The history of Delaware as a political entity dates back to the early colonization of North America by European American settlers. It is made up of three counties established since 1638, before the time of William Penn. Each county has had its own settlement history. Their early inhabitants tended to identify more closely with their county, than Delaware as a whole. Large parts of southern and western Delaware were thought to have been in Maryland until 1767. All of the state has existed in the wide economic and political circle of Philadelphia.