The Flag of the District of Columbia

The Great Seal of the District of Columbia

The location of the District of Columbia in the United States of America

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to District of Columbia:

Washington, D.C., legally named the District of Columbia, in the United States of America, was founded on July 16, 1790, after the inauguration of City of Washington, the new capital of the country. The area given to District of Columbia, was originally 100 square miles (259 km²) ceded by the states of Maryland and Virginia in accordance with the Residence Act; however, in 1846, the retrocession of the District of Columbia, meant that the area of 31 square miles (80 km²) which was ceded by Virginia was returned,^[1] leaving 69 square miles (179 km²) of territory originally ceded by Maryland as the current area of the District in its entirety.^[2]

The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 effectively merged the City and the Territory into a single entity. It is for this reason that everything within its boundaries is legally the District of Columbia.

General reference

An enlargeable map of the United States District of Columbia

• Names
  • Common name: Washington, D.C.
  • Official name: District of Columbia
  • Abbreviations and name codes
    • Postal symbol: DC
    • ISO 3166-2 code: US-DC
    • Internet second-level domain: .dc.us
• Adjectivals:
  • District of Columbia
  • District
  • DC
• Demonym: Washingtonian

Geography of Washington, D.C.

• The District of Columbia is: The federal capital district of the United States of America
• Location
  • Northern hemisphere
  • Western hemisphere
    • Americas
      • North America
        • Anglo America
        • Northern America
          • United States of America
            • Contiguous United States
              • Eastern United States
                • East Coast of the United States – even though the District of Columbia does not include any coastline, it is generally considered to be part of the Eastern Seaboard region.
                  • Northeast megalopolis
                • Mid-Atlantic states
• Population of Washington, D.C.: 689,545 (2020 U.S. Census^[3])
• Area of Washington, D.C.: 63.8 mi sq

Subdivisions of Washington, D.C.

• District of Columbia's At-large congressional district
• District of Columbia census statistical areas

Quadrants of Washington, D.C.

Main article: Quadrants of Washington, D.C.

• Northwest, Washington, D.C.
• Northeast, Washington, D.C.
• Southeast, Washington, D.C.
• Southwest, Washington, D.C.

Neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.

Main article: Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C.

The District of Columbia is divided into eight wards and 37 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) within these wards.

Ward 1

Adams Morgan  • Columbia Heights  • Kalorama  • LeDroit Park  • Mount Pleasant  • Park View  • Pleasant Plains  • Shaw 

Ward 2

Burleith  • Downtown  • Dupont Circle  • Foggy Bottom  • Georgetown  • Sheridan Kalorama  • Logan Circle  • Mount Vernon Square  • Shaw  • West End 

Ward 3

American University Park  • Berkley  • Cathedral Heights  • Chevy Chase  • Cleveland Park  • Colony Hill  • Forest Hills  • Foxhall  • Friendship Heights  • Glover Park  • Kent  • Massachusetts Heights  • McLean Gardens  • North Cleveland Park  • Observatory Circle  • The Palisades  • Potomac Heights  • Spring Valley  • Tenleytown  • Wakefield  • Wesley Heights  • Woodland-Normanstone Terrace  • Woodley Park  (Part of the neighborhood is also in Ward 1)

Ward 4

DC neighborhoods map

Barnaby Woods  • Brightwood  • Brightwood Park  • Chevy Chase  (Part of the neighborhood is also in Ward 3) • Colonial Village  • Crestwood  • Fort Totten  • Hawthorne  • Manor Park  • Petworth  • Riggs Park  • Lamond-Riggs  • Shepherd Park  • Sixteenth Street Heights  • Takoma 

Ward 5

Arboretum  • Bloomingdale  • Brentwood  • Brookland  • Carver Langston  • Eckington  • Edgewood  • Fort Lincoln  • Fort Totten  (Part of the neighborhood is also in Ward 4) • Gateway  • Ivy City  • Riggs Park  (Part of the neighborhood is also in Ward 4) • Langdon  • Michigan Park  • North Michigan Park  • Pleasant Hill  • Stronghold/Metropolis View  • Trinidad  • Truxton Circle  • Woodridge 

Ward 6

Barney Circle  • Capitol Hill  • Chinatown  • Judiciary Square  • Kingman Park  • Navy Yard/Near Southeast  • Near Northeast  • Penn Quarter  • NoMa, Washington, D.C.  • Southwest Federal Center  • Southwest Waterfront  • Sursum Corda  • Swampoodle  • Union Station 

