Pennsylvania (formerly also Pennsylvania) is a US state. The state capital is Harrisburg, while Philadelphia is the largest city. According to ebizdir, it borders New York in the north and northeast, New Jersey in the east on the other side of the Delaware River, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia in the south, Ohio in the west and Lake Erie in the northwest.
Before the state was established, the area was home to Lenape, Susquehannock, Iroquois, Eriez, Shawnee, and other Native American tribes.
The western parts of Pennsylvania were among the disputed territories between the British and the French during the French and Native American wars. The French established numerous fortresses in the area, including Fort Duquesne, on which the city of Pittsburgh was built.
TIMELINE:
1643 – The southeastern part of the state, near Philadelphia, is populated by Swedes, but control of the area passes to Holland and on to England.
1681 – On March 4, Charles II of England gives William Penn a contract over the area, which now includes Pennsylvania. Penn then founded the province of Pennsylvania as a place of religious freedom for the Quakers and gave it the Latin name, meaning “Penn’s woodland.”
1682 – On October 27, William Penn established Philadelphia, which is today one of the oldest cities in the United States.
1752 – On June 15, Benjamin Franklin proves with a dragon that lightning is an electric discharge.
1754-63 – The French and Indian War begins in May and lasts 9 years.
1763 – Englishmen Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon are sent out to survey the border between the two territories, later states, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The border was named The Mason-Dixon line, and the surveys and surveys were completed in 1767.
1758 – Fort Duquesne is rebuilt and renamed Fort Pitt on November 27, after the French surrender to the British. The fort was named after British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder. The settlement at the fort was called “Pittsborough.”
1776 – The United States Declaration of Independence is signed on July 2 in Philadelphia and issued on 4-5. July, just as the United States Constitution was drafted by a convention that met in the city. A total of 56 people signed the Declaration of Independence ( John Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration).
1777-78 – British troops occupy Philadelphia; General George Washington and his war-weary men overwintered at Valley Forge. Six months later, the army marched out with renewed strength, beating the British battle after battle.
1780 – Pennsylvania becomes the first state to abolish slavery.
1787 – The United States Constitution is adopted on September 17, and Pennsylvania is incorporated as the 2nd State of the United States on December 12, after Delaware became the first on December 7.
1790-1800 – Philadelphia temporarily became the capital of the United States.
1791 – Harrisburg is established and becomes the state capital in 1812.
1793 – Yellow fever kills 2,000 Philadelphia residents.
1845 – On April 10, a wildfire quickly spreads to 1,000 homes, destroying a third of the city, damaging $ 6-12 million.
1846 – The Liberty Bell rings for the last time in honor of George Washington’s birthday.
1857 – James Buchanan became America’s 15th president. He is so far the only unmarried president, and the only resident of the state of Pennsylvania who has held the presidency. Buchanan is criticized for not preventing the division in the country that led to the American Civil War, and many consider him, along with his predecessor Franklin Pierce, to have been the poorest president in U.S. history.
1859 – Oil is discovered in Titusville.
1863 – The Battle of Gettysburg between July 1 and 3 is considered by many historians to be the turning point of the American Civil War. Some of the dead from this battle are buried in Gettysburg National Cemetery, the site of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech.
1979 – The Three Mile Island accident is the worst Western-type light-water nuclear accident of the 20th century. The accident took place on March 28 at the Harrisburg plant, where a partial meltdown of the plant’s reactor 2 took place.
