Delaware, one of the Atlantic States of the American Union, forms a part of a peninsula lying between the lower reaches of the Copyright 1889 in U.S. by J. B. Lippincott Company. Susquehanna and Chesapeake Bay on the west, and the Delaware River and Bay and Atlantic Ocean on the east. The state is bounded on the N. by Pennsylvania (the boundary there being an arc of a circle), on the E. by the Delaware River and Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and on the S. and W. by Maryland. With an area of 2050 sq. m., or little more than that of Northumberland, it is the smallest of all the states, except Rhode Island; in 1880 it was the smallest of all in population, except Nevada. Save in a small hilly section in the north, nearly all the surface is low and level, and in the extreme south there is much swampy land; while the most southern two-fifths of the area is in great part a sandy region. The hill-district in the north presents a stony surface overlying azoic rocks, such as gneiss and granite, with patches of serpentine and limestone. A strip of highly fertile red clay lies south of the hill-country; and next southward occurs a productive and fossiliferous greensand formation, succeeded by a somewhat sandy belt, less fertile than the greensand, although the greater part of its extent is by no means unproductive. The coast-region has many salt-marshes, some of them dyked, and thus rendered tillable; and farther inland is a considerable body of extremely rich alluvial soil. The western border of the state is generally well wooded, and in some places flat and marshy. The rivers of Delaware are mostly small, but many are navigable. In the north kaolin and iron ore are found, and bog ore or limonite occurs to some extent in other parts. The state is divided into three counties, New Castle in the north, Kent in the centre, and Sussex in the south.
The state is well provided with railroad facilities, and is crossed by a canal connecting the Delaware and Chesapeake bays. The northern section has large and varied manufacturing interests. Fishing and the taking of oysters and crabs are important industries in Sussex county, and along the shores and tidal streams. Peaches and the various small fruits, as well as market-garden products, are leading articles of export; the principal cereal crops are maize, wheat, and oats. Pop. (1870) 125,015; (1880) 146,608, of whom 26,448 were of pure or mixed African descent; (1890) 168,493. The principal towns are Wilmington (61,431), New Castle (3800), Dover, the state capital (3000), and Smyrna (2500).
Delaware's first permanent white settlements were made by Swedes and Finns who settled at Christiana (Wilmington) in 1638; for a Dutch settlement of 1613 at Hoonkill (now Lewes) was destroyed a year later by the Indians. The colony of New Sweden included a small part of Pennsylvania and a section of New Jersey. For several years the Dutch and Swedes contended for the possession of this region, till in 1655 it passed under Dutch sway. After the transfer of New Amsterdam (now New York) to the English rule in 1664, Delaware, like the stronger colony, became English also. It was governed from New York until 1682, when William Penn became proprietary of the three Delaware counties, which, however, were never considered as forming any part of Pennsylvania, to which colony they were attached. In 1776 a constitution was adopted, which was set aside by another in 1791; and this was revised in 1831. Delaware was a slave-state until the war of 1861-65, but took no part in the secession movement. It offers several curious survivals, such as its division into hundreds, and the retention of whipping-post and pillory.