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Delaware
The First State, a low coastal sliver on the Atlantic
Delaware is the second-smallest state and one of the flattest — a 2,489-square-mile (6,446 km²) sliver on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, occupying the northeastern corner of the Delmarva Peninsula. Its land slopes so gently that the highest natural point, the Ebright Azimuth, reaches just 448 feet (137 m), the lowest state high point in the country. Tidal marsh, sandy beach, and farmland define a landscape shaped more by water than by relief.
The state takes its shape from Delaware Bay and the wide, ship-heavy Delaware River, which carry oceangoing traffic up to Wilmington and on toward Philadelphia. Its famous northern boundary is a perfect arc — the Twelve-Mile Circle, drawn around New Castle, the only circular state border in the nation. As the first state to ratify the Constitution in 1787, Delaware wears "The First State" with pride, even as its small size belies an outsized role in American corporate law.
Economy
Delaware's business-friendly corporate law has made it the legal home of well over a million companies, including a majority of large U.S. public corporations, giving it an outsized role in finance and corporate law. It is also historically the home of DuPont and the chemical industry, with banking and credit-card operations, poultry farming, and the Port of Wilmington.
Politics
Delaware carries 3 electoral votes and votes reliably Democratic in presidential elections. It is the home state of President Joe Biden, who represented it in the U.S. Senate for 36 years.