Settled in 1681 by Quakers, Pennsylvania played a vital role in revolutionary America. The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were drawn up in Philadelphia--the nation's chief seat of government until 1800. Valley Forge was the site of the Continental Army's encampment during a critical winter of the American Revolution.
Few states can equal Pennsylvania's wealth of natural resources, its diversity of landscape, or its contributions to United States history. Pennsylvania's traditions of civil and religious freedom have attracted people of many lands. Their labors have turned the state's resources into vast industries.
Pennsylvania's waterways provide ample outlets for its commerce: eastern rivers link Philadelphia and other ports with the Atlantic Ocean; western rivers link Pittsburgh to the Gulf of Mexico; and Lake Erie provides access to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The state's mountains--the Poconos, the Appalachians, the Alleghenies--attract many tourists and sportsmen.
The commonly accepted meaning of Pennsylvania is Penn's Woods. The first name suggested for the new colony, New Wales, was rejected. William Penn then proposed Sylvania, to which King Charles II of England added Penn in honor of Penn's father. During its early days as a nation, the United States was made up of 13 states spread along the Atlantic seaboard. Pennsylvania stood in the center of the new republic. Six states lay to the north and east, and six to the south. Because of its central location, Pennsylvania was given the nickname Keystone State.
Pennsylvania lies in the Middle Atlantic region of the United States. Its eastern boundary is the Delaware River, which separates Pennsylvania from New York and New Jersey. To the southeast is Delaware. Maryland and West Virginia are the states to the south. To the west are West Virginia, south of the Ohio River, and Ohio, north of the Ohio River. In the northwest Pennsylvania borders on Lake Erie for 51 miles (82 kilometers). The remainder of the northern border is shared with New York. From east to west Pennsylvania's greatest length is 304 miles (489 kilometers). Its greatest width, from north to south, is 174 miles (280 kilometers). The state's total area is 45,333 square miles (117,412 square kilometers), including 367 square miles (951 square kilometers) of inland water surface and 735 square miles (1,904 square kilometers) of Lake Erie.
