Washington, D.C.
capital city of the United States of America
Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington, is the federal capital city of the United States, and its only federal district.
The city stands on the north-east bank of the Potomac River, across from the state of Virginia, surrounded by Maryland to its north, east, and south. The district was named for Columbia, the female personification of the American nation, through which human form and attributes are applied to the United States. "Washington" is a more recent addition to the city's common name, and is from the name of George Washington, the first U.S. president.
The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress, which would become a constituent part of the Union that is not part of any state or territory. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River, and is considered the city's founding date. In 1800, when the capital was moved from Philadelphia, the 6th Congress started meeting in the then-unfinished Capitol Building, and the second president, John Adams, moved into the newly finished White House. In 1801, the District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria, was officially made the federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger district. In 1846, Congress reduced the size of the district when it returned the land that Virginia had ceded, including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it made the entire district into a single municipality.
“Washington, D.C.” enters the record as capital city of the United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Washington, capital and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Washington, D.C.” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Washington, capital and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q61. The first chronological checks are 1789, 1790, 1800 and 1801.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Washington, D.C.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.