Washington, D.C. was the capital of the United States of America before Doomsday. Formally known as the District of Columbia, Washington itself was a separate municipality within the territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 merged it with the territory into an entity called the District of Columbia. Washington was informally known as Washington; the District; or D.C. The D.C. area was hit with multiple nuclear weapons on Doomsday. It has long been held by nearly all observers that Washington was one of the most heavily targeted regions in the entire world.