All About Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially Commonwealth of Pennsylvania constituent state of the United States of America, one of the original 13 American colonies. The 45,308 square miles (117,348 square km) of the state are bounded on the north by Lake Erie and New York; on the east by New York and New Jersey; on the south by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia; and on the west by the panhandle of West Virginia and by Ohio. Harrisburg, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, is the capital.
Although it is classified as a Middle Atlantic state, Pennsylvania does not touch the Atlantic Ocean at any point. Water, nonetheless, has been nearly as crucial in the state's growth as has the wealth of its earth. The boundary with New Jersey is formed by the Delaware River, on which Philadelphia is the major element in the Pennsylvania–New Jersey–Delaware harbour complex that is one of the world's busiest shipping centres. In the northwest a small panhandle separates Ohio and New York and forms a 40-mile (64-km) waterfront on Lake Erie, giving the state access to the iron-ore barges and other commerce of the Great Lakes. Located at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River, Pittsburgh has become one of the nation's busiest inland river ports.
Pennsylvania has long been one of the most populous states in the nation. Geographically, it is the Keystone State, integrating first the older states of the Northeast and the South and later the states of the East and the developing territories and states of the Midwest. The state is polarized by two great metropolitan areas: Philadelphia lies athwart the vast population belt stretching along the seaboard from Maine to Virginia, and Pittsburgh is the beginning of the booming industrial belt reaching westward across the Great Lakes plains to Chicago and Milwaukee.
The mountains and rivers that dominate Pennsylvania's natural landscape have had a major influence in determining its use. The Allegheny section of the Appalachian Mountain system, running across the state from southwest to northeast, leaves only a triangle of Piedmont and Coastal Plain in the southeast, with Philadelphia and environs at its extreme point. The Allegheny Front and Mountains form a diagonal spine across the centre of the state, while to the north and west a rugged plateau region falls almost at the lakefront into the Lake Erie lowlands, known as the Lake Erie Plain. In the eastern part of the state, the Delaware is fed mainly by the Lehigh and Schuylkill. The Susquehanna, draining the largest section of the state, is a wide, shallow stream that meanders finally into Maryland and Chesapeake Bay. The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Pittsburgh, from where it flows westward to the Mississippi.
With fertile farmland, large areas of commercial forest land, seemingly inexhaustible supplies of coal, many navigable waterways, and an economically strategic location on the Eastern Seaboard, Pennsylvania has historically been one of the most prosperous states in the nation. As the exploitation of its primary wealth - soils, minerals, and forests - proceeded during the 18th and 19th centuries, Pennsylvania held a place that was second only to New York in wealth and population. Although its steel industry began to contract in the mid-1960s, Pennsylvania still produces more specialty steel than any other state, and its manufacturing industries are as diversified as those of any state in the Union. In the 20th century, however, the changing nature of modern industry, the use of fuels other than coal, and the growth of the rest of the country have had an adverse effect on the Keystone State both in production and in population. In 1987, the Pennsylvania Economic Development Partnership was created to direct the development of the state economy through both public and private channels.
Pennsylvania's abundant wildlife makes it a leading state for hunting. Unprotected predatory species include red and gray foxes, wildcats, and weasels. Most large animals gradually have been eliminated by humans. Species once common - e.g., the black bear and the Canada lynx - are now rare, although skunks and raccoons, pheasants and other game birds, and, in some areas, deer are still found in abundance. More than 150 species of fish, including trout, salmon, and walleye, are found in the streams.
Pennsylvania's three major ports - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Erie - are supplemented by others along the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio. Petroleum is Philadelphia's leading cargo, but it has facilities for handling ores, coal, molasses, and general cargo as well. Part of Erie's facilities have been converted to the building of ore carriers for Great Lakes service. Pennsylvania's highway system, one of the most extensive in the nation, includes the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a four-lane toll road joining New Jersey and Ohio that was a model for the nation in modern superhighway construction. It is paralleled to the north by Interstate 80, known in Pennsylvania as the Keystone Shortway. Although the bankruptcy of the Penn Central Railroad in 1970 reduced passenger and freight service, the rail lines continue to serve as important economic links for the Middle Atlantic region. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have the state's largest airports, but others also have international status.
