18 Wacky Facts You Never Knew About Washington, D.C.

The district is only partly named for the first president

In 1791, George Washington chose 100 square miles of land, formerly of Maryland and Virginia, to be the final site for our nation’s capital. This entire district was named Columbia—a patriotic nickname for America that honored Christopher Columbus—and the new federal city added to the territory was called Washington, for good ol’ George. Georgetown and Alexandria were also cities included in the district.