Washington, District of Columbia. City and Business guide.

Welcome to Washington, District of Columbia.

Washington, D.C. is the capital city of the United States of America. "D.C." stands for the District of Columbia, the federal district containing the city of Washington. The city is named after George Washington, military leader of the American Revolution and the first President of the United States.

The District of Columbia and the city of Washington are coextensive and are governed by a single municipal government, so for most practical purposes they are considered to be the same entity (this was not always the case, though, as there were multiple jurisdictions within the district as late as 1871, when Georgetown ceased to be a separate city within the District). Although there is a municipal government and a mayor, Congress has the supreme authority over the city and district, which results in citizens having a different status and less representation in government than residents of the states.
The District of Columbia, founded on July 16, 1790, is a federal district as specified by the United States Constitution. The U.S. Congress has ultimate authority over the District of Columbia, though it has delegated limited local rule to the municipal government. The land forming the original District came from the states of Virginia and Maryland. However, the area south of the Potomac River (39 square miles or about 100 km²) was returned, or "retroceded", to Virginia in 1847 and now is incorporated into Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. After 1847, the remaining land that formed the area now known as the District of Columbia was formed exclusively from land that once belonged to Maryland.

Washington is home to numerous national landmarks and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States. The National Mall is a large, open area in the center of the city featuring many monuments to American leaders; it also serves to connect the White House and the United States Capitol buildings. Located prominently in the center of the Mall is the Washington Monument. Other notable points of interest near the Mall include the Jefferson Memorial (see right), Lincoln Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, National World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the District of Columbia War Memorial and the Albert Einstein Memorial.

D.C. has its own native music genre, called go-go, a post-funk, percussion-driven flavor of R&B that blends live sets with relentless dance rhythms, so-called because they "go and go and go." The most accomplished practitioner of go-go was D.C. bandleader Chuck Brown, who brought go-go to the brink of national recognition with his 1979 LP Bustin' Loose. Go-Go band and Washington natives Experience Unlimited hit the American pop charts in 1988 with their memorable dance tune "Da Butt" Other notable go-go bands include Rare Essence, Trouble Funk, Junkyard, Backyard, and Northeast Groovers.

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