什麼是德拉瓦

美國大西洋沿岸中部的一州，人口約732,000（1997）。面積2,057平方哩（5,328平方公里），首府多佛（Dover）。全州地勢很低，平均海拔僅18公尺，最高點在紐塞的艾爾布萊特路，海拔135公尺。除北部的山前高地外，其餘地區均屬沿海平原。原為阿爾岡昆（Algonquian）部落定居處，1638年瑞典人在克里斯蒂娜堡（Fort Christina，今維明頓〔Wilmington〕）建立了第一個白人永久居民點。1655年新阿姆斯特丹（New Amsterdam）的荷蘭人佔據了新瑞典（New Sweden）殖民地，1664年換英國人佔領，後來德拉瓦一直是紐約的一部分，1682年才割讓給彭威廉（William Penn）。雖然在1704年批准它有自己的議會，但在1776年以前受賓夕法尼亞州（Pennsylvania）管轄。該州是最初批准聯邦憲法並加入聯邦十三州中的第一州（1787年12月7日），是全國第二小的州，但也是人口最稠密的州之一。化學制造業是主要工業，其次是食品加工。該州最重要得運輸動脈是乞沙比克－德拉瓦運河，此運河經深挖及修直河道，縮短了費城（philadelphia）與巴爾的摩（Baltimore）之間的水路。

Delaware

State (pop., 1997 est.: 732,000), middle Atlantic region, U.S. Covering 2,057 sq mi (5,328 sq km), its capital is Dover. Originally inhabited by Algonquian tribes, Delaware's first permanent white settlement was by Swedes at Fort Christina, now Wilmington, in 1638. In 1655 New Sweden was taken by the Dutch of New Amsterdam and in 1664 by the English. Delaware was thereafter a part of New York until 1682, when it was ceded to William Penn. It was governed by Pennsylvania until 1776, although it was granted its own assembly in 1704. The first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787, it is the nation's second smallest state but one of its most densely populated. Chemical manufacturing is the major industry, followed by food processing. Delaware's most important transportation artery is the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, deepened for ocean shipping, which shortens the water route between Philadelphia and Baltimore.