Washington DC is not one of the 50 states. But it’s an important part of the U.S. The District of Columbia is the nation’s capital.
Congress established the federal district from land belonging to the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1790. The Virginia portion was returned in 1846, leaving a 177 square kilometer district.
President George Washington commissioned French-born architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant to design the new capital. L’Enfant had served alongside Washington in the Revolutionary War. But L’Enfant got into a squabble over the plans with city commissioners, who had Thomas Jefferson’s backing. Washington fired L’Enfant and brought in another architect, Andrew Ellicottto to finish the design.
In latest buzz, ABC and NBC news are identifying the alleged gunman in today's Washington, D.C. Capitol shooting as Larry Russell Dawson, of Antioch, Tenn.
Dawson was shot by a capitol police officer Monday afternoon after he reportedly set of a metal detector and pulled out a gun at the Capitol Visitors Center, which is between the House and Senate chambers. Read more at Masslive.com.
Tip! The United States is the third largest country in the world based on land area. There are different estimates showing the total land area of the country, but all of them show the country as being over 3.5 million square miles (9 million sq km). The Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook states that the total land area of the U.S. is 3,794,100 square miles (9,826,675 sq km).
The United States is broken down into 50 states and one district (Washington D.C.). Here is a list of all 50 states arranged by total area from largest to smallest shared by Geography.about.com.
Find the latest news on Washington DC on Twitter @washingtondc.