Washington, the capital of the United States, was founded in 1791 in the District of Columbia. It was Washington who chose the place for the District.
Washington is not the largest city in the United States, it is not as large as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. It has a population of 900,000 people.
Washington is like no other city of the USA. You know that the flag of the USA, the "stars and stripes" has 50 stars on a blue background. Each of these stars represents one of the fifty states. But the city of Washington is not in any of those states. It belongs to all of them.
Washington is the seat of government of the nation. New York is a centre of finance, of shipping; New Orleans deals in cotton. Washington's only industry is government. It does not produce anything except very much scrap paper. Every day twenty-five railway cars leave Washington loaded with scrap paper. There is a law in Washington against building structures higher than the Capitol; therefore, it presents a different appearance from New York with its sky-scrapes.
Washington has many historical places. The White House, where the US President lives and works, the Capitol, the home of the US Congress and the Supreme Court are all in Washington. The Capitol is very high and beautiful, with white marble columns. It is the very centre of the city. Not far from the Capitol is the Library of Congress. It holds five million books.
Today Washington is the city, which attracts a lot of tourists by its fashionable hotels, restaurants and sightseeing attractions such as the house of the first president George Washington, the Lincoln Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the White House and others.
The White House, the residence of the president, is the oldest public structure in the capital and one of the most beautiful. All American presidents except George Washington had lived in the White House.