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https://www.q-files.com/geography/states-of-the-us/delaware.
Accessed 23 Sep. 2026.
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https://www.q-files.com/geography/states-of-the-us/delaware
Geography, States of the US, s.v. "Delaware," accessed September 23, 2026.
https://www.q-files.com/geography/states-of-the-us/delaware
Delaware
Together with parts of Maryland and Virginia, Delaware occupies the Delmarva peninsula: the eastern part, facing the Delaware River, which widens into Delaware Bay. The second smallest state, it measures just 154 kilometres (96 miles) long and between 14 and 56 kilometres (9–35 miles) across. The land is low-lying, with marshland and sand dunes in the south, and rolling hills (part of the Piedmont plateau) along the border with Pennsylvania in the north. It has an average elevation of 18 metres (60 feet), the lowest of any state.
Name
The state takes its name from the Delaware River and Bay, which were themselves named after Thomas West, Baron De La Warr. He was an English nobleman and the colonial governor of Virginia at the time when Europeans first explored the river in the early 17th century. The surname de La Warr is of Norman origin and probably came from the region of Normandy called La Guerre.
Economy
Delaware’s chief agricultural products are chickens, soya beans, maize, hay, fruit and vegetables and dairy. Potatoes and other vegetables are also grown. Clams, oysters and other seafood are harvested offshore.
Industries around Wilmington include the large chemical company that was founded by the Du Pont family in the 19th century. Medical supplies, processed foods, rubber, paper, machinery and plastics are also important products. Some of the nation's largest corporations—especially banking and financial services companies—have major offices in Delaware.
Facts about Delaware
Area 1954 sq miles (5161 sq km)
Highest point Ebright Azimuth 448 ft (136.5 m)
Population 1,031,890
Capital Dover
Largest cities Wilmington, 71,675; Dover, 39,894; Newark, 30,169;
Nicknames The Diamond State; The First State; The Blue Hen State; The Small Wonder
State bird Blue Hen
State flower Peach blossom
State tree American holly
Consultant: Nicholas Harris
History of Delaware
1600s
At the time of European discovery, the area is inhabited by several Native American Algonquian tribes, including the Nanticoke in the south and the Unami Lenape (or Delaware, as they are later called) in the north
1609
Henry Hudson, sailing under the Dutch flag, discovers Delaware Bay
1610
British captain Sir Samuel Argall, bound for the colony of Virginia, sails into Delaware Bay. He names one of the capes Cape La Warre, after the governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Baron De la Warr
1631
Dutch establish the first settlement at Zwaanendael, on the site of the town of Lewes; within a year, however, it is destroyed by a Native American attack
1638
Swedish settlers found Fort Christina, on the site of present-day Wilmington, named in honour of the queen of Sweden; the colony, called New Sweden, grows with the arrival of Swedish, Finnish and Dutch settlers
1651
Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherland, sails to the Delaware area and establishes Fort Casimir at the site of present-day New Castle
1654
Swedish settlers capture Fort Casimir
1655
All of New Sweden falls to Dutch forces led by Stuyvesant
1656
The Dutch West India Company sells part of the land to the city of Amsterdam; the rest is sold in 1663
1664
English forces seize the Dutch holdings on the Delaware
1673
Dutch recapture the colony, although it is returned to England in 1674
1682
The Duke of York (later King James II of England) transfers the area to William Penn, who wants a navigable water route between the Atlantic and his colony; Delaware become the Three Lower Counties (or Territories, as Penn called them) of Pennsylvania
1701
The Three Lower Counties are granted the right to a separate assembly; they remain semi-independent until the American Revolution
early 1700s
Delaware becomes a slave society, cultivating tobacco as a cash crop
1776
Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney convince the Colonial Assembly to declare itself separated from British and Pennsylvanian rule; the colony of Delaware becomes a state
1787
Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States
late 18th century
Industry is established in Delaware with the establishment of mills on the Brandywine and Christina rivers; Wilmington became a centre for the manufacture of cloth, paper and flour
1802
Eleuthère Irénée du Pont establishes a gunpowder mill near Wilmington that lays the foundation for Delaware's chemical industry
1861
Delaware votes against secession and so remains in the Union, although some Delaware citizens serve in the Confederate forces
1935
Dr Wallace Carothers, working at the DuPont Experimental Station, discovers Fiber 66, the first synthetic fibre. Four years later, the DuPont Company opens first nylon plant in Seaford.
1951
Delaware Memorial Bridge opens, linking Delaware to New Jersey.
1968
Rioting breaks out in Wilmington following the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, prompting a 10-month occupation of the city by the National Guard.
pics
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