Ward 7

Benning Heights  • Benning Ridge  • Benning  • Burrville  • Capitol View  • Civic Betterment  • Deanwood  • Dupont Park  • Eastland Gardens  • Fairfax Village  • Fairlawn  • Fort Davis  • Fort Dupont  • Good Hope  • Grant Park  • Greenway  • Hillbrook  • Hillcrest  • Kenilworth  • Kingman Park  • Lincoln Heights  • Mahaning Heights  • Marshall Heights  • Mayfair  • Naylor Gardens  • Penn Branch  • Randle Highlands  • River Terrace  • Skyland  • Summit Park  • Twining 

Ward 8

Anacostia  • Barry Farm  • Bellevue  • Buena Vista  • Congress Heights  • Douglass  • Fairlawn  • Garfield Heights  • Knox Hill  • Shipley Terrace  • Washington Highlands  • Woodland 

Government and politics of Washington, D.C.

The District of Columbia is divided into 8 wards to elect councilmembers.

• Elections in the District of Columbia
• List of District of Columbia symbols

History of Washington, D.C.

• L'Enfant Plan
• District of Columbia retrocession
• Residence Act

History of the District of Columbia, by period

The location of the District of Columbia in the United States of America

• Indigenous peoples
• American Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783
  • United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
  • Treaty of Paris, September 3, 1783
• State of Maryland, (1776–1791)
• Commonwealth of Virginia, (1776–1791)
• District of Columbia since March 3, 1791
  • President George Washington signs An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States on July 16, 1790^[4]
  • President George Washington proclaims location of the district for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States on January 24, 1791^[5]
  • President George Washington signs An Act to amend "An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States" on March 3, 1791^[6]
  • President John Adams moves into new White House on November 1, 1800
  • Sixth United States Congress meets in new United States Capitol on November 17, 1800
  • War of 1812, June 18, 1812 – March 23, 1815
    • Burning of Washington, August 24–25, 1814
    • Treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814
  • Mexican–American War, April 25, 1846 – February 2, 1848
  • Retrocession of the District of Columbia, 1847
  • Know-Nothing Riot, 1857
  • American Civil War, April 12, 1861 – May 13, 1865
    • District of Columbia in the American Civil War
    • Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865
      • President Lincoln dies on April 15, 1865
  • Streetcars in the District of Columbia, 1862–1962
  • Assassination of President James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881
    • President Garfield dies on September 19, 1881
  • Protest marches on Washington, D.C. since 1894
  • McMillan Plan, 1901
  • United States Capitol shooting incident on March 1, 1954
  • Civil Rights Movement from December 1, 1955, to January 20, 1969
    • March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963
      • Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his I Have a Dream speech
    • President Lyndon Johnson signs the National Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965
  • Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, 1960–1961
  • District of Columbia riots of 1968
  • District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973
  • United States Senate bombing of 1983
  • United States Capitol shooting incident of 1998
  • Attacks on the United States, including the Pentagon, on September 11, 2001

Culture of Washington, D.C.

• Architecture of Washington, D.C.
  • Tallest buildings in Washington, D.C.
• Museums in Washington, D.C.
• People from Washington, D.C.
• Scouting in Washington, D.C.
• Symbols of the District of Columbia
  • Flag of the District of Columbia
  • Great Seal of the District of Columbia

Economy and infrastructure of Washington, D.C.

• Communications in Washington, D.C.
  • District of Columbia Public Library
  • Media in Washington, D.C.
    • Newspapers in Washington, D.C.
    • Radio stations in Washington, D.C.
    • Television stations in Washington, D.C.
  • Telephone service in Washington, D.C.
    • Area code 202
• Healthcare in Washington, D.C.
  • Hospitals in Washington, D.C.
• Transportation in Washington, D.C.
  • Metrobus
    • Metrobus routes in Washington, D.C.
  • Airports in Washington, D.C.: none
  • Rail transport in Washington, D.C.
    • Railroads in Washington, D.C.
    • Washington Metro
    • Baltimore-Washington D.C. Maglev (proposed project)
  • Roads in Washington, D.C.
    • Circles in Washington, D.C.
    • Washington, D.C. numbered highways
• Water in Washington, D.C.
  • Washington Aqueduct
  • District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
  • Lead contamination in Washington, D.C. drinking water

Education in Washington, D.C.

• Schools in Washington, D.C.
  • District of Columbia Public Schools
    • High schools in Washington, D.C.
  • Colleges and universities in Washington, D.C.

See also

• Topic overview:
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Index of Washington, D.C.-related articles
• All pages with titles beginning with District of Columbia
• All pages with titles beginning with Washington, D.C.
• All pages with titles beginning with Washingtonian
• All pages with titles containing District of Columbia
• All pages with titles containing Washington, D.C.
• All pages with titles containing Washingtonian

References

External links

Wikimedia Atlas of Washington, D.C.