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The Smithsonian on the National Mall is one of America's great educational institutions. It has over twenty component exhibitions, the best known of which are the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, The American History Museum, the American Indian Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum. The Smithsonian is also the parent organization of the Nationalk Zoo, and is affiliated with dozens of other museums and exhibits around the United States.

The Smithsonian Institution was a gift of James Smithson, a British scientist, “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of 'The Smithsonian Institution,' an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,” as stated in his last will and testament. The reasons behind Smithson's gift are unknown; he never visited the United States and apparently had no close American friends. Nevertheless, he must have had some feeling for the principles on which the United states was founded, and his gift has enlightened not only Americans but thousands of visitors who come to Washington every year from overseas.

Smithson's gift, worth about half a million dollars at the time, was accepted by President Andrew Jackson. In 1846 Congress permanently established the Smithsonian Institution.