Federated state of the USA (117,348 km 2 with 12,448,279 inhabitants in 2008), one of the original 13. Capital Harrisburg. It extends between the Atlantic Ocean and the Lake Erie, and its territory is roughly rectangular in shape. It borders to the north and northeast with the State of New York, to the east and to the SE with New Jersey, to the south with the Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia, to the west with West Virginia and Ohio. The northwestern half of the state falls within the plateau of Appalachian, which is declining towards the area of Great Lakes. A series of mountainous diaphragms, arranged from southwest to northeast, crosses the central part of the Pennsylvania., but without touching significant elevations (maximum height in the whole state, less than 1000 m), while the south-eastern end of the territory is occupied from a cloister of hills that end up on the coastal plain.
The large hydrographic basins of Allegheny and Monongahela, which converge at Pitts; burgh to form Ohio, and that of Susquehanna belong almost entirely to Pennsylvania. The climate, temperate maritime in the eastern sector, towards the West becomes more and more continental.
The population (which since the foundation of the State has been characterized by a notable increase) has a density of 105 inhabitants / km 2 and over 70% lives in urban areas. According to abbreviationfinder, Philadelphia And Pittsburgh are the major cities.
In the economic field, the primary sector is of great importance (exploitation of the forest heritage and livestock in the Appalachians, cultivation of cereals, fruit and mushrooms in the valleys and coastal plains); the resources of the subsoil are considerable: hard coal, oil and natural gas, products that have determined the enormous industrial development of the state. The secondary sector is represented by the steel industry (today in serious crisis), and by the mechanical, chemical, textile, food and timber industries. Modern productive sectors have also established themselves (IT, robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology).
The region, comprising the territories west of Delaware and north of Maryland, became the property of W. Penn in 1681, who called it Sylvania, but from the beginning the addition of his name led to the current denomination; the province then also included the current territory of the State of Delaware. Penn undertook to establish a government inspired by religious tolerance, peaceful coexistence with the Indians and democratically ordered. The revolution brought the Pennsylvania to the center of political attention of the American states: the two continental congresses met (1774 and 1775-81), the declaration of independence was voted in Philadelphia (1776). In 1790 the state adopted a new Constitution which restored the office of the governor and provided for a bicameral legislative. The capital, initially Philadelphia, was from 1799 Lancaster and only since 1812 Harrisburg.
According to countryaah, Pennsylvania has the following main cities:
Pittsburgh
City of the USA (310,037 residents In 2008), the second of the Pennsylvania, one of the largest in North America for industrial activities and one of the main US river ports. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, whose waters form the river Ohio. It has continental climate. The snowfall is considerable (775 mm per year); the rains amount to 920 mm per year with prevalence in the summer months (July 115 mm).
The city, built in 1753 as a fortress during the colonial war between the French and the English, already grew in the last two decades of the 18th century. as an industrial city and Pennsylvania’s premier cultural center. It developed economically and demographically in the first half of the 19th century. – as a consequence of the opening of the Mississippi to commercial traffic, the exploitation of the very rich coal deposits in the surroundings and the possibility of transporting iron ore from the deposits of the Lake Superior by river routes -, extending both into the confluence peninsula and along the two rivers upstream and especially on the left of the Monongahela and then downstream along the Ohio. Numerous bridges over the three rivers connect the various nuclei.
The population (2000 residents At the beginning of the 19th century) grew to reach 670,000 residents in 1930; later the city suffered a demographic decline, also due to the diminished importance of coal mining.
The steel industries have long formed the main basis of Pennsylvania’s life, with neighborhoods and suburbs entirely made up of workshops and workers’ homes. With the crisis of the steel industry and heavy mechanics in the 1980s, a process of industrial reconversion and production renewal began, which gave new impetus to a declining economy. The most dynamic sectors are high technology (activities connected with the healthcare sector, from equipment to plant and machinery, to biotechnology), financial services and the information technology and electronics sector. The city is also an important cultural center (University of Pennsylvania, Duquesne University, Institute Carnegie of technology), home to libraries (Carnegie library), art galleries and music conservatories.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia (ingl. Philadelphia) City of the USA (1,449,634 in 2007), the sixth after New York, The Angels, Chicago, Washington e San Francisco. It is located in the state of Pennsylvania, at the confluence of the Schuylkill River in Delaware, just over 150 km from the Atlantic Ocean, where commercial river navigation ends. Founded in 1682, after the civil war, when colonization expanded to the West, thanks to its position on the two rivers, it took control of trade between the newly conquered regions and the coast. The fertility of the foothills region, one of the best cultivated in the Atlantic states, contributed to the economic development of the city. The population (mainly of Irish, English, German, Dutch origin, with a notable black and Puerto Rican minority) marked a rapid increase: of 15,000 residents in 1750 and 121,000 in 1850, by 1900 (also thanks to an expansion of the administrative limits) it had already exceeded one million.
