The Delmarva Peninsula or simply Delmarva is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia. Although called a peninsula, it is technically an island after the digging of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The peninsula is long. In width, it ranges from near its center, to at the isthmus on its northern edge, to less near its southern tip. It is bordered by the Chesapeake Bay on the west, the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Elk River and its isthmus on the north.