Delaware, State, middle Atlantic region, U.S. Area: 2,489 sq mi (6,446 sq km). Population: (2020) 989,948; (2023 est.) 1,031,890. Capital: Dover. Delaware lies on the Atlantic Ocean and is bordered by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Originally inhabited by Algonquian tribes, Delaware’s first permanent white settlement was by Swedes at Fort Christina, now Wilmington, in 1638. In 1655 New Sweden was taken by the Dutch of New Amsterdam and in 1664 by the English. Delaware was thereafter a part of New York until 1682, when it was ceded to William Penn. It was governed by Pennsylvania until 1776, although it was granted its own assembly in 1704. The first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787, it is the nation’s second smallest state but one of its most densely populated. Chemical manufacturing is the major industry, followed by food processing. Delaware’s most important transportation artery is the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, deepened for ocean shipping, which shortens the water route between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
