City (pop., 2000: 72,664), northern Delaware, U.S. Located at the junction of the
Delaware and Christina rivers, it is the state's largest city and its industrial, financial, and commercial centre and main port. The oldest permanent settlement in the Delaware valley, it was settled by Swedes in 1638. Called Fort Christina, it was captured by
Peter Stuyvesant's Dutch forces in 1655; they were ousted by the English in 1664. A prosperous port after the Quakers moved there in the 1730s, it was renamed Wilmington in 1739. During the
American Revolution the Battle of the
Brandywine was fought nearby. In 1802 E.I. du Pont established a gunpowder mill there (
see DuPont Co.).
For more information on Wilmington, visit Britannica.com.