The reason why the capital of U.S.A is Washington D.C.
The capital of a country is usually the largest city in the country. Tokyo, Paris, Seoul, Bangkok, and etc. But the capital of U.S.A is Washington D.C. According to “Data book of the world” (published by Ninomiya shoten), the population of this city is about 600 thousand.
On the other hand, The largest city of U.S.A is New York City (population is about 8 million). The second largest city is Los Angeles (about 3.8 million), The third one is Chicago (about 2.7 million). Why Washington D.C, less than one tenth of NYC, is the capital of U.S.A? The reason is this nation is “United States” of America. Now I will unravel the history of the early United States from the perspective of the capital.
British People sailing the Atlantic Ocean
Christopher Columbus, the sailor, arrived at “Americas” in 1492. After this event, Spanish and Portuguese people started to explore the “New Continent”. However, it was Central and South America where they actively emigrated at first, because and the region was warm, and had big civilization (Aztec, and Inca).
North America was colder than Central and South America, and had no big kingdom, so European people emigrated there was late, in 17th Century, by mainly British people.
In the end of 16th century, kingdom of England became stronger by Queen Elizabeth I , and sailed to the New Continent establishing a company to add its wealth. Several British people who had problems of political strife or religion also sailed the Atlantic Ocean. “Pilgrim Fathers” who had religion problem and crossed the ocean with “Mayflower” was especially famous. They arrived at the New Continent in 1620, and built Plymouth of Massachusetts.
Immigrants built 13 colonies in a harsh climate, sometimes with the help of Native American, sometimes with the attack to them. These colonies’ founders and purposes were different each other, had nothing in common without they were British people built, and independent one each other.
From Tea-Party to Independence
In 18th century, Great Britain and France fought again and again. The battle was among of colony in America of both countries too. And the government of Britain raised tax to run colonies without the voice of colonists. So the colonists of America protested against Britain. The phrase “No taxation without representation” and “Boston Tea Party” the incident against to “Tea Act” in 1773 were especially famous.
At this time, more than 100 years had already passed since the establishment of the colony, many people had never seen their homeland, Britain. These people had little patriotism to Britain, some even advocated independence from this homeland. Thus the American Revolutionary War of Independence began in 1775, and Britain had recognized the independence in 1781.
The 13 colonies cooperated during this war, and the colonies were changed states after independence of U.S.A. Since present day, every state of U.S.A has far higher authority than the prefecture of Japan, for example, the existence of capital punishment or not, rate of tax and etc. It is because the states were originally an independent colony.
In Japan, “States” of U.S.A was translated “shu”, it means “province”, but its meaning is similar to “nation”. In U.S.A. the authority of every state is high level, like the independent nation.
What is “D.C” ?
However, the Central Government was necessary to hold 13 states together. If the unity was lost, Britain would invade again to destroy this young nation. Then a problem caused where should put the Central Government. Putting a government in a particular state, say New York, might make political decisions in its favor.
Then, a new city was built at “where was not belong to any states”, and became capital putting the Central Government. The name of city was “Washington”, from the hero of the American Revolutionary War of Independence, and the first president of this country. The formal name of this city is “Washington D.C / District of Columbia”. In this case, the meaning of “District” is “not belong to any states”.
After independence, the area of U.S.A expanded westward, and new states were built one after another. At present there are 50 states in this country. One of them, State of “Washington” also exists, but it is a generic state not directly related to Washington DC.
(Washington D.C. No large building)
For these reasons, Washington D.C. became a city dedicated to American administration. So there are less headquarters of big company, or huge factories than other cities, and the population did not increase so much.
(New York City with a lot of skyscrapers)
In contrast, the city developed as an economic center is New York City, also a historical port town. Many big companies were concentrated there, and many immigrants landed on this city. New York City inevitably had the character of a concentration of people.
A difference of population between Washington D.C and New York City is caused by the difference of character between both cities. The “division” between the “center of administration” and the “center of economy” created the capital that has a character different from Tokyo and Paris. We can discover the historical feature of U.S.A. in this difference.
