什么是德拉瓦

美国大西洋沿岸中部的一州，人口约732,000（1997）。面积2,057平方哩（5,328平方公里），首府多佛（Dover）。全州地势很低，平均海拔仅18公尺，最高点在纽塞的艾尔布莱特路，海拔135公尺。除北部的山前高地外，其余地区均属沿海平原。原为阿尔冈昆（Algonquian）部落定居处，1638年瑞典人在克里斯蒂娜堡（Fort Christina，今维明顿〔Wilmington〕）建立了第一个白人永久居民点。1655年新阿姆斯特丹（New Amsterdam）的荷兰人占据了新瑞典（New Sweden）殖民地，1664年换英国人占领，後来德拉瓦一直是纽约的一部分，1682年才割让给彭威廉（William Penn）。虽然在1704年批准它有自己的议会，但在1776年以前受宾夕法尼亚州（Pennsylvania）管辖。该州是最初批准联邦宪法并加入联邦十三州中的第一州（1787年12月7日），是全国第二小的州，但也是人口最稠密的州之一。化学制造业是主要工业，其次是食品加工。该州最重要得运输动脉是乞沙比克－德拉瓦运河，此运河经深挖及修直河道，缩短了费城（Philadelphia）与巴尔的摩（Baltimore）之间的水路。

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.