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Introduction

Maryland (US: /ˈmɛrɪlənd/ ^ⓘ MERR-il-ənd) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The state borders Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, Delaware to its east, the Atlantic Ocean, and the national capital of Washington, D.C. With a total area of 12,407 square miles (32,130 km²), Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area, and its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the 18th-most populous state and the fifth-most densely populated. Maryland's capital is Annapolis, and the most populous city is Baltimore. Occasional nicknames include Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after Henrietta Maria, the French-born queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland during the 17th century.

Maryland's coastline was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. Prior to that, it was inhabited by several Native American tribes, mostly the Algonquian peoples and, to a lesser degree, Iroquoians and Siouans. As one of the original Thirteen Colonies, Maryland was founded by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. In 1632, Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a colonial charter, naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria. Unlike the Pilgrims and Puritans, Lord Baltimore envisioned a colony where people of different religious sects would coexist under the principle of toleration. In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion, which enshrined this principle by penalizing anyone who "reproached" a fellow Marylander based on religious affiliation. Nevertheless, religious strife was common in the early years, and Catholics remained a minority, albeit in greater numbers than in any other English colony. Maryland's early settlements and population centers clustered around rivers and other waterways that empty into the Chesapeake Bay. Its economy was heavily plantation-based and centered mostly on the cultivation of tobacco. Demand for cheap labor from Maryland colonists led to the importation of numerous indentured servants and enslaved Africans. In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following the settlement of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. Maryland was an active participant in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and by 1776, its delegates signed the Declaration of Independence. Many of its citizens subsequently played key political and military roles in the war. Although then a slave state, Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, its strategic location giving it a significant role in the conflict. After the Civil War, Maryland took part in the Industrial Revolution, driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe.

Since the 1940s, the state's population has grown rapidly, to approximately six million residents, and it is among the most densely populated U.S. states. , Maryland had the highest median household income of any state, owing in large part to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and a highly diversified economy spanning manufacturing, retail services, public administration, real estate, higher education, information technology, defense contracting, health care, and biotechnology. Maryland is one of the most multicultural states in the country; it is one of the six states where non-Whites compose a majority of the population, with the fifth-highest percentage of African Americans, and high numbers of residents born in Africa, Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean. The state's central role in U.S. history is reflected by its hosting of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita. (Full article...)

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A portrait of Lord Baltimore by Daniël Mijtens

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (/ˈbɔːltɪmɔːr/; 1580 – 15 April 1632) was an English peer and politician. He achieved domestic political success as a member of parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family. Rather than continue in politics, he resigned all of his political offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council and declared his Catholicism publicly. He was created Baron Baltimore in the Peerage of Ireland upon his resignation. Baltimore Manor was located in County Longford, Ireland.

Calvert took an interest in the British colonization of the Americas, at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for persecuted Irish and English Catholics. He became the proprietor of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island of Newfoundland (off the eastern coast of modern Canada). Discouraged by its cold and sometimes inhospitable climate and the sufferings of the settlers, he looked for a more suitable spot further south and sought a new royal charter to settle the region, which would become the state of Maryland. Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed, leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecil (1605–1675). His second son Leonard Calvert (1606–1647) was the first colonial governor of the Province of Maryland. (Full article...)

