Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as "Washington", "the District", or simply "D.C.", is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state.

The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia; in 1871, it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the District.

Washington had an estimated population of 672,228 as of July 2015. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the seventh-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country.

Southwest, Washington, D.C.

Southwest (SW or S.W.) is the southwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located south of the National Mall and west of South Capitol Street. It is the smallest quadrant of the city. Southwest is small enough that it is frequently referred to as a neighborhood in and of itself. However, it actually contains five separate neighborhoods.

Geography

Southwest is actually composed of five neighborhoods:

Southeast, Washington, D.C.

Southeast (SE or S.E.) is the southeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located south of East Capitol Street and east of South Capitol Street. It includes the Capitol Hill and Anacostia neighborhoods, the Navy Yard, the U.S. Marine Barracks, the Anacostia River waterfront, Eastern Market, the remains of several Civil War-era forts, historic St. Elizabeths Hospital, RFK Stadium, Nationals Park, and the Congressional Cemetery. It is also contains a landmark known as "The Big Chair," located on Martin Luther King Avenue. The quadrant is bisected by the Anacostia River, with the portion that is west of the river sometimes referred to as "Near Southeast".

Government

Politically, Southeast includes most of Ward 8, as well as much of Wards 6 and 7. Marion Barry, the former mayor of Washington, D.C., served as D.C. Council Member for Ward 8 until his death on November 23, 2014.

Culture

Nationals Park, the current ballpark for Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals, opened in Southeast in March 2008.

Northeast, Washington, D.C.

Northeast (NE or N.E.) is the northeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It encompasses the area located north of East Capitol Street and east of North Capitol Street.

Northeast includes the neighborhoods of

A significant section of Capitol Hill is also located in Northeast, as is part of NoMa. The population of Northeast is predominantly African-American, particularly east of the Anacostia River.

Politically, Northeast includes most of Ward 5, much of Wards 6 and 7, and parts of Ward 4.

Landmarks

Northeast is home to Gallaudet University, a federally chartered private university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing located in the Trinidad neighborhood. It is also home to The Catholic University of America and Trinity Washington University, two of the Catholic institutions which give the Brookland neighborhood its nickname of "Little Rome" or "Little Vatican." Others include the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, the Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery, and the headquarters of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Northwest, Washington, D.C.

Northwest (NW or N.W.) is the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located north of the National Mall and west of North Capitol Street. It is the largest of the four quadrants of the city (NW, NE, SW and SE), and it includes the central business district, the Federal Triangle, and the museums along the northern side of the National Mall, as well as such neighborhoods as West End, Petworth, Dupont Circle, LeDroit Park, Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Embassy Row, Glover Park, Tenleytown, Foggy Bottom, Cleveland Park, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, the Palisades, Shepherd Park, Crestwood, Bloomingdale, Takoma and Friendship Heights.

Northwest contains many college campuses, including American University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Howard University, and the University of the District of Columbia. The Verizon Center, home of the Washington Wizards, the Washington Capitals, and the Georgetown Hoyas as well as the venue for many concerts and other events, is located in Northwest, as are the National Cathedral, the White House, and Rock Creek Park.

Washington, D.C. (novel)

Washington, D. C. by Gore Vidal is the sixth in his Narratives of Empire series of historical novels (although the first one published, in 1967). It begins in 1937 and continues into the Cold War, tracing the families of Senator James Burden Day and influential newspaper publisher Blaise Sanford.

This book is the least historical and most novelistic of any of the seven books. The Golden Age, the seventh book in the series, takes place during nearly the same span of years with many of the same characters, and needed to be written around the events of Washington D.C.

The novel is written in the third person and is inspired by the novels of Henry James.

References

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DC, D.C., Dc, or dc may refer to:

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