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This article is about the U.S. State. For other uses of the term, see Maryland (disambiguation).

Maryland (IPA: [ˈmæɹ.ɪ.lənd]), is a state of the United States, one of the Mid-Atlantic States.

Geography

Main article: List of counties in Maryland

See also: List of Maryland rivers

For a state as small as it is, Maryland posses a great variety of topography. It ranges from sandy dunes dotted with seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with water moccassins and large baldcypress near the bay, to gently rolling hills of oak forest in the piedmont region, and mountain pine groves in the west.

Maryland is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania; on the west by West Virginia; on the north and east by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the south, across the Potomac River, by Virginia. It shares a border near the center of the state along the Potomac with Washington, DC. The Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state, and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. A portion of extreme western Maryland in Garrett County is drained by the Youghiogheny River as part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. The highest point in Maryland is Backbone Mountain, which is the southwest corner of Garrett County, near the border with West Virginia and near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac. In western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state line, is a point at which the state of Maryland is only two miles (3 km) wide. This geographical curiosity is located near the small town of Hancock.

The Delmarva Peninsula is a geographic term for the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the state of Delaware, and two counties of Virginia, which all together form a long extension down the Atlantic seaboard. One of the most noted features of Delmarva is Maryland's Assateague Island, on the Atlantic, with its herd of wild ponies accustomed to the seashore.

National Park Service

Areas under the control and protection of the National Park Service include:

• Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg
• Antietam National Cemetery
• Appalachian National Scenic Trail
• Assateague Island National Seashore
• Baltimore-Washington Parkway
• Catoctin Mountain Park near Turmont
• Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park on the Potomac River
• Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network
• Clara Barton National Historic Site at Glen Echo
• Fort Foote Park in Oxon Hill
• Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore
• Fort Washington Park in Fort Washington
• George Washington Memorial Parkway
• Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo
• Greenbelt Park at Greenbelt
• Hampton National Historic Site near Towson
• Harmony Hall in Prince George's County
• Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick
• Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm in Oxon Hill
• Piscataway Park in Accokeek
• Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, the corridor between the Chesapeake Bay and the Allegheny Highlands
• Suitland Parkway in Prince Georges County
• Thomas Stone National Historic Site in Port Tobacco

Climate

Climate varies across the state, depending on factors like elevation, rainfall, and proximity to water. The Eastern Shore and a small part of the western shore, including the cities of Salisbury, east metro Baltimore, Annapolis, and St. Mary's City is a part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which has a humid subtropical climate of hot summers and short, chilly winters. Further west is the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and the Piedmont region, which includes north and west metro Baltimore, Westminster, Frederick, and Hagerstown. This region gets warm summers and moderately cold winters, with a warm continental climate where snow occurs annually. Extreme western Maryland has a colder continental climate with mild summers and cold, snowy winters. Some places receive up to 100 inches (250 cm) of snow annually.

History

Main article: History of Maryland

See also: Annapolis Convention

Maryland was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, applied to Charles I for a new royal charter for what was to become the Province of Maryland, which was at the time the northern part of Virginia. George Calvert died in April 1632, but a charter for "Maryland Colony" (in Latin, "Terra Maria") was granted to his son, Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, on June 20, 1632. The new colony was named in honor of Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of Charles I^[1].

The English colony of Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore, who, on March 25, 1634, sent the first settlers into this area which would soon become one of the few dominantly Catholic regions among the English colonies in America. Maryland was one of the key destinations of tens of thousands of British convicts, which carried on until independence. The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 was one of the first laws that explicitly tolerated varieties of religion (as long as it was Christian) and is sometimes seen as a precursor to the First Amendment.

Originally, based on an incorrect map, the royal charter granted Maryland the Potomac River and territory northward to the fortieth parallel. This was found to be a problem, because the northern boundary would put Philadelphia, the major city in Pennsylvania, within Maryland. The Calvert family, which controlled Maryland, and the Penn family, which controlled Pennsylvania, engaged two surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, to survey what became known as the Mason-Dixon line which would form the boundary between their two colonies and would become the dividing line between North and South.

