Delaware - The US Explained

delaware it's the second smallest state in the us the sixth most densely populated and was the first to ratify the u.s constitution though small delaware is a fascinating state and will be the first place i will cover in this 56 part series on every state territory and federal district in the united states hello and welcome to that is interesting i'm your host carter this is the us explained episode 1 delaware nicknamed the first state because it ratified the u.s constitution on december 7th 1787 five days before the next date to do so and two and a half years before the last of the 13 colonies joined the state is named for its most prominent geographic feature the delaware river which forms much of its eastern border the river is in turn named for thomas west who was a governor of virginia when it was a colony and who held the title of the third bear in delaware giving the river and then the state its name the state has a population of just 983 000 people making it the fifth least populous state in the country the reason for this low population however is due to the fact that delaware doesn't take up very much area just 1982 square miles or 5130 square kilometers this means that in terms of both population and land area delaware is smaller than puerto rico which has yet to be granted statehood the only other state that is smaller than it is rhode island but because delaware takes up such a small area it is also one of the most densely populated states in the country number six to be precise with a population density of 485 people per square mile or 187 per square kilometer similar to that of italy while delaware has over 200 000 more people living in it than alaska you could fit it into alaska over 266 times a stunning example of how small delaware is as well as its relatively high population density it sits in the northeastern u.s on the atlantic coast and borders three states maryland lies to the west in the south new jersey to the east across the delaware river in delaware bay and it shares a small round border with pennsylvania to the north near which most delawareans live around the city of wilmington in addition philadelphia sits just 9 miles or 15 kilometers away and its suburbs stretch right up to the border it's hard to tell but part of the circular border actually continues slightly into the border with maryland i did not know this before but delaware actually has two exclaves that sit on the new jersey side of the river called finn's point and artificial island this is because in much of northern delaware due to a colonial-era border dispute the state controls the entire width of the delaware river right up to the riverbank on the new jersey side the two spots were where mud and silt dredged from the delaware bay to make it easier for boats to pass through were deposited and because of how the border between the two states was laid out both points became part of delaware exclaves only accessible by land from new jersey giving the two states a land border the majority of the state sits on the delmarva peninsula an enormous peninsula sitting between the chesapeake and delaware base and named by combining parts of the names of the three states that it's divided between delaware along with the eastern shore of maryland and virginia because of this much of the water that falls in the western part of the state flows into chesapeake bay and at its closest the state sits just under three miles around four kilometers from an inlet of the bay called the elk river the chesapeake and delaware canal only 16 miles or 26 kilometers long connects the chesapeake bay to the delaware river and makes it a significantly shorter journey to ship goods from say philadelphia to baltimore it also marks the end of the wilmington suburbs and serves as a dividing line between the urban north and rural south of the state while the very northern part of delaware along with the pennsylvania border features some low rolling hills the rest of the state is mostly flat the sixth flattest state in the country actually flatter than both the state of kansas and a pancake because of this most of the state consists of a combination of farmland forests and towns along the delaware river delaware bay and atlantic coast sit swamps wetlands and beaches along with estuaries like rehoboth bay due to its small size delaware is made up of only three counties the least number of counties in the u.s state and they divide it up into a northern central and southern section the southernmost county is sussex county home to around 200 000 people while a more rural area the coastline features a decently large population and beach towns like rehoboth beach and bethany beach draw large numbers of tourists to the state further inland some larger towns include georgetown and seaford delaware's central county called kent county is home to around 180 000 people many of whom live in and around dover the state's capital and largest urban area outside of wilmington if you look at a map of the state dover appears to be located inland but because delaware is so small that means just two miles from the coast along with being the capital city dover is home to the dover air force base one of the busiest air force bases in the country which is known for being the location where members of the us military who die overseas are brought back to the country the northernmost and most populous county in the state is newcastle county which essentially consists of the greater wilmington area home to over half a million people around 56 percent of the state's entire population and a major port the city is nestled between new jersey pennsylvania and maryland sitting where the brandywine creek flows into the christina river which then flows into the delaware river in terms of the state's population history and economy delaware is centered around the city of wilmington the city also sits within the northeast megalopolis a string of cities stretching from washington dc to boston which is home to 55 million people or around 17 percent of the entire u.s population which is even more impressive considering it makes up just two percent of the country's land area geographically this area was the closest part of what would become the united states to europe and was home to excellent ports bays and rivers leading european empires to establish numerous colonies and found cities in the region early on in addition as the u.s added new states to the west they were breaking up large swaths of territory that were sparsely populated and that they had relatively less knowledge of because of this the states in the midwest and western u.s tend to be significantly larger than those of the northeast which then and now have a greater population density wilmington is also located very close to philadelphia one of the largest cities in the country and despite having a distinct downtown it does in a sense function like a satellite city of philly with many