Though the second smallest state in area, its economic importance has long been huge. More than half of the country’s largest companies call themselves Delaware corporations even if their offices in the state are just on paper. Delaware’s place in the nation’s history is oversize, too. It was the first state to approve the U.S. Constitution.

Barrier island beaches stretch for 45 km along Delaware’s south-eastern Atlantic coast. Spanning its southernmost border with Maryland is the Cypress Swamp, home of one of the northernmost stands of cypress trees in the country. Salt marshes provide nesting sites for birds and breeding grounds for shellfish. In the south, farms grow soybeans and corn, which help feed the quarter billion broiler chickens produced annually.

Two centuries of industrial pollution have made environmental clean-up a top state priority. Also underway the attempts to save remaining natural areas from development.