No, I totally get the part that the city of Washington has both a municipal government (presumably it has a mayor and a city hall and city councillors) as well as a federal government (with the White House as the "head office" of the Federal Government). I was always just hung up on the geography.

OK, so if I understand this correctly, the following statements are all true:

1. Originally, the city of Washington was a urban center much smaller than the District of Columbia, but over the 200 years or whatever since the District of Columbia was established, the city of Washington has grown to cover the entire District of Columbia. This is why the map of the city of Washington is the same as the map of the District of Columbia.

2. The city of "Washington" exists only inside the perimeter of the District of Columbia border.

3. All urban development outside the perimeter of the District of Columbia are suburbs of the city of Washington either in Maryland or Virginia; such as Bethesda, Maryland where the famous military hospital is, or Arlington, Virginia where the famous military cemetary is.

That makes sense to me now.

I've never been further East than Toronto, Ontario, and I can count the number of major US cities I've been in on the fingers of one hand. (I'm not counting Grand Forks, North Dakota as a major city.) But, Washington and the District of Columbia were always confusing to me because maps would label the same chunk of land as being both Washington, D.C. and the District of Columbia, and the only way that could make sense was if the city covered the entire District, but I wasn't sure if it did or not, or that's what the map makers meant or not.

Thanks all.