Washington D.C Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Washington D.C - Essay Example The population of the District of Columbia was 582,049 persons, as of 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimates . The great in-migration of professionals from all over the U.S. to the Washington, DC area over the past century makes meeting a native-born Washingtonian a rare occasion in some settings. The Washington Metropolitan Area’s population is recorded as 6,256,400 persons as of year 2005 ACS, whereas the population of Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area has been recorded as 8 million in the year 2005. [01] According to the census held in 1860, Washington remained as a small city with its population of just over 75,000 persons until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. The significant expansion of the federal government to administer the war and its legacies such as veterans' pensions led to notable growth in the city's population. By 1870, the District population had grown to nearly 132,000. The District's population peaked in 1950, when the census for that year recorded a record population of 802,178 people. [02] Social Geography: Social geography can be defined as the study of how society affects geographical features, and how environmental factors affect the society. Thus, it becomes very important to look at some geographical features of the Washington D.C. before attempting to get into the details of its social geography. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 68.3 square miles (177.0 km). 61.4 square miles (159.0 km) of it is land and 6.9 square miles (18.0 km) of it (10.16%) is water. Washington is surrounded by the states of Maryland (on its southeast, northeast, and northwest sides) and Virginia (on its western side); it interrupts those states' common border, which is the Potomac River's southern shore both upstream and downstream from the District. The Potomac River as it passes Washington is virtually entirely within the District of Columbia border because of colonial riparian rights between Maryland and Virginia. As of 2002, the federal government accounts for 27% of Washington, D.C.'s jobs.4 The presence of many major government agencies, including the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration, has led to business development both in the District itself as well as in the National Capital Region of Maryland an d northern Virginia. [03] Immigrant Trends in Metropolitan Washington: The Washington metropolitan area has emerged during the past 30 years as a new focus of immigrant settlement in the U.S. In 2000, the region ranked seventh5 among all U.S. metropolitan areas for its number of foreign-born residents in 2000. With 832,016 immigrants counted in Census 2000, the capital region lines up behind the major immigrant gateways of metropolitan Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Miami in terms of size, and falls closely into line with Houston and Orange County, CA. The Washington metropolitan area attracted 575,000 immigrants between 1980 and 2000 and has become a major destination for immigrants to the United States. By 2000, 832,016 immigrants made up some 17 percent of the region's population, making