Pennsylvania - pĕnsəlvāˈnyə, one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States. It is bordered by New Jersey, across the Delaware River (E), Delaware (SE), Maryland (S), West Virginia (SW), Ohio (W), and Lake Erie and New York (N).

Facts and Figures

Area, 45,333 sq mi (117,412 sq km). Pop. (2000) 12,281,054, a 3.4% increase since the 1990 census. Capital, Harrisburg. Largest city, Philadelphia. Statehood, Dec. 12, 1787 (2d of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution). Highest pt., Mt. Davis, 3,213 ft (980 m); lowest pt., sea level. Nickname, Keystone State. Motto, Virtue, Liberty, and Independence. State bird, ruffed grouse. State flower, mountain laurel. State tree, hemlock. Abbr., Pa.; PA

Geography

The Great Lakes Plain meets the Appalachian Plateau in the extreme northwestern part of the state. The Appalachian Plateau stretches across the western and northern sections of Pennsylvania and covers more than half the area of the state. The Allegheny Mts. line the eastern edge of the plateau and run southwest to northeast, overlooking the Great Appalachian Valley. The Jacks, Tuscarora, and Blue Mts. comprise a ridge and valley section bordered by the Great Appalachian Valley to the southeast and east. The Piedmont Plateau gives way to the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the extreme southeastern portion of the state.

In the east Pennsylvania is drained by the Delaware and the Susquehanna river systems; in the west by the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers, which join at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River; and in the central part by the West Branch of the Susquehanna, which crosses the state and empties into Chesapeake Bay. These turbulent streams and rivers have cut beautiful water gaps, natural passageways for roads and rail lines.

The great forests and lush vegetation that once covered the entire state were transformed during the Carboniferous period into deposits of anthracite coal in the northeast and extensive bituminous beds in the west. Large areas of woodland remain and, in some isolated sections, have retained an almost primitive wildness. Of the many historic sites and parks that have been preserved, those under federal ownership include Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Gettysburg National Military Park, and Independence and Valley Forge national historical parks (see National Parks and Monuments, table). Harrisburg, the state capital, is located between the metropolitan areas of Philadelphia, the largest city, and Pittsburgh.

Economy

Iron smelting, made possible by abundant supplies of ore and of hardwoods for the furnaces, became important in the 18th cent. In the 19th cent., after the Bessemer process made the use of its great bituminous deposits economical, Pennsylvania quickly emerged as the nation's leading steel producer, but the industry has since declined dramatically. Another Pennsylvania resource, anthracite coal, found in the northeast, long made the state a dominant force in American railroading. Heavy industry has declined in general, but the state still manufactures metal products, transportation equipment, foodstuffs, machinery, chemicals, and a wide variety of plastic, rubber, stone, clay, and glass products.

The Pittsburgh and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, situated at opposite ends of the state and dominating the commercial and industrial life of their regions, present startling contrasts in production and culture. Other leading cities are Allentown, Bethlehem, Erie, Reading, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre.

Agriculture is concentrated in the fertile counties of the southeast, and prized farmlands lie in the Great Appalachian Valley, rich with limestone soils; here the Pennsylvania Dutch farmer built a culture that is identified with the bountiful agrarian life. Principal agricultural products include dairy products, cattle, hay, corn, wheat, oats, mushrooms, poultry, potatoes, and fruit.

Government and Higher Education

Pennsylvania is governed under the constitution adopted in 1873 and amended extensively since then. The governor serves a four-year term and may be reelected for one additional term. Thomas Ridge, a Republican, was elected in 1994 and reelected in 1998. Ridge resigned in 2001 to head the U.S. Office of Homeland Security; he was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Mark S. Schweiker. A Democrat, Ed Rendell, was elected to the office in 2002. The state legislature, called the general assembly, consists of a senate of 50 members and a house of representatives of 203 members. Pennsylvania sends 2 senators and 21 representatives to the U.S. Congress and has 23 electoral votes.

