Archaeologists believe the first settlement of the Americas occurred at least 15,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, though it is unclear when humans first inhabited present-day Pennsylvania.

[14][13] By 1000 AD, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer ancestors, the native population of Pennsylvania had developed agricultural techniques and a mixed food economy.

The second tribe, the Susquehannock, spoke an Iroquoian language and were based in Western Pennsylvania from New York state in the north to West Virginia in the southwest, including the Susquehanna, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers near present-day Pittsburgh.

[26] On June 24, 1664, the Duke of York sold the portion of his large grant that included present-day New Jersey to John Berkeley and George Carteret for a proprietary colony.

[31] This was partially reversed on February 9, 1674, when the Treaty of Westminster ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War and reverted all political situations to the status quo ante bellum.

[41][42] Penn signed a peace treaty with Tamanend, leader of the Lenape, which began a long period of friendly relations between the Quakers and the Indians.

James Smith wrote that in 1763, "the Indians again commenced hostilities, and were busily engaged in killing and scalping the frontier inhabitants in various parts of Pennsylvania.

In York, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, largely authored by Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson, that formed 13 independent States[d] into a new union.

[58] The Pennsylvania General Assembly met in the old Dauphin County Court House until December 1821[58] when the Federal-style Hills Capitol, named for Lancaster architect Stephen Hills, was constructed on a hilltop land grant of four acres set aside for a seat of state government in Harrisburg by the son and namesake of John Harris, Sr., a Yorkshire native who founded a trading post and ferry on the east shore of the Susquehanna River in 1705.

[citation needed] The growth of industry eventually provided middle class incomes to working-class households after the development of labor unions helped them gain living wages.

A surge in immigration to the U.S. during the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided a steady flow of cheap labor for these industries, which often employed children and people who could not speak English from Southern and Eastern Europe.

For example, in Chester County, Mexican immigrants brought the Spanish language, increased Catholicism, high birth rates, and cuisine when they were hired as agricultural laborers; in some rural localities, they made up half or more of the population.

[79] After learning from family members via air phone of the earlier attacks on the World Trade Center, however, Flight 93's passengers revolted against the hijackers and fought for control of the plane, causing it to crash.

Pennsylvania's diverse topography produces a variety of climates, though the entire state experiences cool to cold winters and very warm, humid summers.

Moving toward the mountainous interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increases, and snowfall amounts are greater.

[87] Cities in Pennsylvania include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon, and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, and the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton in the central east, known as the Lehigh Valley.

[130] Voltaire, writing of William Penn in 1733, observed: "The new sovereign also enacted several wise and wholesome laws for his colony, which have remained invariably the same to this day.

In April 2023, a Franklin & Marshall College poll found that a plurality of Pennsylvania residents were unaffiliated, with the rest predominately being Protestant or Catholic.

[142] The state has five manufacturing centers: Philadelphia in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, Erie in the northwest, Scranton-Wilkes-Barre in the northeast, and the Lehigh Valley in the east.

With the exception of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, municipalities and school districts are allowed to enact a local earned income tax within the purview of Act 32.

Residents with unearned income except interest from checking and savings accounts are required to file and pay the School Income-tax (SIT).

Only thrice between 1932 and 1988 (1932, 1948, and 1968, with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Richard Nixon, respectively) has a presidential candidate been able to win the White House while losing Pennsylvania.

Democratic political consultant James Carville once pejoratively described Pennsylvania as "Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle", suggesting that political power in the state was based in its two largest cities, which have been reliably Democratic, offset by the state's large rural power base, which has proven equally reliably Republican.

[190] In 1988, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act 169, which allows parents or guardians to homeschool their children as an alternative to compulsory school attendance.

Other notable companies include Just Born in Bethlehem, makers of Hot Tamales, Mike and Ikes, the Easter favorite marshmallow Peeps, and Boyer Brothers of Altoona, which manufacturers Mallo Cups.

Among the regional foods associated with Philadelphia are cheesesteaks, hoagies, soft pretzels, Italian water ice, Irish potato candy, scrapple, Tastykake, and strombolis.

Pennsylvania is home to four Double-A level baseball teams: the Altoona Curve, Erie SeaWolves, Harrisburg Senators, and Reading Fightin Phils.

Pennsylvania has two collegiate summer baseball teams affiliated with the MLB Draft League: the State College Spikes and Williamsport Crosscutters.

These Pennsylvania-based developmental-level professional teams have accumulated 12 Triple-A and Double-A baseball league titles (Altoona Curve (1) Reading Fightin Phils (4), and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Senators (6)), 3 ArenaBowl championships (Soul), and 11 Calder Cups (Bears).

The state is also home to Maple Grove Raceway, near Reading, which hosts major National Hot Rod Association-sanctioned drag racing events each year.