Delaware, state of the United States on the Atlantic coast, named after Virginia’s first governor Lord De La Warr. 5328 km2, 907,100 residents, of which 21% are black (2011). Capital Dover, 36,000 residents (2010); largest city Wilmington, 70,900 residents (2010). State formation 1787, nickname: The First State.
- COUNTRYAAH.COM: Lists all counties and parishes of Delaware in alphabetical order. Covers county profile and biggest counties by population in the state of Delaware.
Delaware is among the smallest states in the United States. The area at the mouth of the Delaware River in the north was colonized by Swedes and Dutch in the 1630’s (New Sweden), before English immigrants to New York in 1664 occupied the colony as part of the Anglo-Dutch War. Plans to merge Delaware with Pennsylvania in the 1700’s. was never fully implemented, and in 1787 the state was able to mark its independence by being the first to ratify the United States Constitution, hence the nickname of the state. There was some slavery, but economic dependence on neighboring states to the north was so great that Delaware remained in the Union during the Civil War of the 1860’s.
Economically, Delaware has significance by virtue of a liberal corporate law that has made it the headquarters of many banking and finance companies; at the same time, the state has been uniquely influenced by a single enterprise, namely the chemical giant EI Du Pont de Nemours & Co. in Wilmington. After the construction of a number of gunpowder mills in 1802, Du Pont gained virtually the lucrative monopoly on the production of explosives in the United States over the course of the century. The wide-ranging family business dominated all aspects of the state to such an extent that in 1973 Delaware was described as The Company State.. The company expanded production to all kinds of chemicals and was a pioneer in the field of plastics and man-made fibers. This story is illustrated in the old gunpowder mill, now the Hagley Museum in Wilmington, just as the large Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum with a large collection of American handicrafts is one of the sights. Tourists also search for the Bombay Hook Migratory Bird Sanctuary and flock to seaside resorts such as Rehoboth Beach, which is called the U.S. summer capital due to the many vacationers from the federal capital Washington, DC.
- AbbreviationFinder: Provides a list of all acronyms in alphabetic order for Delaware. Also includes state overview, population statistics as well as cities and towns belong to Delaware.
Traffic-wise, Delaware is closely connected to neighboring states of Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Partly via the canal connection to the Chesapeake Bay (1829) and the shipping traffic on the Delaware River; partly via highways and bridges that place the only major city, Wilmington, on the main route between the major cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia with further connection to New York.
The majority of the state consists of a low-lying coastal plain with a rainy, temperate climate with hot summers and mild winters. Soybeans, maize and other arable crops occupy almost half of the area, while dairy products, vegetables and especially poultry farming, with an annual production of 250 million broilers, dominates agricultural turnover. The previously important coastal fisheries (oysters and shellfish) are of less and less importance, partly due to pollution.