people living in wilmington but then commuting into philadelphia and vice versa which gives delaware a cultural connection to eastern pennsylvania other important towns in newcastle county include newark home to the university of delaware and newcastle an old and historic town both of which are located just outside of wilmington the area's location at the mouth of the enormous delaware river made it a highly desirable location for european colonial empires delaware was originally inhabited by two major groups of indigenous people the nanticoke who lived in the southern part of the state around the watershed of the nanticoke river which flows in the chesapeake bay and the lenape also referred to as the delaware who lived along the delaware river in delaware bay inhabiting much of the state along with the entirety of new jersey as well as much of eastern pennsylvania and southern new york where philadelphia and new york city are located today while some lenape and nanticoke people still live in delaware and new jersey most of those who survive diseases brought from europe like smallpox were forced west today most of the lenape are in ontario wisconsin and oklahoma which was formerly known as the indian territory and was the location where many native people from what is now the eastern u.s were forcibly sent to delaware was initially colonized by the dutch and swedish who competed for control of the region with dutch settlers establishing a settlement called swan and dale at the mouth of the delaware bay which did not last very long swedish settlers were initially more successful building a fort named fort christina on a tributary of the delaware river that they named the christina river a town soon developed around it called christina hall and they established a colonial presence along the delaware river calling their colony new sweden after just 17 years the dutch returned building a fort not far from fort christina called fort casimir and conquering new sweden adding it to their colony of new netherland which stretched from what is now delaware to connecticut however just nine years later britain won controlled the colony from the netherlands renaming fort casimir newcastle and christina home wilmington delaware wound up under the control of william penn and became part of his colony of pennsylvania giving it access to the ocean kent sussex in newcastle county were known as the lower counties on the delaware at that point most people in pennsylvania lived in the area along the delaware and those in philadelphia didn't want the lower counties to have as much influence so the lower counties were made into a separate colony that was still a part of the province of pennsylvania both under control of the penn family and the same governor but with two different legislatures one in philadelphia and one in newcastle when the lower counties declared independence in 1776 they did so from both britain and pennsylvania becoming delaware eleven years later on december 7 1787 he became the first state to ratify the constitution and join the united states although influence of the quakers from pennsylvania led many slave holders in the state to free the slaves they held the awful practice remained legal in delaware through the end of the civil war and the passage of the 13th amendment delaware did not however join most of the other slave states in seceding from the union making it along with maryland west virginia kentucky and missouri one of five border states slave states that did not join the confederacy though they didn't secede as a border state delaware had split loyalties with some delawareans fighting for the confederacy instead of for the union during the war wilmington began to thrive and prosper as a center of shipbuilding becoming the center of production of the iron ships that the union needed in the war and cementing its place as delaware's most prominent city today the state is very diverse with black americans making up over 21 percent of delaware's population it has a massive poultry industry centered in sussex county despite being a very small state delaware ranks at eighth place when it comes to chicken production and while home to less than a million people it holds 200 million chickens within its borders politically delaware is a pretty blue state the cook partisan index gives it a partisan voting index or pvi of d plus six meaning that in a given year the democratic party's margins in delaware are greater than the country on average by about six percent it is after all the home state of joe biden who before becoming vice president and then president-elect represented delaware in the senate for decades getting his start in politics by serving in the new castle county council other than biden the most well-known name in delaware is definitely dupont e.i dupont fled france with his family during the french revolution and settled in delaware building a gunpowder mill along the brandywine creek outside of wilmington it would turn into dupont a massive chemical company that produces products like tevlon and kevlar and would make billions of dollars for his descendants who would marry members of other prominent families like the roosevelts and build numerous mansions gardens and estates throughout delaware and even in pennsylvania one member of the family pete dupont served as governor for eight years and even ran for president in 1988. in 2017 dupont merged with another chemical company dao and briefly became dal dupont the largest chemical company in the world before splitting the three delaware is also a major center of banking partially because of its tax laws the state charges no corporate tax on companies that are incorporated in delaware even if they don't operate in the state this has led over a million companies including 63 of those on the fortune 500 list to incorporate in the state including apple the largest company on earth by market cap this means that delaware often described as a tax haven technically has more companies than people although most of the corporations incorporated there have little to no connection to the state that is all for delaware the first episode in this 56 part series the u.s explained i want to give a big thank you to everyone who lives in or near delaware who helps give me information for this video i really appreciate the help the next video will be on pennsylvania the state i'm originally from it's been a while though so if you live in pennsylvania please respond to the latest community post and let me know what you'd like to see included about our home state thank you for watching this video and i hope you learned something new subscribe for more content like this i cover the countries cities people and places of the world and beyond these videos will leave you saying that is interesting [Music] [Music] hmm

Channel: That Is Interesting

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Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 21 2020