PENNSYLVANIA

The Middle Atlantic region. officially Commonwealth of Pennsylvania constituent state of the United States of America, one of the Middle Atlantic states, located in the eastern United States. The state is bounded on the north by Lake Erie and the state of New York, on the east by New York and New Jersey, on the south by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, and on the west by the Panhandle of West Virginia and by Ohio. The state capital is Harrisburg. Four major Indian groups occupied Pennsylvania at the time of European arrival: the Delaware, or Lenni Lenape; the Susquehanna; the Shawnee; and various segments of the Iroquois Confederacy. Swedes (1643), Dutch (1647), and others were the first European settlers. The English seized control of the region in 1664, and in 1681 King Charles II of England signed a charter giving the region to William Penn. Under Penn's guidance a Quaker colony was established in 1682, based on government by popular will and religious tolerance. In the century that followed, the Indians increasingly resisted the expansion of European settlements. Much of the fighting during the French and Indian War (175463) took place in Pennsylvania. By the eve of the U.S. War of Independence, Pennsylvania had become a keystone state geographically and a centre of military, economic, and political activity. The first (1774) and second (177576) Continental Congresses met in Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence was signed there, and the city temporarily became the capital of the confederation (178389) and of the fledgling United States. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Pennsylvania once again became a centre of military activity, and at Gettysburg the Union Army won one of the most decisive victories of the war. The end of the war brought a period of great economic, industrial, and population growth, consolidating Pennsylvania's position as a major commercial power. The Allegheny Front (escarpment) and Allegheny Mountains form a northeast-to-southwest diagonal across the centre of the state, while to the north and west a rugged plateau region falls almost at the lakefront into the Lake Erie Lowland. In the southeast are the fertile Coastal Plains around Philadelphia and the Piedmont, one of the state's most productive agricultural regions. The eastern part of the state is drained by the Delaware River and its tributaries and the western part is drained by the Ohio River system. The Susquehanna River, wide, shallow, and meandering, drains the largest part of the state. Pennsylvania has a continental climate that is characterized by wide fluctuations in seasonal temperatures, with prevailing winds from the west. Annual rainfall averages some 39 inches (991 mm), and average temperatures in the north range from about 69 F (21 C) in July to about 25 F (-4 C) in January. In more southerly parts of the state, averages are several degrees higher. The major ethnic groups constituting the population are the English, Germans, Scots-Irish, French, Welsh, Cornish, and Irish, who settled in colonial times, and Italians and Slavic peoples, who immigrated primarily in the 20th century. Pennsylvania is also noted for its large religious populations of Quakers, Amish, Mennonites, Moravians, Schwenckfelders, and Dunkards. The state population has been growing very slowly, well below the national average. In this largely urban state, the greatest population density is found in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Allegheny counties, the latter including Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania is one of the nation's most prosperous states, with both its past and present prosperity based on fertile farmland, commercial forestland, seemingly inexhaustible supplies of coal, many navigable waterways, and an economically strategic location. Pennsylvania still has a sizable farm population, and nearly one-third of the land is under cultivation. The major agricultural products are dairy and poultry products, meat animals, mushrooms, corn (maize), hay, apples, and grapes. It is one of the largest producers of coal in the nation, and it has small deposits of natural gas, iron ore, limestone, silver and gold, copper, cobalt, zinc, and salt. Pennsylvania's foremost industry was steel, but food processing, chemicals, machinery, and electrical and electronic equipment surpass it in terms of value added by manufacture. The state continues to produce much of the nation's specialty steel. The state's manufacturing industries are well diversified, and Pennsylvania ranks high in the nation in manufacturing employment. The state's three major ports, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Erie, are supplemented by others along the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the channelized Inland Waterway System. Pennsylvania's highway system is one of the most extensive in the nation. The railway system links the state's major industrial centres and provides an important economic link for the Middle Atlantic region. The most important of the state's international airports are at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania has an active cultural life, centred in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra are two of the nation's major orchestras. The Curtis Institute of Music, founded in 1924, is one of the world's leading conservatories. The religious music of the Moravians is displayed at the Bach Choir's Bach Festival in Bethlehem. A great diversity of museums includes the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There is an active theatrical community, and a number of prominent 20th-century writers originated in Pennsylvania. Educational opportunities are plentiful. Philadelphia is a major centre of medical education, and Pittsburgh is a centre of scientific study. Area 46,043 square miles (119,251 square km). Pop. (1990) 11,882,842; (1995 est.) 12,071,842. officially Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, constituent state of the United States of America, one of the original 13 American colonies. The 45,308 square miles (117,348 square kilometres) of the state are bounded on the north by Lake Erie and New York; on the east by New York and New Jersey; on the south by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia; and on the west by the panhandle of West Virginia and by Ohio. Harrisburg, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, is the capital. Although it is classified as a Middle Atlantic state, Pennsylvania does not touch the Atlantic Ocean at any point. Water, nonetheless, has been nearly as crucial in the state's growth as has the wealth of its earth. The boundary with New Jersey is formed by the Delaware River, on which Philadelphia is the major element in the PennsylvaniaNew JerseyDelaware harbour complex that is one of the world's busiest shipping centres. In the northwest a small panhandle separates Ohio and New York and forms a 40-mile (64-kilometre) waterfront on Lake Erie, giving the state access to the iron-ore barges and other commerce of the Great Lakes. Located at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River, Pittsburgh has become one of the nation's busiest inland river ports. Pennsylvania has long been one of the most populous states in the nation. Geographically, it is the Keystone State, integrating first the older states of the Northeast and the South and later the states of the East and the developing territories and states of the Midwest. The state is polarized by two great metropolitan areas: Philadelphia lies athwart the vast population belt stretching along the seaboard from Maine to Virginia, and Pittsburgh is the beginning of the booming industrial belt reaching westward across the Great Lakes plains to Chicago and Milwaukee.