Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, a state named after its founding father, William Penn (1644–1718), entered the Union on December 12, 1787, as the second state. Located in the northeastern United States, Pennsylvania is bordered by Ohio , Lake Erie, New York , New Jersey , Delaware , Maryland , and West Virginia .

Pennsylvania was home to several Native American groups, including the Iroquois and Algonquin. The first European visitor is believed to have been a Dutchman named Cornelis Jacobssen May, who sailed into the Delaware Bay in 1614. Swedes began farming along the Delaware River in 1638. Although the Dutch took control of Pennsylvania from the Swedes in 1655, they kept it for just nine years before surrendering it to the British.

The British gave the region to William Penn in 1681. Penn, a Quaker (a follower of the Quaker religion, which stresses nonviolence and the equality of all people), wanted to make Pennsylvania a safe haven for people who were being persecuted for their religious beliefs. Although he was the founding father, Penn did not rule the colony; instead, he gave power to landowners and let them establish their own government and laws.

Most Pennsylvanians came from the British Isles and Germany. As the colony grew, boundaries came into dispute. In 1763, Pennsylvania and Maryland agreed to have Charles Mason (1728–1786) and Jeremiah Dixon (d. 1777) establish the famous Mason-Dixon line separating the U.S. North and South.

After the British won the French and Indian War (1754–63), Pennsylvania moved quickly toward independence. The Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia in 1774, and the Declaration of Independence was signed there on July 4, 1776.

Industrialization began in the late eighteenth century. The first iron furnace was built in Pittsburgh in 1792, and by the early nineteenth century, a canal and rail system connected Philadelphia with Pittsburgh. Irish immigrants flocked to Pennsylvania in the 1840s, and many found work in the anthracite coal mines. (See Irish Immigration .)

Pennsylvania was the United States's chief producer of coal, iron, and steel from 1890 to 1900, and it was the nation's primary source of petroleum and lumber as well. As industry developed, residents relocated to urban areas to find work, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh became cultural centers of the arts and education.

By 1958, Pennsylvania ranked fifth in the nation in manufacturing. Cities continued to flourish as markets, banks, factories, and skilled labor remained abundant. By the mid-1980s, the state was struggling with making the transition from manufacturing to service industries. Within a decade, though, steel was no longer the cornerstone of Pennsylvania's industry, and Philadelphia had become a center of high-technology industries. Pittsburgh became the site of many companies' corporate headquarters.

Pennsylvania was home to more than 12.4 million people in 2006. The population was predominantly white (84.6 percent), followed by African American (10.1 percent) and Hispanic or Latino (4.0 percent). In 2005, Philadelphia was by far the state's most populated city, with nearly 1.5 million residents. Pittsburgh was a distant second with just under 317,000 people.

Pennsylvania's history of religious tolerance attracted large populations of Mennonites, and it is home to the highest concentration of Amish in the United States. The Amish have branches and sects with different beliefs, but all shun modern life and its trappings in hopes of avoiding sin and retaining goodness. Most Amish do not own cars or have electricity in their homes. They live in rural parts of the state, primarily in Lancaster County, and are a self-governing population.

The state's economy in the twenty-first century is dependent upon coal and steel production, although not to the extent it once was. Tourism, machinery production, and the growth of service-related trades add to the economic mix. Coal remains the state's most valuable mineral commodity and accounts for more than two-thirds of all mining income.

Hundreds of millions of tourists visit Pennsylvania each year. Because of Philadelphia's ties to the Declaration of Independence, the city is a major tourist attraction, home to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Just north of the city is Bucks County, a region steeped in craft and antique shops and home to many artists. Lancaster is known as Pennsylvania Dutch country and features tours and exhibits of Amish farm life. Gettysburg is another big attraction, and visitors to the state also stop at Hershey Park and Valley Forge National Historic Park.