Among the state's many universities and colleges are Bryn Mawr College, at Bryn Mawr; Bucknell Univ., at Lewisburg; Carnegie-Mellon Univ., the Univ. of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne Univ., at Pittsburgh; Dickinson College, at Carlisle; Drexel Univ., Temple Univ., the Univ. of Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph's Univ., and La Salle College, at Philadelphia; Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster; Haverford College, at Haverford; Lafayette College, at Easton; Lehigh Univ., at Bethlehem; Lincoln Univ., at Oxford; Pennsylvania State Univ., mainly at University Park; Swarthmore College, at Swarthmore; Villanova Univ., at Villanova; and the 14 universities in the state system.

History

Exploration and Early Settlement

In the early 1600s the English, Dutch, and Swedes disputed the right to the region of Pennsylvania. Explorations were confined to the Delaware River vicinity, where fur trading with the Native Americans was carried on. The original permanent settlement was established on Tinicum Island (1643) in the Delaware River by Johan Printz, governor of New Sweden, and was followed in the succeeding years by the neighboring colony of Uppland.

Swedish jurisdiction was short-lived as the Dutch, operating from their stronghold in New Amsterdam, succeeded in gaining control of the Middle Atlantic region in 1655. In turn the Dutch were overpowered by the British forces of Col. Richard Nicolls, acting for the duke of York (later James II), and in 1664 the British took over the Delaware area. The duke of York remained in control until 1681, when, in payment of a royal debt, William Penn was granted proprietary rights to almost the whole of what is now Pennsylvania, and, in addition, leased the three Lower Counties (see Delaware).

Penn's Colony

A devout Quaker who had suffered for his beliefs, Penn viewed his colony as a holy experiment, designed to grant asylum to the persecuted under conditions of equality and freedom. In 1681 he sent William Markham as his deputy to establish a government at Uppland and sent instructed commissioners to plot the City of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia), which was laid out a few miles north of the confluence of the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers.

Penn carefully constructed a constitution, known as the Frame of Government, that gave Pennsylvania the most liberal government in the colonies. Religious freedom was guaranteed to all who believed in God, a humane penal code was adopted, and the emancipation of slaves was encouraged. However, under the representative system that it established, the popular assembly was left in an inferior position in relation to the executive branches controlled by the proprietors. In 1682 Penn arrived at Uppland (renamed Chester). Shortly thereafter he met with the chiefs of the Delaware tribes and a famous treaty was signed that promoted long-lasting goodwill between the Native Americans and the European settlers. After Penn's death in 1718 proprietary rights were held by his heirs.

By this time Pennsylvania had developed into a dynamic and growing colony, enriched by the continuous immigration of numerous different peoples. The Quakers, English, and Welsh were concentrated in Philadelphia and the eastern counties, where they acquired great commercial and financial power through foreign trade and where they achieved a political dominance which they held until the time of the American Revolution. Philadelphia had by then become the finest city in the nation, a leader in the arts and the professions. The Germans (Pennsylvania Dutch)—largely of the persecuted religious sects of Mennonites (including Amish), Moravians, Lutherans, and Reformed—settled in the farming areas of SE Pennsylvania, where they retained their cohesion and to a considerable extent their language, customs, architecture, and superstitions.

Western Settlement and Native American Resistance

After 1718 the Scotch-Irish began colonizing in the Cumberland Valley and gradually pushed the frontiers toward W Pennsylvania. Their rugged independence and the peculiarities of their frontier problems made them rebellious against the established order. Throughout the province agriculture was the chief occupation, although industry was spurred by abundant water power and plentiful natural resources.

In the west settlement was hindered by a growing unrest among the Native Americans. Penn's heirs lacked both the good sense and the ethical values that prompted Penn's fair and considerate treatment. Resentful of encroachment on their lands and of the land purchase made by the Albany Congress (1754), the Native Americans allied themselves with the French, who were then fortifying positions in the Ohio valley (see French and Indian Wars). The frontier settlements were severely ravaged until, after several reverses, the French abandoned (1758) Fort Duquesne to British and American forces under Gen. John Forbes.

The power of the Native Americans was not completely broken until the suppression of the uprising of 1763 (see Pontiac's Rebellion). The inept defenses provided by the Quaker-controlled assembly during the crisis aroused bitter resentment and intensified efforts to overturn proprietary rule. The struggle between proprietary and antiproprietary parties was soon overshadowed, however, by the opposition to British imperial policies that culminated