Delaware

Delaware, the first state admitted to the Union (December 7, 1787) and the nation's second-smallest, is located on the eastern seaboard in the mid-Atlantic region. Of the state's 2,044 square miles (5,295 square kilometers), 1,932 square miles (5,005 square kilometers) are land. Delaware is bordered by Maryland , Pennsylvania , New Jersey , and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Dover.

The first permanent settlements in the area were a Swedish trading post, established in 1638 (at present-day Wilmington) by a group of Swedes, Dutch, and Finns under the leadership of a Dutchman, and a Dutch fort in 1651 (at New Castle). The Dutch took over the Swedish colony in 1655 but were forced out by the English nine years later. At that time, Delaware was under the control of English philosopher and colonialist William Penn (1644–1718).

In 1838, a railroad running between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, through Wilmington was completed. The state's population increased as immigrants—mostly from the British Isles, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Russia—made their way to the tiny state.

Delaware's total population was just under 784,000 in the early twenty-first century, with residents being predominantly white (73.6 percent). Although over 59 percent claimed no religious affiliation, the largest religious group was Catholic, with 151,740 adherents. The per-person income was $35,728, $2,000 above the national average, making Delaware eleventh out of fifty states and Washington, D.C.

Chemical manufacturing is the state's main industry, with Wilmington known as the chemical capital of the world. Other industries include food processing, plastics and rubber products, and paper manufacturing. The state is not all industry, however, with a strong agricultural output of corn, soybeans, barley, wheat, and other crops. Fishing, once a major contributor to the economy, has declined since the late twentieth century because of overharvesting.