<Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> dc.gov </Td> </Tr> <P> Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C., is the capital of the United States of America . Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father . Washington is the principal city of the Washington metropolitan area, which has a population of 6,131,977 . Washington has been described as an important political capital, owing to its status as the seat of the United States federal government . Washington is one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million annual tourists . </P> <P> The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast . The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state . The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria . Named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital . In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia; in 1871, it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the District . </P> <P> Washington had an estimated population of 693,972 as of July 2017 . Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek . The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is the principal city, has a population of over 6 million, the sixth - largest metropolitan statistical area in the country . </P>

When did washington dc become the us capital