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Washington, D.C.
What is the full name of Washington, D.C., and what states border it?
The full name is the District of Columbia.Maryland borders Washington, D.C., to the north, east, and west, andVirginiaborders D.C. on the southern shore of thePotomac River.
What is the Home Rule Act and how does it impact how Washington, D.C., is governed?
Since 1973, Washington, D.C., has been governed a system known as “home rule” that allowed D.C. residents to elect a mayor and a city council. The council is empowered to set tax rates and the budget as well as organize or abolish any agency of the District’s government. Congress, however, retains the right to veto any actions by the District government that threaten “federal interest,” and the budgets that are passed by the council and approved by the mayor have to be reviewed and enacted by Congress.
What are the implications of Section 740 of the Home Rule Act?
Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows the president to federalize the D.C. police department, which is known as the Metropolitan Police. Specifically, Section 740 says: “whenever the President of the United States determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes, he may direct the Mayor to provide him, and the Mayor shall provide, such services …”
The president must notify Congress of the action within 48 hours, which can stay in place for up to 30 days. In August 2025, Pres.Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to invoke Section 740. The emergency he cited was “total lawlessness” within the District of Columbia, despite the fact that crime rates that have declined since spiking during theCOVID-19 pandemic.
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Washington, D.C., city and capital of theUnited States of America. It is coextensive with the District of Columbia (the city is often referred to as simply D.C.) and is located on the northern shore of thePotomac River at the river’s navigation head—that is, the transshipment point between waterway and land transport. The state ofMaryland borders the District of Columbia to the north, east, and west, and the state ofVirginia borders the District on the southern shore of the Potomac River.
In 1790 theU.S. Congress established a 100-square-mile (260-square-km)territory to serve as the permanent seat of the federal government. (The territory was later named the District of Columbia, within which the city of Washington was built.) The location for the new territory was centralized among theEastern Seaboard states and was about 90 miles (145 km) inland from theAtlantic Ocean on land ceded by Maryland and Virginia. In the mid-19th century the land south of the Potomac River that had been ceded by Virginia was returned to the state, reducing the District to its present-day size.
After theAmerican Civil War (1861–65), the city of Washington expanded beyond its originally planned boundaries and became legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia. Washington, D.C., remains a territory,not a state, and since 1974 it has been governed by a locally elected mayor and city council over which Congress retains the power of veto. The Washington metropolitan area covers nearly 4,000 square miles (10,360 square km) andencompasses 10 counties, 5 in Maryland (Montgomery,Prince George’s,Frederick,Charles, andCalvert) and 5 in Virginia (Arlington,Fairfax, Loudoun, Stafford, and Prince William). Area District, 68 square miles (176 square km). Pop. (2000) 572,059; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Division, 3,727,565; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Area, 4,796,183; (2010) 601,723; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Division, 4,377,088; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Area, 5,582,170.
Character of the city
Washington is an extraordinary city, one with multiple personalities: a working federal city, an international metropolis, a picturesque tourist destination, an unmatched treasury of the country’s history andartifacts, and acosmopolitan center that retains a neighborly small-townambience. The role Washington plays as the capital of the United States often overshadows its lively local history and its complex political, economic, and social issues. About half the land in Washington is owned by the U.S. government, which pays no taxes on it. Several hundred thousand people in the D.C.metropolitan area work for the federal government.
During the last half of the 20th century, “suburban flight” of the middle class contributed to the city’s loss of more than one-fourth of its population. As new jobs, especially those in the high-technology industries, were created in Maryland and Virginia, the population of thesuburbs increased as much as 50 percent per decade. By the first decade of the 21st century, however, Washington’s population began to increase as younger workers moved into revitalized city neighborhoods. Despite these shifts in population, the economies of the District and those of nearby Maryland and Virginia remain interdependent.
Landscape
City site
The city of Washington was built on a gently undulating, low, wide peninsula of land bounded by the Potomac River and its tributary, the Anacostia, in the belief that the location would develop into an important commercial port. (Potomac is an Algonquian word meaning “trading place,” andAnacostia is derived from the name of a local people, the Nacostines, who traded on that river.) Encircling the city are a series ofterraces that in certain areas rise to about 400 feet (120 metres) abovesea level, where Washington’s neighbourhoods were gradually built. Part of a shallow, long ravine—what is nowRock Creek Park—separated Washington from the old port city ofGeorgetown; development to the north and west of this ravine was slow until the end of the 19th century, when the ravine was bridged andpublic transportation was made available.
- D.C. in full:
- District of Columbia
Climate
Washington has a temperate climate with high humidity levels. Precipitation throughout the year is evenly distributed, averaging between 3 and 4 inches (75 and 100 mm) per month. Winters are damp, and extremes in temperature and heavy snowfalls are not typical. The infrequent wet, light snow often melts quickly, as average winter daytime temperatures are in the mid-30s F (about 2 °C); however, freezing temperatures at night can quickly change the melted snow to ice. In the summer brief periods of high temperatures are common, often accompanied bydense humidity. The average summer daytime temperatures are in the mid-70s F (about 24 °C), but highs above 100 °F (about 39 °C) can occur. Spring and autumn are pleasantly mild and tend to be longer than summer and winter.