Two large streets crossed at right angles, from north to south and from east to west (Broad Street and Market Street), trace the commercial axes of the metropolis, which in its expansion remained faithful until the first quarter of the 20th century., at the initial reticulated floor: the town hall rises in the geometric center. With the passage of time Philadelphia has been extending northwards along the banks of the two rivers and then westwards where it crossed the Schuylkill, by means of numerous bridges, and attracted nearby centers into its orbit, such as those on the left bank of the Delaware (for eg, Camden, in the State of New Jersey, joined to Philadelphia by a suspension bridge, opened in 1926).
The industry, although progressively flanked by tertiary activities, constitutes one of the largest complexes in the United States: every branch is represented there, but in the first place is the engineering (in particular railway, naval and aeronautical construction) and electromechanics (radio and televisions). This is followed by the chemical and petrochemical industries, the traditional textile and food industries, the manufacture of tobacco, the paper industry, which feeds a large publishing activity (the first newspaper of the North American colonies, American weekly mercury, came out to Philadelphia, in 1719, and the first newspaper of the new confederacy, the Pennsylvania packet, in 1784). The tourism and pharmaceutical sectors are growing, as are financial and commercial activities. Active river port, it imports raw products for industry and food products and exports petroleum and derivatives, textiles and steel products. The dense railway network links up at the port and converges here by various routes from the Pennsylvania mining basins and meets the bundle of lines that descend from New York to the south along the Atlantic coast. Air traffic junction.
Capital of Pennsylvania (until 1799), Philadelphia was the seat of the first continental congress during the struggle for independence; when the war ended, the Convention was also convened; between 1781 and 1800 it was the capital of the USA. Remarkable center of culture, Philadelphia is home to literary, artistic and scientific institutes (Academy of political and social sciences, founded in 1749; Academy of fine arts, founded in 1805), of many university institutes (University of Pennsylvania, 1740; Temple University, 1884; Drexel institute of technology, 1891).
Designed with a grid plan by T. Holme, Philadelphia has preserved architecture that reflects a variety of styles: the Swedish Gloria Dei Church (1698-1700), the Palladian Christ Church (1727-44), the Independence Hall in style Georgian (1732-41; rebuilt in 1897), the classic buildings of the Pennsylvania Hospital (1765-1805) and the Library Hall (1790), the Arch street meeting house (1803-05,1810-11), the neoclassical Second Bank (1819-24), the Victorian Fisher fine arts library. In the 20th century. steel and concrete constructions begin; from 1932 is the PSFS Building by G. Howe and W. Lescaze. In the second post-war period, the figure of LI Kahn is fundamental, for the new urban plan (1961) and for the buildings built. Also worthy of mention are the numerous architectures by R. Venturi; by H. Hardy, M. Holzman and N. Pfeiffer; by E. Mitchell and R. Giurgola and the new skyscrapers, in the center of Philadelphia, One & Two Liberty Place (Murphy & Jahn, 1987 and 1990); Comcast Center (Robert AM Stern Architects, 2007). The Philadelphia museum of art is among the most important US museums, with the Johnson Collection and the Arensberg Collection attached. Near Philadelphia, in Elkins Park, is FL Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue (1959); Merion is home to the foundation Barnes foundation.
Harrisburg
Capital of the state of Pennsylvania (United States), Dauphin County, is located on the left bank of the Susquehamia River about 170 kilometers west of Philadelphia. The city arose in the place where a certain John Harris in 1753 had established a passage on the river, a place long known as Harris’ Ferry. In 1786 the center was called Louisburg, but in 1791 it returned to its original name. In 1812 it was chosen as the state capital. The population from 1462 residents in 1800 it rose to 7834 in 1850, to 50,167 in 1900, to 80,339 in 1930. There were numerous aggregations of nearby towns. The excellent geographical position and the presence of iron and coal mines have greatly favored the industries; there were 10,522 workers in 1919, down to 8264 in 1925. Mechanical industries prevail (large Pennsylvania Railroad railway workshops, typewriter factories), tobacco factories, publishing industries, textiles, etc. As the capital of the state, the city has many monuments, buildings of considerable historical and artistic interest, parks and gardens; it is served by several Pennsylvania lines, Philadelphia and Reading Railways.
Lancaster
City of the United States of America, capital of the homonymous county in the state of Pennsylvania; the city is located 112 meters above sea level on Conestoga, 150 km. about west of Philadelphia; rises almost in the center of a region among the most fertile and intensely cultivated in the United States, producing cereals and tobacco, which feeds a remarkable industry and trade, in the center there are mills, cotton mills, linoleum factories, confectionery, umbrellas, cars and watches. Among the notable buildings are the Lutheran church of the Trinity built in 1736 and rebuilt in 1785, a stone bridge of the century. XVIII; there are also numerous colleges and educational institutes: among them the theological seminary of the reformed church. In 1930 Lancaster had 59,949 inhabitants, 93% of whom were White.
Lancaster was the largest city in the interior at the time of the War of Independence, and in 1788 it was thought to make it the federal capital, a function which it had already performed for a single day on September 27, 1777. It was also the capital of the state from 1799 to 1812. Founded around 1717 by multiple Protestant sects from Great Britain and Germany, it was, until 1729, called Hickory Town; built in 1730, it was incorporated as a village in 1742 and as a city in 1818. In 1744 an important treaty was signed with the Iroquois Indians.
