Philadelphia ( ) is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-most-populous city in the United States.

In 2005, the population of the city proper was estimated to be over 1.4 million,2005 listing of population estimates of U.S. cities by the United States Census Bureau Retrieved on October 8, 2006. while the nowrap: Greater Philadelphia]] metropolitan area's population of 5.8 million made it the country's fifth-largest. The city is the nation's fourth-largest urban area by population and its fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research. It is the county seat of Philadelphia County (with which it is coterminous). Popular nicknames for Philadelphia include Philly and The City of Brotherly Love (from Greek: lang: Φιλαδέλφεια, 1, Modern Greek: 2, "brotherly love" from philos-φίλος, "love", and adelphos-αδερφός or αδελφός "brother").

A commercial, educational, and cultural center, the city was once the second-largest in the British Empire (after London), and the social and geographical center of the original 13 American colonies. Ben Franklin took a large role in Philadelphia's early rise to prominence. It was in this city that many of the ideas, and subsequent actions, gave birth to the American Revolution and American Independence, making Philadelphia a centerpiece of early American history. It was the most populous city of the young United States, and served as the nation's first capital during much of the Revolutionary War and after. Following the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, it was the temporary national capital from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, DC was under construction.

History

main: History of Philadelphia

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Philadelphia area was the location of the Lenape (Delaware) Indian village Shackamaxon.

Europeans arrived in the Delaware Valley in the early 1600s, with the first settlements founded by the Dutch, British and Swedish. After Sweden's first expedition to North America embarked in late 1637, the Swedes took control of land on the west side of the Delaware River from just below the Schuylkill River: today's Philadelphia, southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their military defeat of the English province of Maryland. But 11 years later, the Dutch sent an army to the Delaware River, nominally taking control of the colony, though Swedish and Finnish settlers continued to have their own militia, religion, court, and lands. The English conquered the New Netherland colony in October 1663-1664, but the situation did not really change until 1682, when the area was included in William Penn's charter for Pennsylvania.