The
U.S. state of
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...
is divided into three
counties, the fewest of any state in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
:
New Castle,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
and
Sussex. The origin of the county boundaries goes back to their former court districts. The powers of the counties' legislative bodies are limited to issues such as zoning and development.
Politics and government
Each county elects a legislative body (known in New Castle and Sussex counties as the ''County Council'', and in Kent County as the ''Levy Court''). The counties are able to raise taxes and borrow money. They also have control over garbage disposal, water supply, sewerage, zoning, development, and building codes.
Most functions which are handled on a county-by-county basis in other states—such as court and law enforcement—have been centralized in Delaware, leading to a significant concentration of power in the Delaware state government. The counties were historically divided into
hundreds, which were used as tax reporting and voting districts until the 1960s. However, the hundreds now serve no administrative role; their only current official legal use is in real-estate title descriptions.
History
Following the English conquest of 1664, all of the land on the western side of the
Delaware River and
Delaware Bay was governed as part of the
New York Colony and administered from the town of
New Castle. During the brief recapture of the colony by the
Dutch in 1673, additional court districts were created around
Upland
Upland or Uplands may refer to:
Geography
*Hill, an area of higher land, generally
*Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points
*Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level
*I ...
and Whorekill.
The latter was also known as Hoornkill, and is now the town of
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...
. The court at New Castle was left with the central portion of the colony. The jurisdiction left to the court at became
New Castle County, and the county seat remained at New Castle until 1881 when it was moved to
Wilmington. In 1680, Whorekill District was divided into Deale County and St. Jones County.
After this division, Lewes became the county seat of Deale, which was later renamed ''Sussex County''.
The former Upland District was named after the
New Sweden settlement of
Upland
Upland or Uplands may refer to:
Geography
*Hill, an area of higher land, generally
*Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points
*Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level
*I ...
, and was renamed
Chester County in 1682. Chester County is now located within the present boundaries of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
.
Lord Baltimore, the Proprietor of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...
, claimed all present-day Delaware, and organized its northern and eastern portions as Durham County, Maryland. However, this county existed only on paper. The southern and western portions of present-day Sussex County were organized as portions of several adjacent Maryland counties and were not recognized as part of Delaware until the
Mason-Dixon Survey was run in 1767. In 1791, with the expansion of Sussex County to the south and west, the county seat was moved to
Georgetown.
The county seat of St. Jones (renamed ''Kent County'' in 1681
) is at
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
.
After 2000, a fourth "Appoquinimink County" was proposed to be carved out of
New Castle County. The effort intended to end the zoning restrictions of the Unified Development Code on the undeveloped farmland.
The proposed boundaries extended beyond the
Appoquinimink Hundred to include all land south of the
C&D Canal, with
Middletown as the proposed seat.
County list
The
Federal Information Processing Standard
The Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) of the United States are a set of publicly announced standards that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed for use in computer systems of non-military, America ...
(FIPS)
code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.
References
External links
Kent CountyNew Castle County
Sussex County
{{good article
Delaware, counties in
Counties