Delaware is one of the Mid-Atlantic states of the United States. Located in the northeastern part of the Delmarva Peninsula. It borders Maryland to the west, Pennsylvania to the north, and New Jersey to the northeast. It is the second smallest state in terms of area and the sixth smallest in population, but ranks sixth in its density. Divided into three north-south counties: New Castle, Kent and Sussex.
The state capital is Dover. The name of the state comes from the title of Thomas West, 3rd Baron de la Warr, an English nobleman and the first colonial governor of Virginia. Delaware is known as the “First State” because it was the first of the 13 colonies to ratify the US Constitution on December 7, 1787.
STATE NAME
Delaware takes its name from the Delaware River and Bay, which in turn were named after Sir Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, the first governor of the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. Interestingly, later the same name, the Delaware, Europeans called the Lennie-Lenape Indians, who lived along the Delaware and Hudson rivers. The Delaware Indians were made famous by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper, who showed them as goodies in his novels.
GEOGRAPHY
Delaware is located on the Delmarva Peninsula, covering an area of 154 km long and 14 to 56 km wide with a total area of 5,060 km², making it the second smallest state in the country after Rhode Island. From the south and west, its territory is bounded by Maryland, from the north by Pennsylvania, and from the east by New Jersey (the border with it runs mainly along the Delaware River, sometimes acting on its eastern coast), the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Delaware’s border with Pennsylvania is unusual – most of it has an arcuate shape. It is usually described as an arc from a circle with a radius of 19.4 km, the center of which is located on the dome of the New Castle Courthouse and is known as the twelve-mile circle. It is the only rounded state boundary in the United States.
CLIMATE
Delaware has a humid subtropical climate, the main determining factor being its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. It has very hot summers and mild winters, snow rarely falls and melts quickly. C to 30°C. In Dover, Delaware’s capital, temperatures typically range from -3°C to 7°C in January and between 20°C and 31°C in July. In the south of the state, in Seaford, in winter it is usually -4°C to 7°C, and in summer from 18°C to 31°C. Delaware, like other states on the Atlantic coast of the United States of America, is prone to hurricane strikes.
ECONOMY
Despite the fact that the state of Delaware is small neither in area nor in the number of inhabitants, it is often called the “little miracle” or even the “diamond state”. Delaware received these nicknames not only because of the picturesque nature, but also because of its versatile and rather powerful economy. The state has a well-developed service sector, industry, agriculture and tourism.
A characteristic feature of Delaware is its tax legislation, which makes the state very attractive for registering certain corporations in it. Corporate taxes make up about 20% of Delaware’s income. Very important for the state’s economy is the proximity to one of the largest US metropolitan areas – Philadelphia.
Relatively recently, in the eighties of the XX century, the state began to grow grapes and produce wine. Although Delaware wines are rarely found anywhere outside of the state, the wineries (and breweries) are nonetheless one of the popular “little wonder” tourist attractions. There are practically no minerals in Delaware, only some building materials (sand and gravel) and magnesium are mined here. Delaware’s leading industry is the production of a variety of chemical products, including plastics, drugs, rubber products, herbicides, and petroleum products. The state has a well-developed food industry, primarily companies that produce semi-finished and ready-made chicken products. Delaware also assembles cars, manufactures textiles,
TOURISM
Top attractions in the state include the Brandywine Valley with its du Pont mansions, the Hagley Museum and the Rockford Tower; the historic town of New Castle on the Delaware Bay, with its Amstel House (1730) and the Old Court House Museum (1732); the resort areas of Lewis and Rehoboth, whose sandy beaches stretch for almost 30 km. Tourists are also attracted to the Fort Delaware State Historical Park in Delaware City; the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro; Holy Trinity Scandinavian Church (Old Swedish Church, 1698), Fort Christine Historic Park (1638-1688 – the first permanent European settlement in Delaware) and the Opera House in Wilmington, as well as the 300-year-old Woodland Ferry – Ferry and Mountain Vegetation Center Mount Cuba in Greenville.
