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Delaware,
The First State
Delaware is known
as the “First State” because on December 7, 1787, it was first to ratify the
US Constitution
Delaware is located on the Atlantic coastal plain
midway between New York City and Washington, DC—approximately 100 miles in
each direction. In size, it is the second smallest state with an area of
2,044 square miles, and has the fewest counties with only three: New Castle,
Kent and Sussex. Its length is 96 miles; its width a mere 39 at the widest
point, 10 at the narrowest. The population of Delaware is 783,600. The state
capital is Dover.
The first people of Delaware were two tribes of Native Americans: the Lenni
Lenape and the Nanticoke, whose descendants still reside in the southern
part of the state not far from Lewes, where, in 1631, the Dutch founded a
whaling colony, “Swanendael.” All of those first settlers were dead within a
year. In 1638, on the Swedish ship Kalmar Nyckel, a group of 25 Swedes,
Finns, Dutch and Germans sailed up the Christina River to “The Rocks” near
present day Wilmington, where they built Fort Christina, the first permanent
European settlement in the Brandywine Valley.
In 1610, explorer Samuel Argall named the Delaware River and Bay for the
governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Lord De La Warr. The state of Delaware
takes its name from the river and bay. Delaware declared independence from
Great Britain on June 15, 1776, and also became independent of Pennsylvania
with which it had been connected since 1681 as part of William Penn’s land
grant from the English royal family. It is known as the “First State”
because on December 7, 1787, it was first to ratify the Constitution of the
United States.
Proximity to two rivers, the shallow Christina and the fast-moving
Brandywine, spawned industries that helped the city of Wilmington to grow
and prosper. Fur trading, ship building and milling (including the black
powder mills of E. I. du Pont) along the waterways gave way over time to a
worldwide chemical industry. A practical chancery court system and favorable
incorporation and banking laws have led to a majority of the Fortune 500
companies choosing to incorporate in Delaware, and the state has become a
major center for the banking/credit card industry.
Delaware has many nicknames: The First State. Small Wonder. The Diamond
State — legend has it that Thomas Jefferson called Delaware a “jewel”
among the states because of its strategic location along the East Coast.
Home of Tax Free Shopping. Blue Hen State — cock fighting was
popular entertainment during the Revolutionary War and Delaware soldiers
kept Blue Hens, cocks prized for their fighting ability, with them for
sport. The men of Captain Jonathan Caldwell’s Delaware company were so
fierce in battle that they were compared to this breed.
State Colors: Colonial blue and buff
State Bird: Blue Hen Chicken
State Motto: “Liberty and Independence”
State Insect: Ladybug
State Beverage: Milk (despite numerous indigenous breweries)
State Tree: American Holly
State Flower: Peach Blossom Map of the State of
Delaware This map shows the State of Delaware, located on the
Delmarva Peninsula, with neighboring states of Maryland to the west,
Pennsylvania to the north and New Jersey to the east. The Chesapeake &
Delaware Canal was begun in 1804—14 miles across the narrow neck of Delaware
and Maryland—to connect the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay and save
300 miles of waterway navigation from Philadelphia to Baltimore. One of the
busiest canals in the world today, the C&D carries more tonnage than the
Suez and Panama Canals combined. The canal is the oldest major commercial
waterway still in use and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The original Mason-Dixon Line was the boundary line between the states of
Maryland and Pennsylvania. The line was surveyed and marked with stone
markers in 1763 to 1767 by two British astronomers, Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon, to settle a dispute between the Calvert and Penn families,
who owned the two states at that time. As Delaware was then part of
Pennsylvania and known as the “Three Lower Counties,” the original
Mason-Dixon line also included the north-south line between Maryland and
Delaware.
© Microsoft MapPoint® version 2002 ^Top
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