memorials, and vistas towards important landmarks and monuments. (Many of these places now also serve as entrances to underground stations of the region's heavy-rail Metro public transit system.) While all of the original colonies had avenues named for them, the most prominent states received more prestigious locations under Andrew Ellicott's later plan for the city. Massachusetts Avenue was the northernmost of three principal east-west arteries, Virginia Avenue the southernmost, and Pennsylvania Avenue was given the honor of connecting the White House to the planned Capitol building. In the original plan, all three roads reached neighboring Georgetown. Maryland Avenue, another early major street, extended northeastward from the Capitol site to the original city limits, where it met the Bladensburg road to points north.
The initial plan for the "Federal District" was a diamond, measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side, totaling 100 square miles (259 km²). The actual site on the Potomac River was chosen by President Washington. Washington may have chosen the site for its natural scenery, believing that the Patowmack Canal would transform the Potomac into a great navigable waterway leading to the Ohio and the American interior. The city was officially named "Washington" on September 9, 1791.[7] Out of modesty, George Washington never referred to it as such, preferring to call it "the Federal City."[8] Despite choosing the site and living nearby at Mount Vernon, he rarely visited the city. The federal district was named the District of Columbia because Columbia was a poetic name for the United States used at the time, which was close to the 300th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Americas in 1492.
As originally platted, the District of Columbia was carved out of two adjacent counties - one in Virginia, one in Maryland — and the portion from each state was organized as a separate county. Alexandria County was on the south bank of the Potomac and was retroceded to Virginia in the nineteenth century (where it later became the independent city of Alexandria and the County of Arlington). The County of Washington was on the north bank. In addition to the new City of Washington being constructed in the geographic and geometric center of the District, there were a number of other communities — including Georgetown (founded in 1751 and named for its co-founders and/or King George II), Tenley, and the village commonly known today as "Anacostia." In time, all of these communities were amalgamated to the City of Washington, which thus became coextensive with the District of Columbia so that a separate County of Washington was no longer needed, so it was abolished.
As constructed, Washington City was centered on its current area but ended at present-day Rock Creek Park on the west and Florida Avenue and Benning Road on the north. Florida Avenue was then called "Boundary Street."
In 1791–92, Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker surveyed the border of the District with both Maryland and Virginia, placing boundary stones at every mile point; many of these still stand.
The cornerstone of the White House, the first newly constructed building of the new capital, was laid on October 13, 1792.[9] That was the day after the first celebrations of Columbus Day in the United States.[10]
参考资料：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.