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Washington, DC

Capital of the USA, on the Potomac River; the world's first planned national capital. It was named Washington, DC, to distinguish it from Washington state, and because it is coextensive with the District of Columbia, hence DC; population (2000 est) 572,100; metropolitan area extending outside the District of Columbia (2000 est) 7,608,100. The District of Columbia, the federal district of the USA, is an area of 158 sq km/61 sq mi. Its site was chosen by President George Washington, and the first structures date from 1793. It became the seat of government in 1800, taking over from Philadelphia, and houses the national executive, legislative, and judicial government of the USA; it is also a centre for international diplomacy and finance. Federal and district government are key employers. Public, trade, business, and social organizations maintain a presence, as well as law and other service agencies. Tourism is a major industry.

Land for the federal district was ceded by Maryland (1788) and Virginia (1789). From 1791 the city was designed and partly laid out by French architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant, whose work was completed by Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker. Congress first convened in the Capitol on 1 December 1800; the building has been built, burnt, rebuilt, extended, and restored since then.

Features

National monuments and buildings include the Capitol (1819–60), the Library of Congress (1886–97), the Pentagon (1941–43), the White House (1792–99; rebuilt after 1814), the Supreme Court (1935), the Jefferson Memorial (1943), the Lincoln Memorial (1927), the J Edgar Hoover Federal Bureau of Investigation Building (1974), the Washington Monument (1884), the Smithsonian Institution (1849), the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982), and the Korean War Veterans Memorial (1995). Seven universities and numerous cultural centres are located in the city, including the National Gallery of Art (1941), the National Air and Space Museum (1976), and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (1993).

Design and foundation The District of Columbia was chosen by Congress in 1790. The federal capital was politically neutralized; residents were allowed one, non-voting representative in Congress, and could not vote in a presidential election until the Twenty-Third Amendment

was passed in 1961. Its location on the Maryland–Virginia border, near the head of navigation on the Potomac River, was selected by George Washington as being midway between the main regional groupings of north and south, and accessible by sea. Land for the swampy, 16 sq km/10 sq mi site was ceded from Maryland and Virginia (although the Virginia portion was returned in 1846). It was originally named Federal City, but renamed in honour of the first president of the

USA. Washington, DC was planned from the first as a great capital worthy of a new nation, although the population of the USA in the 1790s was small and the new federal regime virtually bankrupt. L'Enfant, the architect commissioned to lay out the city, envisaged an eventual population of 750,000, although the population remained below 5,000 for the first 20 years. The plan covered an area of some 5 sq km/2 sq mi, bounded by the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, and concentrated on spaciousness and long vistas. A large number of diagonal avenues intersecting with each other at ‘circles’ were imposed on a basic gridiron of streets. During the War of 1812, the British invaded the city in 1814 and burned the White House and the Capitol. During the 19th century Washington became a beautiful and impressive city of wide avenues, white stone and marble, and over 300 statues or memorials. Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Capitol, is the city's ceremonial street. Building height in the DC area is restricted.

Monuments and architecture The most prominent feature of L'Enfant's plan was the setting of the Capitol on raised ground overlooking the 3.5-km/2-mi Mall, a grass-covered vista stretching west to the Potomac, and flanked by government and Smithsonian Museum buildings. The present structure was begun in 1818, but not completed until the 1860s. The Greek-style Supreme Court Building (1935) and Library of Congress are situated in front of the Capitol. The first separate Library of Congress Building, the Jefferson Building, was suggested by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford in 1871, authorized in 1886, and completed in 1897. The White House, the presidential residence and office, was begun in 1792, and rebuilt after 1814; it was first occupied by John Adams. The president's staff are housed in the Executive Office Building (1871–88). The red-brick Smithsonian Institution was designed in the style of a Norman castle. Monuments to three presidents are situated on the Mall: the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and the Washington Monument, a 169 m/555 ft-high obelisk.

The US Navy Memorial and African-American Civil War Memorial (1998) are also situated in the city. The Arlington National Cemetery, which contains the former home of General Robert E Lee, and is the burial place of the Unknown Soldier and President John F Kennedy, is now surrounded by federal buildings. The Pentagon, a five-sided building arranged around a pentagonal court, houses the Defense Department, and is one of the largest office buildings in the world. It was badly damaged in 2001 when a hijacked aircraft was crashed into its northeast wall as part of a

coordinated terrorist attack on the USA, which also saw the World Trade Center in New York destroyed in a similar way. The most notable religious foundations are St John's Church (1816), the Roman Catholic National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (1959), and the Episcopal Washington National Cathedral, completed in 1990. A bronze statue of former president Franklin D Roosevelt was unveiled in 2001.

