<Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> www.dc.gov </Td> </Tr> <P> 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 . </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 681,170 as of July 2016 . Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's 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>

What two states donated land for the nations capital the district of columbia