Washington, DC is located in the northeastern United States in the state of Maryland and covers an area of 177 square kilometers. About 20% of the urban area is green space. There are 3 rivers flowing through the territory of the capital of America: Potomac, Anacostia and Rock Creek. Another river, Tyber Creek, was turned into an underground river in 1870. To get to the Atlantic Ocean, you will have to overcome about 53 kilometers.
The permanent population of Washington is about 600 thousand people. You can say that this is the "weekend population". On weekdays, about 400 thousand people come here from the suburbs to work, so at this time Washington is a full-fledged city of millions. Taking into account the population of the agglomeration, about 5.4 million people live here.
Archaeologists claim that Native Americans lived here 4000 years ago. The first Europeans came here in the XVII century. At that time, there were several Indian villages on the territory of the future capital of the United States, which, in accordance with the plans of colonizers, had to be significantly displaced.
Modern Washington was founded in 1791. The status of the capital of the state was predetermined for it "from birth". According to the founders' plan, the capital of the United States should not belong to any of the states. Therefore, Washington is an independent territory with the official name of the District of Columbia.
Geographically, the boundaries of the District coincide with the boundaries of the city. Even the location of the city was chosen based on political considerations: the bickering over the location of the capital between the northern and southern states was won by the latter, paying part of the debts of the "northerners".