St. Mary's City was the largest site of the original Maryland colony, and was the seat of the colonial government until 1708. After Virginia made the practice of Anglicanism mandatory, a large number of Puritans migrated from Virginia to Maryland, and were given land for a settlement called Providence (now called Annapolis). In 1650, the Puritans revolted against the proprietary government and set up a new government that outlawed both Catholicism and Anglicanism. This lasted until 1658 when the Calvert family regained control and re-enacted the Toleration Act. However, after England's "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, when William of Orange and his wife Mary came to the throne and finally and firmly established the Protestant faith in England, Catholicism was outlawed in Maryland until after the Revolutionary War. Many wealthy plantation owners built chapels on their land so that they could practice their Catholicism in relative secrecy.

During the persecution of Maryland Catholics by the Puritan revolutionary government, all of the original Catholic churches of southern Maryland were burned down. St Mary's City is now an archaeological site, with a small tourist center.

In 1708 the seat of government was moved to Providence and renamed Annapolis in honor of Queen Anne.

In December of 1790 Maryland ceded land selected by President George Washington to the federal government for the creation of Washington, D.C.

During the War of 1812, the British military attempted to capture the port of Baltimore, which was protected by Fort McHenry. It was during this bombardment that the Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key.

Despite a lot of popular support for the cause of the Confederate States of America, Maryland did not secede during the American Civil War, in part due to precautions taken by the government in Washington, D.C. President Lincoln suspended several civil liberties, including the writ of habeas corpus, and helped ensure the election of a new pro-union governor and legislature. The Constitutionality of these actions is still a source of controversy and debate to this day. Because Maryland had not seceded from the Union, it was exempted from the anti-slavery provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation (The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to states in rebellion). A constitutional convention was held during 1864 that culminated in the passage of a new state constitution on November 1 of that year. Article 24 of that document outlawed the practice of slavery. The right to vote was extended to non-white males in 1867.

Demographics

As of 2005, Maryland has an estimated population of 5,600,388, which is an increase of 39,056, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 303,882, or 5.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 165,707 people (that is 395,775 births minus 230,068 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 118,724 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 108,972 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 9,752 people.

As of 2004, Maryland's population included 583,900 foreign-born residents (10.6% of the state population), of which an estimated 56,000 are illegal aliens (1% of the state population).

Most of the population of Maryland lives in the central region of the state, in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The Eastern Shore is less populous and more rural, as are the counties of southern Maryland.

The three counties of Western Maryland (Allegany, Garrett, and Washington) are mountainous and sparsely populated, resembling West Virginia more than they do the rest of Maryland. Although the African American proportion is not as high as it was during the eighteenth century peak of tobacco plantation production (when it was 38%), Maryland still has the largest black population of any state outside of the Deep South.

Race

The racial makeup of the state:

• 62.1% White non-Hispanic
• 27.9% Black
• 4.3% Hispanic
• 4.0% Asian
• 0.3% Native American
• 2% Mixed race

The four largest reported ancestries in Maryland are: German (15.7%), Irish (11.7%), English (9%), American (5.8%).

Blacks are concentrated in Baltimore City, Prince George's County, and the southern Eastern Shore. Most of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland are populated by Marylanders of British ancestry. Western and northern Maryland have large German-American populations.

Religion

Maryland was founded for the purpose of providing religious toleration of England's Catholic minority. Nevertheless, Parliament later reversed that policy and discouraged the practice of Catholicism in Maryland. Despite the founding intent of the colony, Catholics have never been in a majority in Maryland since early Colonial times. Nonetheless, it is the largest single denomination in Maryland. The present religious composition of the state is shown below:

• Christian – 82%
  • Protestant – 56%
    • Baptist – 18%
    • Methodist – 11%
    • Lutheran – 5%
    • Episcopal – 3%
    • Other Protestant or general Protestant – 19%
  • Roman Catholic – 23%
  • Other Christian – 3%
• Jewish – 3%
• Other Religions – 1%
• Non-Religious – 14%

Notwithstanding numerical positions, the founding intent of Maryland has made the state prominent in US Catholic tradition. For example, Baltimore was the location of the first Catholic bishop in the U.S. (1789) and Emmitsburg, the home and burial place of the first American-born citizen to be canonized, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maryland's total state product in 2003 was US$212 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was US$37,446, 5^th in the nation.

