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The history of Harrisburg, the state capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, has played a key role in the development of the nation's industrial history, from its origins as a trading outpost to the present. Harrisburg has played a critical role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. During part of the 19th century, the building of the Pennsylvania Canal and later the Pennsylvania Railroad, allowed Harrisburg to become one of the most industrialized cities in the Northeastern United States. ==Early settlement== The site along the Susquehanna River where Harrisburg is located is thought to have been inhabited by Native Americans as early as 3000 BC. Known to the Native Americans as "Peixtin," or "Paxtang," the area was an important resting place and crossroads for Native American traders, as the trails leading from the Delaware to the Ohio rivers, and from the Potomac to the Upper Susquehanna intersected there. The first European contact with Native Americans in Pennsylvania was made by the Englishman, Captain John Smith, who journeyed from Virginia up the Susquehanna River in 1608 and visited with the Susquehanna tribe. The Shawnees, a nomadic tribe, and members of the Algonquian nation came to the Susquehanna Valley from the southwest in the 1690s. The Swedes and the French used the Susquehanna River as a route during their explorations of the Middle Atlantic Region, but did not settle here.〔(city-data.com )〕 In 1719, John Harris, Sr., an English trader, settled here and 14 years later secured grants of 800 acres (3.2 km²) in this vicinity. That same year, 1733, Harris was granted a license to operate a ferry, and the place was long afterwards known as Harris's Ferry. In 1785, John Harris, Jr., made plans to lay out a town on his father's land, which he named Harrisburg. In the spring of 1785, the town was formally surveyed by William Maclay, who was a son-in-law of John Harris, Sr. In the following year, the city was temporarily renamed Louisburg in honor of Louis XVI, who had been helpful during the American Revolution. But John Harris refused to sell the land for the county seat under these terms, and it was agreed that the new name would be Harrisburg, in honor of his father. A noted gathering of anti-Federalists, the Harrisburg Conference (or Convention), met here on September 3, 1788, to deliberate on the new Federal constitution. The meeting was well attended and adopted resolutions carrying 12 amendments to the constitution to be presented for action to the Pennsylvania legislature in form of a petition, however the petition was never formally presented. In 1791, Harrisburg became incorporated and was named the Pennsylvania state capital in October 1812. The cornerstone for the new capitol building was laid in 1819 by Governor William Findlay. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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