Washington DC is not a state, but an administrative district created specially to avoid having the capital city in any one State. The ‘DC’ in the name stands for ‘District of Columbia’. The District is located on the north bank of the Potomac River and is bordered by the states of Virginia to the southwest and Maryland to the other sides. The city has a resident population of over 600,000, but with commuters from the surrounding suburbs, its population rises to over one million during the workweek. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District is a part, has a population of 5.4 million, the eighth-largest metropolitan area in the country.

This is one of the most visited cities in the world, as many come to see the White House, where the President of the United States resides and other tourist attractions like the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery, which has over 250,000 buried in it, including JFK. Also, many of the prominent monuments and museums are located in the city.

Washington DC is the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are located in the District. The city also has over 170 foreign embassies, the headquarters of the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund can be found in Washington DC. This is the capital of the U.S., but there are so many things to do and see in the city and it’s a must of any person monuments and historical and informative museums. For more information on the Washington, DC Convention and Tourism Corporation go to www.washington.org