Delaware

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Delaware is a state of the United States. Originally settled as a Dutch trading post at "Zwaanendael" (or "Swaanendael," present-day Lewes -- pronounced "lewis," not "loos") in 1631, it became "New Sweden" because of a colony established by Swedes (led by Peter Minuit) at "Fort Christiana" (now, Wilmington) in 1638. Delaware was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. It is known as the "First State" because it was the first of the colonies to ratify the United States Constitution, which it did on December 7, 1787.

The name "Delaware" comes from the title of Sir Thomas West, Lord de la Warr. The deed to the property that is now Delaware was granted to William Penn in 1682, by James, Duke of York (later, James II of England), and was part of the colony of Pennsylvania. In 1704 the "three lower counties" got a separate legislature, and in 1710 a separate executive council. After the American Revolution began in 1776, the three counties became "Delaware State," and in 1792 that entity adopted its first constitution, declaring itself to be the "State of Delaware."

Part of the Mason-Dixon line, surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in 1763 to 1767 to establish the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, now forms the boundary between Delaware and Maryland, and some 80 of their original limestone markers remain. The oldest black church in the country was chartered in Delaware by former-slave Peter Spencer in 1813 as the "Union Church of Africans," which is now the A.U.M.P. Church. The Big August Quarterly Spencer began in 1814 is still celebrated, the oldest such cultural festival in the country. During the American Civil War, Delaware was a slave state that nevertheless remained in the Union.

The largest city is Wilmington, and the capital is Dover. The large U.S. Air Force base at Dover serves as a morgue for American military persons who die overseas, in Europe or Africa, and sometimes for civilian U.S. government officers, too. There is no broadcast-television station in Delaware, but there are cable-television stations and radio stations, and some of the out-of-state broadcast-television stations maintain small facilities in Delaware that can "upload" signals to the stations' main facilities: The northern part of the state is served primarily by stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the southern part by stations in Maryland.

Area: 1,954 sq. miles

Population: 783,600 (2000)

Capital: Dover

Counties: 3 (see: Delaware counties)

Bird: Blue Hen Chicken

Flower: Peach Blossom

Tree: American Holly

Nicknames: First State, Diamond State, Blue Wonder

Colleges and Universities

Delaware is the home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks minor league baseball team.

Delaware is also the name of a Native American group (called in their own name Lenni Lenape) that was very influential in the dawning days of the United States.

Delaware is also the name of some places smaller than states in the United States:

The Delaware River is a major river in the eastern United States, starting in New York State and forming the boundary between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, emptying into Delaware Bay, which separates New Jersey from the state of the same name.