Travel photography and stock images by Stephen Bay
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Photos of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., is the capital of the United States of America. The letters "D.C." refer to the District of Columbia which is a federal district separate from the fifty states and is governed directly by the U.S. Congress. The location of the city was chosen by George Washington and it was formed with land from Virginia and Maryland. Originally, the city was laid out as a diamond with each side ten miles long, however the area south of the Potomac river was eventually returned to Virginia.

Washington was designed by Pierre Charles L'enfant, a major in the U.S. army, in 1791. It is one of the few the cities in the world that was designed to be a capital city and as such has a unique layout that differs from other American cities. The first thing a visitor notices is the wide open areas and a complete lack of skyscrapers and other office buildings that can block the views. The streets are laid out in a grid, but they are interspersed with many diagonal avenues that intersect with circles and squares.

Washington D.C. is a popular destination for tourists as it is filled with many famous landmarks, such as the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. It is home to the three federal branches of the U.S. government (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial) and the city contains the headquarters of many government agencies. Finally, there are many national monuments, museums, and galleries to visit. This page contains 11 galleries with over 200 photos of Washington, D.C., including pictures of Arlington National Cemetery.


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