From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Delaware (IPA: /ˈdɛləwɛər/) is a state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.[4] The state is named after Delaware Bay and River, which were named for Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1577–1618).[5]
Population estimates by the Census Bureau for 2005 place the population
of Delaware at 843,524. Delaware is the seventh most densely populated
state, with a population density of 320 more people per square mile
than the national average, and ranking 45th in population.[6] Delaware is the second-smallest state, larger only than Rhode Island. Delaware was the first U.S. state to enter the union.
State symbols
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The state's motto, "Liberty and Independence" is inscribed on the coat of arms, which is incorporated into both the state seal and the state flag. The state's official nickname, "The First State" commemorates the fact that on December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first of the 13 original states to ratify the United States Constitution.[7] Commemorating Delaware's ratification, Constitution Park
features a four-foot cube upon which is inscribed the entire document
as it has evolved. Delaware has also been called the "Blue Hen State",
referring to the official state bird, the Blue Hen Chicken, which was carried with the Delaware Revolutionary War soldiers for cockfighting,[8] and the "Diamond State".[9] The ferocity of the Blue Hen Chickens carried by Captain Jonathan Caldwell's men in the Revolutionary Army and the prowess of his company led to the nickname of "Caldwell's Gamecocks."[10]
It also led to the University of Delaware's adopting the nickname of
"Fightin' Blue Hens". Along with traditional symbols such as an
official state tree (the American holly) and flower (the peach blossom), the legislature adopted the Delaware Diamond, the first star on the International Star Registry to be registered to an American state.
Geography
Delaware is 96 miles long and ranges from 9 to 35 miles across,
totaling 1,954 square miles and making it the second-smallest state in
the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania; to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and south by Maryland. Small portions of Delaware are also situated on the far, or eastern, side of the Delaware River estuary. These parcels share land boundaries with New Jersey. The state of Delaware, together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and two counties of Virginia, form the Delmarva Peninsula, which stretches south down the Mid-Atlantic Coast.
The definition of the northern boundary of the state is highly
unusual. Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania is
defined by an arc extending 12 miles (19 km) from the cupola of the courthouse in New Castle. It is referred to as the Twelve-Mile Circle.
This is the only true-arc political boundary in the United States. This
border extends all the way east to the low-tide mark on the New Jersey
shore, then continues south along the shoreline until it again reaches
the twelve-mile arc in the south; then the boundary continues in a more
conventional way in the middle of the main channel (thalweg)
of the Delaware River Estuary. To the west, a portion of the arc
extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland. The remaining western
border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the
arc. The Wedge
of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border
was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921, when
Delaware's claim was confirmed.
Delaware is subdivided into three counties: from north to south, New Castle, Kent County and Sussex.See also: List of counties in Delaware
- Main articles: Twelve-Mile Circle, The Wedge, Mason-Dixon line, Transpeninsular Line
Topography
Delaware is on a level plain; the highest elevation, located at Ebright Azimuth,
near Concord High School, Wilmington, does not rise fully 450 feet
above sea level. The northern part is associated with the Appalachian
Piedmont and is full of hills with rolling surfaces. South of Newark
and Wilmington, the state follows the Atlantic Coastal Plain with flat,
sandy, and, in some parts, swampy ground. A ridge about 75 to 80 feet
in altitude extends along the western boundary of the state and is the
drainage divide between the two major water bodies of the Delaware
River and several streams flowing into Chesapeake Bay in the west.
Climate
Since almost all of Delaware is a part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the climate is moderated by the effects of the ocean. The state is somewhat of a transitional zone between a humid subtropical climate and a continental climate.
Despite its small size (roughly 100 miles from its northernmost to
southernmost points), there is significant variation in mean
temperature and amount of snowfall between Sussex County and New Castle
County. The southern portion of the state has a somewhat milder climate
and a longer growing season than the northern portion of the State. The
transitional climate of Delaware supports a surprising variety of
vegetation. At Trap Pond State Park in Sussex County, bald cypress grow
-- this is thought to be one of the northernmost stands of such trees.
The vegetation in New Castle County, on the other hand, is more typical
of that of the northeastern United States. All parts of Delaware have
relatively hot, humid summers. While Sussex and Kent Counties are
considered to fall in the humid subtropical climate zone, there is some
debate about whether northern New Castle County falls in the humid
subtropical climate zone or warm continental climate.
