The city is the urban core of the larger Delaware Valley , also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the nation's eighth-largest metropolitan area and seventh-largest combined statistical area with 6.
Philadelphia has played an extensive role in United States history. The city was founded in by William Penn , an English Quaker and advocate of religious freedom , and served as the capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era.
For nine months, from September to June , the city fell under British occupation during the war's Philadelphia campaign. Constitution was ratified in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until , and it served as the nation's first capital from May 10, , until December 12, , and on four subsequent occasions until , when construction of the new national capital in Washington, D.
Philadelphia maintains extensive contemporary influence in business and industry , culture , sports , and music. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange , owned by Nasdaq since , is the nation's oldest stock exchange and a global leader in options trading. The city's multimodal transportation and logistics infrastructure includes Philadelphia International Airport , a major transatlantic gateway and transcontinental hub; [ 33 ] the rapidly-growing PhilaPort seaport ; [ 34 ] and Interstate 95 , the spine of the northβsouth highway system along the U.
East Coast. Philadelphia is a city of many firsts, including the nation's first library , [ 35 ] hospital , [ 35 ] medical school , [ 36 ] national capital , [ 37 ] university by some accounts , [ 38 ] central bank , [ 39 ] stock exchange , [ 35 ] zoo , [ 40 ] and business school Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the early 17th century, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon.
