Page 247 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Washington, D.C.
Federal District
Washington, District of Columbia, on the borders of Maryland and Virginia, is not a state in the way that others are, but as many people expect to find information about D.C. in a book of state capitals, her is a short summery. American Learning Library has a book on Washington D.C., so look there if you want detail.
For thousands of years, the land beside the Potomac River that is now Washington D.C. was home to the Algonquian-speaking people known as the Nacotchtank.
The site of the District of Columbia was chosen by President George Washington. It was not an obviously promising site, because it was forested swamp, but it was just below the Fall Line on the Potomac, the place where boats could not reach further rip river and had to unload and portage their goods around the Great Falls of the Potomac.
The first colonial landowners of the site were George Thompson and Thomas Gerrard, who were granted a tract
of land in 1662. In 1697, the Maryland colonial government built a fort on the site because there were already skirmishes between the new settlers and the Native Americans over who should use the land.
Georgetown was the first settlement, started in 1751. Alexandria, Virginia was founded in 1749. Warehouses, wharves, and other buildings were constructed to handle
the tobacco and other plantation products coming from
the surrounding lands and being shipped overseas. The Old Stone House, Georgetown, was built in 1765 and is the oldest standing building in the District.
After the Revolutionary War, it was an early ambition
of Washington to have a capital central to the original 13 colonies. At first, Philadelphia was used as a capital, as it was the largest city in the colonies. But it was seen as important that the federal capital be independent of any state.
Mary land and Virginia both agreed to give up a small part of their land for the new federal capital. This new site was, in fact, also close to where Washington owned a plantation, which may have had something to do with it.
The final site included the ports of Georgetown and Alexandria. It was then agreed to name the federal
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