History
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Native Americans
Before Delaware was settled by European colonists, the area was home to the Eastern Algonquian tribes known as the Unami Lenape or Delaware throughout the Delaware valley, and the Nanticoke along the rivers leading into the Chesapeake Bay. The Unami Lenape in the Delaware Valley were closely related to Munsee Lenape tribes along the Hudson River.
They had a settled hunting and agricultural society, and they rapidly
became middlemen in an increasingly frantic fur trade with their
ancient enemy, the Minqua or Susquehannock. With the loss of their lands on the Delaware River and the destruction of the Minqua by the Iroquois of the Five Nations in the 1670s, the remnants of the Lenape left the region and moved over the Alleghany Mountains by the mid-18th century.
Colonial Delaware
The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in present-day Delaware by establishing a trading post at Zwaanendael, near the site of Lewes in 1631. Within a year all the settlers were killed in a dispute with area Indian tribes. In 1638, a Swedish trading post and colony was established at Fort Christina (now in Wilmington) by Dutchman Peter Minuit at the head of a group of Swedes, Finns and Dutch. Thirteen years later, the Dutch, reinvigorated by the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, established a new fort in 1651 at present-day New Castle, and in 1655 they took over the entire Swedish colony, incorporating it into the Dutch New Netherland.
Only nine years later, in 1664, the Dutch were themselves forcibly removed by a British expedition under the direction of James, the Duke of York. Fighting off a prior claim by Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland, the Duke passed his somewhat dubious ownership on to William Penn
in 1682. Penn strongly desired access to the sea for his Pennsylvania
province and leased what then came to be known as the "Lower Counties
on the Delaware" from the Duke.
Penn established representative government and briefly combined his
two possessions under one General Assembly in 1682. However, by 1704
the Province of Pennsylvania had grown so large that their
representatives wanted to make decisions without the assent of the
Lower Counties and the two groups of representatives began meeting on
their own, one at Philadelphia,
and the other at New Castle. Penn and his heirs remained proprietors of
both and always appointed the same person Governor for their Province
of Pennsylvania and their territory of the Lower Counties. The fact
that Delaware and Pennsylvania shared the same governor was not unique.
During much of the colonial period, New York and New Jersey shared a
governor, as did Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Dependent in early years on indentured labor, Delaware imported more
slaves as the number of English immigrants decreased with better
economic conditions in England. The colony became a slave society and
cultivated tobacco as a cash crop. Before the Revolution, it had begun
to shift to mixed agriculture.
American Revolution
Like the other middle colonies, the Lower Counties on the Delaware initially showed little enthusiasm for a break with Britain.
The citizenry had a good relationship with the Proprietary government,
and generally were allowed more independence of action in their
Colonial Assembly than in other colonies. Merchants at the port of
Wilmington had trading ties with British. Nevertheless, there was
strong objection to the seemingly arbitrary measures of Parliament,
and leaders understood that the territory's existence as a separate
entity depended upon its keeping step with its powerful neighbors,
especially Pennsylvania.
So it was that New Castle lawyer Thomas McKean denounced the Stamp Act in the strongest terms, and Kent County native John Dickinson became the "Penman of the Revolution." Anticipating the Declaration of Independence, Patriot leaders Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney convinced the Colonial Assembly to declare itself separated from British and Pennsylvania rule on June 15, 1776. The person best representing Delaware's majority, George Read,
could not bring himself to vote for a Declaration of Independence. Only
the dramatic overnight ride of Caesar Rodney gave the delegation the
votes needed to cast Delaware's vote for independence. Once the
Declaration was adopted, however, Read signed the document.
Initially led by John Haslet, Delaware provided one of the premier regiments in the Continental Army, known as the "Delaware Blues" and nicknamed the "Blue Hen Chickens." In August 1777, General Sir William Howe led a British army through Delaware on his way to a victory at the Battle of Brandywine and capture of the city of Philadelphia. The only real engagement on Delaware soil was the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, fought on September 3, 1777, at Cooch's Bridge in New Castle County. It is believed to be the first time that the Stars and Stripes was flown in battle.
Following the Battle of Brandywine, Wilmington was occupied by the British, and State President John McKinly
was taken prisoner. The British remained in control of the Delaware
River for much of the rest of the war, disrupting commerce and
providing encouragement to an active
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