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General images

Image 1The Battle of Antietam in 1862 was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War with nearly 23,000 casualties. (from Maryland)
Image 2A map showing Maryland's median income by county. Data is sourced from the 2014 ACS five-year estimate report published by the U.S. Census Bureau. (from Maryland)
Image 3American Film Institute Silver Theater (from Arts and culture of Maryland)
Image 4The historical coat of arms of Maryland in 1876 (from Maryland)
Image 5Sunset over a marsh at Cardinal Cove on the Patuxent River (from Maryland)
Image 6Great Falls on the Potomac River (from Maryland)
Image 7M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens (from Maryland)
Image 8UMBC Commons and Quad (from Maryland)
Image 9The Maryland State House in Annapolis dates to 1772, and houses the Maryland General Assembly and offices of the governor. (from Maryland)
Image 10Memorial Chapel at the University of Maryland, Maryland's flagship university (from Maryland)
Image 11Patapsco River includes the Thomas Viaduct and is part of the Patapsco Valley State Park; the river forms Baltimore's Inner Harbor as it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. (from Maryland)
Image 12Agriculture is an important part of Maryland's economy. (from Maryland)
Image 13Winter on Lancaster Street in Baltimore's Fells Point (from Maryland)
Image 14Maryland population distribution map; Maryland's population is concentrated mostly in the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. (from Maryland)
Image 15Black-eyed susans, the state flower, grow throughout much of the state. (from Maryland)
Image 16Maryland's counties (from Maryland)
Image 17Ocean City, a beach resort along the Atlantic Ocean, is a popular tourist destination in Maryland. (from Maryland)
Image 18Spiro Agnew, 39th Vice President of the United States, is the highest-ranking political leader from Maryland since the nation's founding. (from Maryland)
Image 19Tidal wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the nation and the largest water feature in Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 20Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles (from Maryland)
Image 21Ellicott City Station, on the original B&O Railroad line, is the oldest remaining passenger station in the nation. The rail line is still used by CSX Transportation for freight trains, and the station is now a museum. (from Maryland)
Image 22Physical regions of Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 23Western Maryland is known for its heavily forested mountains. A panoramic view of Deep Creek Lake and the surrounding Appalachian Mountains in Garrett County. (from Maryland)
Image 24Köppen climate types of Maryland, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Maryland)
Image 25Ruin left by the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 (from Maryland)
Image 26Baltimore Basilica was the first Catholic cathedral built in the U.S. (from Maryland)
Image 27The bombardment of Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner". (from Maryland)
Image 28The Chesapeake Bay Bridge connects Maryland's Eastern and Western Shores. (from Maryland)

Map of counties in Maryland by racial plurality, according to 2020 U.S. census findings

Non-Hispanic White

40–50%

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

80–90%

90%+

Black or African American

50–60%

60–70%

(from Maryland)

Image 30A feral Chincoteague Pony on Assateague Island on Maryland's Atlantic coastal islands (from Maryland)
Image 31Ethnic origins in Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 321732 map of Maryland (from Maryland)

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In the news

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Boys playing stickball in Havana, 1999

The 1999 Baltimore Orioles – Cuba national baseball team exhibition series consisted of two exhibition games played between the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Cuba national baseball team on March 28 and May 3, 1999. The first game took place in Havana, while the second was held in Baltimore. This series marked the first time that the Cuba national team had faced a squad composed solely of major league players and the close of the hiatus since 1959 that an MLB team played in Cuba.

In the 1990s, Orioles' owner Peter Angelos lobbied the United States federal government to gain permission to hold this series for three years. Various politicians, including members of the United States House of Representatives, opposed the idea and attempted to block the series. Eventually, Angelos secured the approval in 1999, after a change in United States foreign policy to Cuba under President Bill Clinton, which eased travel restrictions and increased cultural exchange. (Full article...)

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Downtown Annapolis

Annapolis (/əˈnæpəlɪs/ ^ⓘ ə-NAP-əl-iss) is the capital of the state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baltimore and about 30 miles (50 km) east of Washington, D.C., Annapolis forms part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census recorded its population as 40,812, an increase of 6.3% since 2010.

This city served as the seat of the Confederation Congress, formerly the Second Continental Congress, and temporary national capital of the United States in 1783–1784. At that time, General George Washington came before the body convened in the new Maryland State House and resigned his commission as commander of the Continental Army. A month later, the Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris of 1783, ending the American Revolutionary War, with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States.

The city and state capitol was also the site of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which issued a call to the states to send delegates for the Constitutional Convention to be held the following year in Philadelphia. Over 220 years later, the Annapolis Peace Conference took place in 2007. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

...that unlike most other American courts, the judges on the Maryland Court of Appeals wear crimson (not black) robes, and neck bands, reminiscent of British court dress?
...that Kent Island was founded in 1631 as part of Virginia, three years before St. Mary's City was founded?

...that the Thomas Viaduct (pictured) over the Patapsco River was the first multi-span masonry railroad bridge in the United States when it was constructed between 1833 and 1835?

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