Our editors will consider what you’ve submitted and decide whether or not to revise the article. Our editors will overview what you’ve submitted and decide whether or not or to not revise the article. Pennsylvania, formally Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, constituent state of the USA of America, one among the distinctive 13 American colonies. The state is roughly rectangular in type and stretches about 300 miles (480 km) from east to west and 150 miles (240 km) from north to south. It's bounded to the north by Lake Erie and New York state; to the east by New York and New Jersey; to the south by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia; and to the west by the panhandle of West Virginia and by Ohio. Harrisburg, nestled within the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, is the capital. Pennsylvania is categorized as a Center Atlantic state, together with New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Its central location on the Jap Seaboard is usually acknowledged to be the supply of its nickname, the Keystone State.