Arts and institutions Washington is a major cultural and historic centre. The National Gallery of Art (1941), with the East Building designed by Chinese-born US architect I M Pei, and the National Collection of Fine Arts are sited here. The Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1846, administers the largest complex of museums in the world; it includes the National Air and Space Museum (1976), the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1974), the Smithsonian American Art Museum (1968, though the collection dates from 1907), the National Museum of Natural History (1910), the National Museum of American History (1964), the Freer Gallery of Art (1923), the Smithsonian Quadrangle (1987), containing the National Museum of African Art (1979, relocated 1987) and the Arthur M Sackler Gallery (1987), a collection of Asian art, and the National Museum of the American Indian (1989, with a new building scheduled to open in 2004). Other museums include the Ford Theatre Museum, where US president Abraham Lincoln was shot in 1865, the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1871), which concentrates mainly on US art; the Lincoln Theatre (1920); the Phillips Collection (1921), containing 19th- and 20th-century works; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts (1987). The Folger Shakespeare Library (1932) has the largest collection of works by and about Shakespeare in the world, with over 280,000 items. Dumbarton Oaks has outstanding displays of Byzantine and pre-Columbian art, and formal gardens.

Most of the cultural organizations of the USA maintain headquarters in Washington. Specialized bodies such as the National Geographic Society or the American Association for the Advancement of Science supplement the immense resources of the Library of Congress. The National Archives Building (1935) holds the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

Educational institutions Foundations include Georgetown University (1789), the oldest Jesuit college in the USA; George Washington University (1821); Howard University, opened for black students in 1867; University of America (1889); the Catholic University of America (1889); American University (1893); and Trinity College (1897).

Entertainment Washington, DC has a professional American football team, the Washington Redskins. The National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Within city limits, open spaces include the parks along the Mall and the Potomac, the National Arboretum, and areas surrounding such institutions as the US Soldiers' Home and the Naval Observatory. The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1971.

Local government From 1874 Congress appointed commissioners to govern the District of Columbia, and it was not until 1967 that ‘home rule’ was established. The 1973 Home Rule Act gave further self-government to the district. The actions of the council are restricted and may be vetoed by Congress, which retains ultimate authority in the District of Columbia, and may institute laws concerning its conduct. Its budget is reviewed by Congress, and a federal payment is made to compensate for the absence of property tax revenues on federal property. In 1995 the city faced bankruptcy, partly because of the inflation of city government payrolls and the migration of residents to the suburbs. A presidential appointment of a DC Financial Control Board and a chief financial officer appointed by the mayor resulted. Because Washington, DC is not a state, residents cannot have voting representatives in Congress, and have only one nonvoting representative.

Communications Low building profiles and the open spaces of the old city plan have caused the city to expand over a wide area, bringing problems of intra-urban movement. The metro system, built from the late 1970s, extends into the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Three airports serve the city: Washington National, Dulles International, and Baltimore–Washington International.

Economy Government and tourist services are the main occupations; the city attracts 15–20 million visitors a year. The government workforce declined in the 1990s – in 1994 and 1995 9,800 federal government jobs were lost, as well as 6,800 district jobs. International financial institutions include the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Manufacturing makes a small contribution to the economy; apart from local supply industries, the major manufacturing activity is printing and publishing.

Population and social issues The city has been subject to periodic surges of population growth throughout its history. After the American Civil War the population rose from less than 52,000 in 1850 to over 132,000 in 1870; mostly the result of black migrants seeking sanctuary from the racial oppression of the South. By 1900 the city had broken the boundaries of the L'Enfant plan, extending particularly to the north, and the population had grown to 250,000. During the two world wars and the New Deal era of the 1930s, federal government activity increased enormously, requiring an even larger workforce. Since World War II the metropolitan suburbs of Maryland and Virginia have expanded at the expense of the city centre; in 1940 about 70% of the metropolitan population lived in the District of Columbia, but by 1990 its share was down to 16%. Hispanic, Asian, and African-Americans now make up the majority of city residents, with African-Americans accounting for 60%. The divided administration of the District of Columbia and unusually mobile population have rendered financial and concerted planning difficult. Inner-city problems, such as crime, poor housing, and high levels of unemployment and illiteracy, are not yet under control. There were major civil-rights marches in the 1960s, and riots in 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King. In 1995 almost half the District's 116,000 children lived in poverty with 2,500 in foster care.

War memorial In 2001 US president George W Bush signed legislation to build a World War II monument on the National Mall. The monument, taking up one-third of its 3-ha/7.4-acre site, will be a circle of granite pillars representing the US states and territories. It will also have two four-storey arches as symbols of victory in Europe and Asia. The cost was estimated to be about US$160 million, and by May some US$150 million had already been received in private donation pledges. However, some critics claimed the large memorial would obstruct the Mall's long open views.

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