Pennsylvania Geostatistics
- Land area:
(land)44,817 sq. miles
(water) 1,239 sq. miles
(TOTAL) 46,056 sq. miles - Land area: (all states)
- Horizontal Width: 284 miles from the Ohio border, direcly east to Philadelphia
- Vertical Length: 158 miles from central New York state border, immediately south to Maryland border
- Border States: (6) New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio
- Counties: (67) Map
- County: ( largest in population) Philadelphia 1,528,655
- Geographic Center: Located 3 miles west of Pleasant Gap in Center County
- Highest Point: Davis, at 3,213 feet.
- Lowest Point: Lake Erie, 0 ft.
- Latitude and longitude
- Average Elevation: 1,128 ft.
Pennsylvania Lat / long
LATITUDE & LONGITUDE:
- Latitude/Longitude: (Absolute Locations)
Harrisburg: (capital) 40º 25′ N, 76º 87′ W
Philadelphia: 39º 96′ N, 75º 16′ W
Pittsburgh: 40º 44′ N, 79º 00′ W - Latitudes and Longitudes: (specific details)
- Find any Latitude & Longitude
- Relative locations: (specific details)
RELATIVE LOCATION:
Pennsylvania is positioned in both the northern and western hemispheres. As part of North America, Pennsylvania is located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bounded by the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio, and by Lake Erie and the Delaware River.
Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is a state in the northeastern United States, in the group of Mid-Atlantic states. Pennsylvania covers an area of 117,000 square kilometers and has a population of 12.4 million (2004). The administrative center is Harrisburg, cities: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Allentown. See counties in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania borders New York State to the north, New Jersey to the east, Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the south and west, and Ohio to the west. Most of Pennsylvania is located in the Appalachian Mountains, which are made up of several ranges separated by longitudinal valleys. The highest point is Mount Davis (980 m). To the west of the mountains is the Appalachian Plateau. In the southeast, along the Delaware River, there is a narrow strip of the Atlantic Lowlands and the rolling Piedmont Plateau with fast-flowing rivers. To the west – the Blue Ridge (Blue Ridge) in the southern Appalachians and the Line of Falls, the area of contact of the Piedmont Plateau and the Atlantic Lowland. In the northwest, the state has access to Lake Erie. More than half of Pennsylvania is covered by forests.
- AbbreviationFinder: Introduction to the state of Pennsylvania, covering commonly used acronyms and the list of main cities and town in Pennsylvania.
Major rivers: Susquehanna, Ohio, Allegheny, Monongahilla. There are many lakes in Pennsylvania; the climate is humid continental with long hot summers and mild winters in the southeast, and long winters and short summers on the Appalachian Plateau. Pennsylvania has the seaport of Philadelphia on the lower Delaware River, a port on the Ohio River, a port on Lake Erie, and international airports. The state is mining coal. Oil and natural gas reserves are concentrated in northwestern Pennsylvania, as well as limestone, gold and silver, copper, cobalt, zinc, and salts. The first nuclear power plant in the United States was built in Pittsburgh.
In economic terms, Pennsylvania is distinguished by a highly developed diversified industrial production, the leading place in which is occupied by the steel industry and transport engineering. Allentown is home to the truck manufacturing center. The state has developed the production of industrial equipment, tools, appliances, chemicals, building materials, plastic products, radio-electronic components, as well as the food, pharmaceutical and printing industries. In agriculture, the production of milk and dairy products, poultry farming (broilers, eggs), growing fruits (apples, cherries, peaches, grapes), vegetables, mushrooms (mushrooms) stand out. The main crops are corn, soybeans, wheat, forage grasses. Pennsylvania is the scientific and cultural center of the United States and is famous for its universities. The Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, the Carnegie Institute of Technology, the Pittsburgh Art Gallery, the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras operate here. The first Pennsylvania Military College (Chester) in the United States was opened in this state.
In pre-Columbian times, the Delaware, Shawnee, Susquehanna, and Iroquois tribes lived in Pennsylvania. In 1614, the Dutch visited the Delaware River Valley. In 1643, the first permanent settlements were formed by the Swedes, which formed the colony of New Sweden. In 1655, New Sweden became part of the Dutch colonial possessions in North America – New Netherlands. In 1664, these lands came under British control. In 1681 Quaker W. Penn received them as a gift from the British King Charles II Stuart and named them Pennsylvania. The first British settlement of Philadelphia was founded in 1682. In his colony W. Penn decided to create an exemplary society “Holy Experiment” (Holy Experiment). The State Supreme Court was established as early as 1722. According to the “Great Law of Pennsylvania”, religious tolerance was proclaimed, the right of every colonist to life and freedom. A jury trial was introduced, the death penalty was provided only for murder and treason. The agreement with the Indians made it possible to ensure the peaceful development of the colony for seven decades. In addition to the British Quakers, French Protestants, Scots, and Germans moved to Pennsylvania.
By the middle of the 18th century, there was already a shortage of land for new settlers, which led to the displacement of the Indians or their destruction. Further progress was hindered by the French, who spread their influence west of the Appalachians and founded a chain of forts from Lake Erie to the mouth of the Ohio River. During the Seven Years’ War (1754-1763) there was also fighting in America known as the French and Indian Wars. In 1758, the British captured the French Fort Duquesne. In its place, under the leadership of General J. Forbes, Fort Pitt (later Pittsburgh) was built in 1759-1761. In 1763, there was an uprising of the Indians led by the leader Pontiac.
In the Seven Years’ War, France was defeated and lost its colonies in North America. However, the British colonists were forbidden to move to the lands west of the Appalachians. This was one of the reasons the Pennsylvanians took an active part in the Revolutionary War. Many important events of the war took place in the state, including the Battle of Brandywine Creek. In the vicinity of Philadelphia at Valley Forge in 1777-1778, the army of J. Washington spent the winter. In 1774, the first Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia. In 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed here at the Second Continental Congress. In 1787 in Philadelphia, delegates to the Constitutional Convention drafted the US Constitution. On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to join the United States. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States from 1790-1800. In 1792, the territory in the northwest near Lake Erie (“Erie Triangle”) was included in the state. Lancaster became the state capital in 1799, and Harrisburg in 1812. In 1859, one of the world’s first oil wells began operating near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania became the scene of battles during the American Civil War. In 1863, a Confederate army from Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania to gain control of the roads that ran through Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. It was in Pennsylvania that one of the most significant and bloody battles of the war took place – the three-day battle for Gettysburg, in which the troops of the northerners consisted of a third of the Pennsylvanians. In 1873, the current state constitution was adopted. After the Civil War, the steel industry began to develop rapidly in the state. In 1867, a new method was used for the first time (the Bessemer process) steel production. In the late 19th century, up to two-thirds of all US steel was produced in Pittsburgh. E. Carnegie’s largest steel empire, which had developed by the end of the 19th century, was sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901. Subsequently, it became the basis of the United States Steel Corporation. The favorable geographical position and the developed network of roads contributed to the intensive development of industry.
A significant decline in production in the state was observed during the Great Depression of the 1930s. During the Second World War, one of the leading places in the industry was occupied by military production. In general, industrial production in the 20th century was concentrated in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. At the end of the 20th century, the metallurgical industry fell into decline, the economy was highly diversified, and the high-tech industry was actively developing. Most of the historical and artistic attractions are concentrated in Philadelphia, including “Independence Hall” (“Independence Hall”, where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were adopted); as well as in the cities of Pittsburgh, Allentown, Bethlehem.
