Delaware

I

Introduction

Delaware, one of the South Atlantic states of the United States. It occupies part of the peninsula between Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay. Delaware was one of the 13 original states. Delawareans played a major role in the events that occurred during and after the American Revolution (1775-1783), and on December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

Delaware is divided into three counties: New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. Historically, industrialized New Castle County has contrasted with the other two counties, which have been predominantly agricultural areas. Today more than two-thirds of the population live in New Castle County, the northernmost county, in and around Wilmington, the state’s only large city. Dover, in Kent County in the center of the state, is Delaware’s capital. The history of Wilmington and of the state’s early large-scale industrial growth is, to a great extent, the history of the famous du Pont family and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, one of the world’s largest chemical companies. Delaware is primarily an industrial state. Most of the manufacturing industries are located in New Castle County, although a number of industrial plants have been established in the two southern counties. For the most part, the south remains an agricultural area, and farmers produce a wide range of products for such urban markets as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York City. The people of Delaware commonly denote parts of their state as either “north of the canal,” meaning in the industrialized and densely inhabited region around Wilmington, or “south of the canal,” meaning in Delaware’s rural and lightly settled farming region. The canal referred to is the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which effectively bisects New Castle County.

The state’s name is derived from the name of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, Virginia’s first colonial governor. In 1610 Sir Samuel Argall, sailing for Virginia, sighted what is now called Cape Henlopen in Delaware Bay. Argall named it Cape De La Warr in honor of the governor. Although the cape itself was later renamed, the name Delaware came to be applied to the Delaware River and Delaware Bay and later to the land along the western shore of the bay and the river. Delaware’s official nickname is the First State, which commemorates Delaware’s early ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Delaware is also known as the Diamond State, because its value, like that of a diamond, is said to be out of all proportion to its small size. Another nickname, the Blue Hen State, dates from the American Revolution when the fighting spirit of the Delaware First Regiment was compared with that of their mascots, a brood of gamecocks reared by a famous blue hen. The blue hen was later designated the official state bird.

II

Physical Geography

Delaware is the second smallest state of the Union, covering only 6,446 sq km (2,489 sq mi), including 186 sq km (72 sq mi) of inland water and 961 sq km (371 sq mi) of coastal water over which it has jurisdiction. Only Rhode Island is smaller. Located in the eastern section of the Delmarva Peninsula, between Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay, Delaware is 154 km (96 mi) from north to south and varies from 14 to 56 km (9 to 35 mi) east to west. The state is a low-lying area. With an average elevation of only 18 m (60 ft), it ranks as the lowest state in the nation.

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A

Natural Regions

Delaware can be divided into two major regions, or physiographic provinces, each of which is part of a larger physiographic division of the eastern United States. The two regions are the Piedmont Plateau and the Coastal Plain. The Piedmont, which is part of the larger Appalachian Region, extends into the state from Pennsylvania and forms only a small section of Delaware. The Coastal Plain occupies the rest of the state as well as much of the coastal area of neighboring states. The boundary between Delaware’s two natural regions is marked by the Fall Line, the zone where streams pass from the more ancient and harder rock of the upland to the more easily eroded sands, clays, and shales of the Coastal Plain.

The Piedmont in Delaware lies north of the Christina River, and consists of fertile river valleys and rolling wooded hills. The highest point, on the border with Pennsylvania, is only 137 m (448 ft) above sea level, and few other hills rise above 120 m (400 ft).

The Coastal Plain in Delaware is characterized by flat, sometimes swampy plains, which are part of the wide sandy plain that stretches along the eastern coast of the United States. Great Pocomoke Swamp, which is also called Big Cypress Swamp, lies in the southern part of the Coastal Plain, and other swamps and marshes, which are flooded at high tide, occupy the lower courses of many of the major river valleys. A low ridge of well-drained land runs the entire length of the Coastal Plain in Delaware. It forms the low divide between rivers flowing eastward into Delaware Bay and westward into Chesapeake Bay. Delaware’s best farmlands lie on or near the low ridge. Nearly all of the state’s coastal plain is less than 18 m (60 ft) above sea level.

B

Rivers

Delaware borders the estuary of the Delaware River, which is considered to be the state’s principal river. The wide, lower portion of the estuary is called Delaware Bay. In northeastern Delaware, the New Jersey state line follows the east bank of the Delaware River so that the river there lies entirely in Delaware. In northern Delaware, rivers flowing into the Delaware River include the Christina and its tributary, Brandywine Creek, which join to form Wilmington’s harbor. Other rivers flowing into Delaware Bay include the Appoquinimink, Smyrna, and Saint Jones rivers in central Delaware, and the Mispillion River, which enters the bay in southern Delaware. The Nanticoke and its tributary, Broad Creek, are the principal rivers in southwestern Delaware and flow westward across Maryland into Chesapeake Bay. There are many other short rivers and streams in the state.

Except for the Delaware River, most of the major rivers in the state are navigable only by small craft. Oceangoing vessels and barges can navigate Delaware Bay and the Delaware River to Wilmington and other ports farther upriver. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal extends across the northern part of the state to link Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay. The canal forms part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

In colonial times the small waterfalls that occur where Brandywine Creek and other tributaries of the Christina River flow over the Fall Line provided waterpower for Delaware’s flour mills and other factories.

There are no large lakes in Delaware. However, there are numerous small lakes and ponds, which are often used for fishing and other recreational activities.

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