DELAWARE

The Middle Atlantic region. constituent state of the United States of America, lying in the Middle Atlantic region of the eastern United States. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania; to the east by New Jersey, Delaware Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the south and west by Maryland. The capital is Dover. Delaware is named for Thomas West, 12th Baron De La Warr, an early governor of Virginia. Its first permanent white settlement was made by a group of Swedes at Fort Christina, now Wilmington, in 1638. New Sweden was taken in 1655 by the Dutch of New Amsterdam and then in 1664 by the English. Delaware was thereafter a part of New York until 1682, when it was ceded to William Penn, who wanted an outlet to the ocean for his colony of Pennsylvania. In 1701 Pennsylvania gave Delaware the right to establish its own assembly, which first met in 1704. In 1787 Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Delaware was a border state during the American Civil War; slavery was legal, but secession was never an issue. Delaware is located on the Atlantic Coastal Plain and is the most low-lying state, except for Florida, in the United States. Most of the coastal plain is fertile and level, seldom more than 60 feet (18 metres) above sea level. It becomes increasingly sandy to the south. The state's climate is humid and temperate. The average daily temperature in northern Delaware varies from 86 F (30 C) in July to 23 F (-5 C) in January. The annual average precipitation is nearly 45 inches (1,140 mm). Delaware is the nation's second smallest state but one of its most densely populated. By 1980 more than half the state's population lived outside the city of Wilmington but within 15 miles (24 km) of it. Poultry raising is the major agricultural activity, though soybeans, corn (maize), lima beans, and asparagus are grown. There is some fishing of coastal and inland waters. Manufacturing, with a heavy concentration in chemicals, and services, including banking and tourism, are the major enterprises. Chief chemical products are pigments, nylon, and petrochemicals. Many corporations have their headquarters in the state. One of Delaware's most important transportation arteries is the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which has been deepened and straightened for ocean shipping. It shortens the water route between Philadelphia and Baltimore by several hundred miles. The canal is popularly considered to be the boundary between agricultural downstate Delaware and the northern industrial region. Northwestern Delaware lies in the important New YorkPhiladelphiaBaltimoreWashington, D.C., corridor. The state abounds in historical sites, including Old Swedes Church, a 1698 Lutheran church (now Episcopalian) in Wilmington. The Wilmington area also has several museums, including the Delaware Art Museum. The University of Delaware is the major institution of higher learning. Area 2,026 square miles (5,247 square km). Pop. (1990) 666,168; (1996 est.) 724,842. city, seat (1808) of Delaware county, central Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Olentangy River, 25 miles (40 km) north of Columbus. The Delaware Indians had a village in the vicinity before Moses Byxbe settled on the east bank of the river in 1804. The town was laid out in 1808 and became a popular health resort. Ohio Wesleyan University (1842) was built around the town's Mansion House (now Elliot Hall). The Methodist Theological School in Ohio was opened in Delaware in 1960. Perkins Observatory, jointly maintained by Ohio Wesleyan and Ohio State universities, is 4 miles (6 km) south of the city. A stone monument marks the birthplace (Oct. 4, 1822) of President Rutherford B. Hayes. After World War II there was some industrial growth, and the city's manufactures now include truck bodies, tools and dies, cranes, building materials, thermostats, and chemicals. Since 1946 the Little Brown Jug, the annual harness-racing classic, has been held in September at the Delaware County Fair. Inc. town, 1815; city, 1903. Pop. (1993 est.) 21,289. county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., located southwest of Philadelphia and bounded to the east by Cobbs Creek and to the south by New Jersey and Delaware, the Delaware River constituting the border. Ridley Creek State Park is located on Ridley Creek near Springton Reservoir. In 1682 English Quaker William Penn arrived in Pennsylvania near the confluence of the Delaware River and Chester Creek at the Swedish settlement of Upland, which Penn renamed Chester when he made it the provincial capital. Built by Swedish settlers, the Morton Homestead in Prospect Park is one of the oldest buildings in Pennsylvania (c. 1650). Near Chadds Ford on Brandywine Creek, the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of the Brandywine in the U.S. War of Independence (Sept. 11, 1777). The county was formed in 1789 and named for either the Delaware Indians or the Delaware River. Media replaced Chester as the county seat in 1850. Villanova University was founded in Villanova in 1842, and Swarthmore College was established by Quakers in Swarthmore in 1864. Some suburbs of Philadelphia are Yeadon, Lansdowne, Darby, and Collingdale. The economy depends on services (health care and business), trade, and manufacturing (aircraft and ships). Delaware county is one of the most densely populated counties in Pennsylvania. Area 184 square miles (477 square km). Pop. (1990) 547,651; (1996 est.) 547,592. county, south-central New York state, U.S., bordered by the Susquehanna River to the northwest and Pennsylvania to the southwest, the Delaware River constituting the boundary. The mountainous terrain is drained mainly by the west and east branches of the Delaware River. Other bodies of water include Cannonsville and Pepacton reservoirs. The county is primarily forested with northern hardwoodsexcept for Catskill Park to the southeast, which features an abundance of spruce and fir trees. Other parklands are located at Oquaga Creek, East Sidney Lake, Bear Spring Mountain, and Wolf Hollow. Algonquian-speaking