"W A S H I N G T O N - D. C." Washington D.C. by S_J_Miller

Washington D.C. Travel Guide: 5,535 reviews and 14,552 photos

W A S H I N G T O N - D. C. - Washington D.C.

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Washington, the capital of the United States, is located in and coterminous (as of 1878) with the District of Columbia, a federally owned enclave surrounded on three sides by Maryland and across the Potomac River from Arlington and Fairfax counties, Va.<BR>The city is the center of a metropolitan area that is the eighth most populous in the country.
Washington is divided along a north-south axis by Rock Creek, historically a barrier to east-west movement. Additions to the city's total land area--at present 179 sq km (69 sq mi)--have been made by adding landfill along the shores of the Potomac.
Washington has a temperate midlatitude climate with mean temperatures of 3 deg C (37 deg F) in January and 26 deg C (79 deg F) in July. Summers are hot and humid, and yearly precipitation totals nearly 1,016 mm (40 in).

<b>Contemporary City</b>

As the seat of the U.S. government, Washington plays a unique role both in national and international life. As the only major planned city in the country, it is also one of the eastern seaboard's most impressive. The central northwestern portion of the city, surrounding the Mall, is the focus of governmental activity and is defined by the structures housing the various units of government: the Capitol, atop Capitol Hill; the White House, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; the Supreme Court; the Library of Congress; the State Department; the Justice Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and many more.
Interspersed among these buildings are the Washington Monument (163 m/535 ft; 1884); the Lincoln (1922) and Jefferson (1943) memorials on either side of the Tidal Basin, around which a profusion of Japanese cherry trees flowers each spring; and the imposing neo-Gothic facade of the Smithsonian Institution. The Pentagon complex lies across the Potomac in Virginia adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery.

<b>History</b>

George Washington personally selected the site of the nation's permanent capital in 1791, and the government was officially transferred there in 1800. Located close to the geographic center of the original 13 colonies, the area allotted measured 259 sq km (100 sq mi) and encompassed the existing port towns of Alexandria and Georgetown. The land west of the Potomac was returned to Virginia in 1846.
Pierre Charles L'Enfant's design (1791) for the city, developed after 1801, was limited to the area south of the present Florida Avenue. It consisted of a physical framework for the siting of major government buildings (particularly the White House and Capitol) and a grid street pattern overlaid by broad radial avenues, with a series of squares and circles reserved for monuments.

The barely completed capital of the infant republic was captured and burned (1814) by the British during the War of 1812, but it was soon reconstructed. By 1860 its population was 61,100. Washington's first great period of development took place following the Civil War. The city's continuing growth, closely tied to the expansion of governmental functions, accelerated during the 1930s and particularly after World War II. The district's African American population, which averaged a quarter to a third of the city's total between 1870 and 1950, has since 1970 represented approximately three-quarters of the population, a trend reflecting the flight of the middle classes away from the urban center. The result is a capital city whose residential pattern is sharply divided along class and color lines.

Today, between the historic core Washington and its mid-20th-century suburbs, lie a somewhat dilapidated 19th-century city east of Rock Creek, occupied mostly by African Americans, and an early-20th-century city west of Rock Creek (which envelops the exclusive 18th-century and early-Federal Georgetown section), occupied largely by affluent whites. African American frustrations following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., led to major riots in Washington in 1968. The city also served as the national center for anti-Vietnam War activity during the 1960s and '70s, as well as for protests and demonstrations of every kind.

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Was also visiting 'The new Korean War Veterans Memorial' which lies in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, near the... more travel advice

Visit the Jefferson Memorial... - Washington D.C. Visit the Jefferson Memorial... Favorites (9)

Visit the Jefferson Memorial Building, another truly nice place to go. more travel advice

Seeing the Lincoln Memorial... - Washington D.C. Seeing the Lincoln Memorial... Favorites (9)

Seeing the Lincoln Memorial which was also a wonderful sight. more travel advice

Take a stroll to the... - Washington D.C. Take a stroll to the... Favorites (9)

Take a stroll to the Washington Building. Its very nice. Actually all the areas in D.C. are breathtaking in my opinion. more travel advice

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