Pennsylvania
A state of the eastern United States. It was admitted as one of
the original Thirteen Colonies in 1787. Explored by Europeans in
the early 1600s, the region was settled by Swedes in 1634 and granted
by royal charter to William Penn in 1681. The Mason-Dixon Line (surveyed
in 1763–1767) established the southern boundary of the colony
and was extended westward in 1784. Pennsylvania played a crucial
role in the American Revolution and in the formation of the new
republic. Harrisburg is the capital, and Philadelphia is the largest
city. Population: 12,400,000.
Pennsylvan also known as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is one
of five Middle Atlantic States in the United States of America.
One of Pennsylvania's nicknames is the Quaker State; in colonial
times, it was known officially as the Quaker Province, in recognition
of Quaker William Penn's First Frame of Government constitution
for Pennsylvania that guaranteed liberty of conscience. Penn knew
of the hostility Quakers faced when they opposed rituals, oaths,
violence, and ostentatious frippery.
Pennsylvania has also been known as the Keystone State since 1802,
based in part upon its central location among the original Thirteen
Colonies forming the United States. It was also a keystone state
economically, having both the industry common to the North, making
such wares as Conestoga wagons and rifles, and the agriculture common
to the South, producing feed, fiber, food, and tobacco.
Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of coastline along Lake Erie and
57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Philadelphia
is Pennsylvania's largest city and is home to a major seaport and
shipyards on the Delaware River.

