Washington, DC is a city and the capital of the United States of America. The official name - the District of Columbia, is an independent territory that is not part of any of the states. The city was founded in 1791 and named after George Washington, the first American president. Since 1871, Washington, along with Georgetown and a number of other areas, has been merged into the District of Columbia (DC), whose borders coincide with the city, so the Americans, not to confuse the city with the state of the same name in the northwest, in colloquial language it is usually called the city of "DC" or "Washington DC".
The city is located on the north bank of the Potomac River, bordering Virginia in the southwest and Maryland on all other sides. The permanent population of the city is 601,723 people; due to the arrival of suburban residents during the working week, it increases to one million. The population of the Washington metropolitan area, of which the city is a part, is 5.4 million; according to this indicator, the agglomeration ranks eighth in the country.
Washington is home to all three branches of federal government, including the residence of the President of the United States in the White House, as well as many monuments and museums of national importance. The city has 176 embassies, as well as the headquarters of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Pan American Health Organization.