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Philadelphia

City in Pennsylvania, United StatesPhiladelphia lies in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River across from New Jersey. The Schuylkill River flows through the city to join the Delaware.

What it's known for

Philadelphia is where the United States was founded: the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution in 1787 were both debated and adopted in Independence Hall, which became a World Heritage Site in 1979. It is the largest city in Pennsylvania.

Fun facts

  1. William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city in 1682 and named it Philadelphia, which is Greek for 'brotherly love'.
  2. The Liberty Bell was hidden under the floor boards of a church for nine months from September 1777, during the Revolutionary War.
  3. The city had the country's first library (1731), first hospital (1751) and first zoo (1874).

Finding it on the globe

Along the US east coast, Philadelphia is between New York and Washington, D.C., closer to New York, on the Delaware River where Pennsylvania meets New Jersey.

Easy to mix up

Philadelphia was the US capital several times until 1800, but the national capital is Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania's capital is Harrisburg.

Sources: Wikipedia: Philadelphia, Wikipedia: Independence Hall, Wikipedia: Delaware River