No, this post is not going to be about the shootings there.

But, when I was listening to the news I decided to sit down at my computer and finally find out something that's perplexed me for years.

What is the difference, geographically speaking, between the city of Washington DC, and the District of Columbia?

When I Google "District of Columbia", I get a map of a square-ish looking chunk of ground on the border between Maryland and Virginia.

When I Google "Washington", I get a map of a square-ish looking chunk of ground on the border between Maryland and Virginia.

There is only one map for both the City of Washington DC and for the District of Columbia.

And, it occurs to me that the only way that could happen is if the entire District of Columbia was covered by city of Washington DC.

I always envisioned the District of Columbia to be an area with the city of Washington inside it, much like Winnipeg is a city inside the much larger province of Manitoba. In this case, we have what appears to be the whole District of Columbia covered by the city of Washington, DC.

So that just creates more questions for me...
Does the city of washington extend past the borders of the District of Columbia, and if so, are there also the Cities of Washington, Maryland and Washington, Virginia which are part of the same city, but outside the District of Columbia?

If someone lives in the City of Washington, but outside of the borders of the District of Columbia, would their mailing address still be "Washington, DC"?

I was always confused by the fact that you guys have one map for both the City of Washington, DC and the District of Columbia, and I can't fit it in my head that the city is going to stop and suddenly turn into farmland right on the border of the District of Columbia.

Does anyone in here live near Washington?