Delaware Indians were once the main inhabitants of the region. Delaware county was founded in 1797 and named for Thomas West, 12th Baron De La Warr, one of the founders of Virginia. The principal towns are Sidney, Walton, and Delhi, which is the county seat. The towns of Stamford, Margaretville, and Fleischmanns attract seasonal tourism. The economy is based on agriculture (hay, milk, and cattle) and manufacturing. Area 1,446 square miles (3,746 square km). Pop. (1990) 47,225; (1996 est.) 47,287. constituent state of the United States of America, the first of the original 13 states to ratify the federal Constitution. It occupies a small niche in the BostonWashington, D.C., urban corridor along the Middle Atlantic seaboard. With 2,045 square miles (5,295 square km), it is the second smallest state in the nation and one of the most densely populated. Its population, like its industry, is concentrated in the north, around Wilmington, where the major coastal highways and railways pass through from Pennsylvania and New Jersey on the north and east into Maryland on the south and west. The rest of the state comprises the northeastern corner of the Delmarva Peninsula, which it shares with Maryland and Virginia. Dover is the capital. Historically, geographically, and economically, Delaware has its closest ties with Pennsylvania, particularly Philadelphia, where the Delaware River and other transportation arteries direct its commerce. The state's three countiesNew Castle, Kent, and Sussexwere established by 1680. Stability and conservatism have become characteristics of Delaware, especially in the southern areas, which until 1964 maintained a grip on political life vastly out of proportion to their population. As a result, old institutions have been tenaciously preserved. The manufacturing complex in the north makes Delaware one of the most industrialized states, especially notable for chemical research. The state is often depicted as being dominated by corporations, especially by the vast du Pont industrial empire, but until the mid-1960s the industrial wealth of the Wilmington area was balanced by the political overrepresentation of the agricultural downstate region. All factions have united to perpetuate liberal incorporation laws that encourage many American businesses to make Delaware their nominal home state. also called Lenni Lenape, or Lenape, a confederation of Algonquian-speaking North American Indians who occupied the Atlantic seaboard from Cape Henlopen, Delaware, to western Long Island. They were especially concentrated in the Delaware River valley, for which the confederation was named. The Delaware depended primarily on agriculture, with hunting and fishing as important additions to their economy. Summer communities numbered several hundred persons, but in winter smaller family bands traveled throughout their own hunting territories. The Delaware were grouped in three clans based on maternal descent; these were in turn divided into lineages, whose members generally lived together in a longhouse. Bands of lineages formed autonomous communities, of which there were probably 30 or 40 in 1600. A council consisting of lineage sachems (chiefs) and other distinguished men decided the public affairs of the community. The eldest woman of the lineage appointed and dismissed the sachem. The Delaware were the Indians most friendly to William Penn; they were rewarded by the infamous Walking Purchase, a treaty that deprived them of their own lands and forced them to settle on lands assigned to the Iroquois. Encroached on by whites and dominated by the Iroquois after 1690, they drifted westward in stages, stopping on the Susquehanna, the Allegheny, and the Muskingum rivers in Ohio and the White River in Indiana. After 60 years of displacement, their remnants and accretions living beyond the Ohio River rekindled a tribal alliance, asserted their independence of the Iroquois, and opposed the advancing whites. They defeated the British general Edward Braddock in the French and Indian War and at first supported the Americans in the Revolution. In the Treaty of Greenville (1795) they ceded their Ohio lands. Many of the bands dispersed, but by 1835 some had gathered again in Kansas; most of these were removed to Oklahoma in 1867. In the late 20th century the Delaware numbered about 3,000, living in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario. Additional reading Information about many aspects of Delaware may be found in Delaware Federal Writers' Project, Delaware: A Guide to the First State (1938, reissued 1973), also available in a new and revised edition by Jeanette Eckman (1955, reissued 1976); and in Delaware Today (monthly). DeLorme Mapping Company, Maryland, Delaware Atlas & Gazetteer (1993), focuses on topography. Tracey L. Bryant and Jonathan R. Pennock (eds.), The Delaware Estuary: Rediscovering a Forgotten Resource (1988), treats a major part of the state's ecology. Paul Dolan and James R. Soles, Government of Delaware (1976), is a useful introduction. H. Clay Reed and Marion Bjrnson Reed (comps.), A Bibliography of Delaware Through 1960 (1966), is supplemented by University of Delaware Library Reference Department, Bibliography of Delaware, 19601974 (1976).Overviews of state history are found in John A. Munroe, History of Delaware, 3rd ed. (1993); and Carol E. Hoffecker, Delaware: A Bicentennial History (1977). Specific periods are treated in C.A. Weslager, The Delaware Indians: A History (1972, reissued 1990), and The English on the Delaware: 16101682 (1967); John A. Munroe, Colonial Delaware: A History (1978), and Federalist Delaware, 17751815 (1954); William Henry Williams, Slavery and Freedom in Delaware, 16391865 (1996); Patience Essah, A House Divided: Slavery and Emancipation in Delaware, 16381865 (1996); Harold Bell Hancock, Delaware During the Civil War: A Political History (1961); and Bernard L. Herman, Architecture and Rural Life in Central Delaware, 17001900 (1987). Ongoing research is reported in Delaware History (quarterly). John A. Munroe The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica