Washington DC, brief summary.

On my last trip I mentioned that I had driven through Washington DC. The following are just a few facts which not a lot of of people including Americans know.

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, founded on July 16, 1790.

Washington D.C does not belong to any State nor is it a State itself.

The city 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 District has a resident population of 591,833; however, because of commuters from the surrounding suburbs, its population rises to over one million during the workweek.

The United States Congress has supreme authority over Washington, D.C

The District has a total area of 68.3 square miles (177 km2), of which 61.4 square miles (159 km2) is land and 6.9 square miles (18 km2) (10.16%) is water.

Washington, D.C. was designed by Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant around 1791. It was the first American city planned for a specific purpose. It was designed to be a beautiful city with wide streets and many trees.

The White House stands at 18ft above sea level.

The International Spy Museum can be found in D.C and is the first and only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage and the only one in the world to provide a global perspective on this all-but-invisible profession.