Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

City with a population of over 1.54 million in 2008; the sixth most populous city in the United States and largest city in Pennsylvania. County seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is colloquially referred to as Philly, and its name is Greek for The City of Brotherly Love (Φιλαδέλφεια, /fi.la.ˈdɛl.fɛj.a/, "brotherly love" from philos "loving" and adelphos "brother").

The population of the city as of the 2000 census was 1,517,550 though 2009 U.S. Census estimates a population of 1,547,901. Philadelphia is the second-largest city on the U.S. East Coast, and a major commercial, educational, and cultural center for the nation. The northeastern boundary of Philadelphia is only 46 miles from the southwestern fringe of New York City (and the downtowns of each are approximately 80 miles apart).

The Philadelphia metropolitan area is the fourth largest in the U.S. by the current official definition, with some 5.8 million people.

Philadelphia is one of the oldest and most historically significant cities in the United States. The city was originally the site of the Lenape village of Shackamaxon. In 1637 the Swedes took control of the area. The area was conquered by the Dutch in 1653 and the English in 1663. The area was granted to William Penn in 1682 as part of the colony of Pennsylvania. Penn ordered the settlement of the area as the provincial capital, naming it Philadelphia. He officially chartered it as a city in 1701. It was quickly established as a major trading center and grew in size.

In the colonial and Revolutionary eras, it eclipsed Boston and New York City in political and social importance, with Benjamin Franklin taking a large role in Philadelphia's rise. The city is perhaps best known globally as the geographic center of the 18th century thinking and activity that gave birth to the American Revolution and subsequent American democracy and independence. It was the site of the Continental Congresses that declared United States independence and organized the new government in the mid-1770s. It served as the national capital after the Revolution from 1778-83 and then from 1790-1800. It also served as Pennsylvania state capital from 1776 to 1799. Adjacent to Philadelphia is the well-known Revolutionary encampment of Valley Forge.

It became a destination for immigrant settlement in the mid-1800s. In 1854 the city's limits were expanded to be coterminous with the county's. Its position as a center of industry made it a major American city that peaked with 2 million inhabitants by the 1950s. Its population declined in the second half of the 20th century but was stymied somewhat by urban renewal projects.

www.phila.gov/

www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/

www.philadelphiausa.travel/

www.philly.com/

wikitravel.org/en/Philadelphia


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