Maryland's economic activity is strongly concentrated in the tertiary service sector, and this sector, in turn, is strongly influenced by location. One major service activity is transportation, centered around the Port of Baltimore and its related rail and trucking access. The port ranked 10th in the U.S. by tonnage in 2002 (Source: U.S. Corps of Engineers, "Waterborn Commerce Statistics"). Although the port handles a wide variety of products, the most typical imports are raw materials and bulk commodities, such as iron ore, petroleum, sugar, and fertilizers, often distributed to the relatively close manufacturing centers of the inland Midwest via good overland transportation.

A second service activity takes advantage of the close location of the center of government in Washington, D.C. and emphasizes technical and administrative tasks for the defense/aerospace industry and bio-research laboratories, as well as staffing of satellite government headquarters in the suburban or exurban Baltimore/Washington area. In addition many educational and medical research institutions are located in the state. In fact, the various components of Johns Hopkins University and its medical research facilities are now the largest single employer in the Baltimore area. Altogether, white collar technical and administrative workers comprise 25% of Maryland's labor force, one of the highest state percentages in the country. A list of government agencies located in Maryland is summarized below:

• Federal Agencies
  • Census Bureau
  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
  • National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center
  • National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), formerly the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA)
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
  • Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
  • National Security Agency (NSA)
  • Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
  • Social Security Administration (SSA)
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission

Maryland has a large food producing sector. A large component of this is commercial fishing, centered in Chesapeake Bay, but also including activity off the short Atlantic seacoast. The largest catches by species are the blue crab, oysters, striped bass, and menhaden. The Bay also has uncounted millions of overwintering waterfowl in its many wildlife refuges. While not, strictly speaking, a commercial food resource, the waterfowl support a tourism sector of sportsmen.

Maryland has large areas of fertile agricultural land in its coastal and Piedmont zones, although this land use is being encroached upon by urbanization. Agriculture is oriented to dairying for nearby large city milksheads plus specialty perishable horticulture crops, such as cucumbers, watermelons, sweet corn, tomatoes, muskmelons, squash, and peas (Source:USDA Crop Profiles). In addition, the southern counties of the western shoreline of Chesapeake Bay are warm enough to support a tobacco cash crop zone, which has existed since early Colonial times. There is also a large chicken-farming sector in the state.

The third component of the food producing sector is Maryland's food processing plants, which are the most significant type of manufacturing by value in the state.

Manufacturing, while large in dollar value, is highly diversified with no sub-sector contributing over 20% of the total. Typical forms of manufacturing include electronics, computer equipment, and chemicals. The once mighty primary metals sub-sector, which at one time included what was then the largest steel factory in the world at Sparrows Point, still exists, but is pressed with foreign competition, bankruptcies, and company mergers.

Mining other than construction materials is virtually limited to coal, which is located in the mountainous western part of the state. The brownstone quarries in the east, which gave Baltimore and Washington much of their characteristic architecture in the mid-1800s, were once a predominant natural resource. Historically, there used to be small gold mining operations in Maryland, some surprisingly near Washington, but these no longer exist.

Maryland imposes 4 income tax brackets, ranging from 2 percent to 4.75 percent of personal income. The city of Baltimore and Maryland's 23 counties levy local "piggyback" income taxes at rates between 1.25 percent and 3.2 percent of Maryland taxable income. Local officials set the rates and the revenue is returned to the local governments quarterly. Maryland's state sales tax is 5 percent. All real property in Maryland is subject to the property tax. Generally, properties that are owned and used by religious, charitable, or educational organizations or property owned by the federal, state or local governments are exempt. Property tax rates vary widely. No restrictions or limitations on property taxes are imposed by the state, meaning cities and counties can set tax rates at the level they deem necessary to fund governmental services. These rates can increase, decrease or remain the same from year to year. If the proposed tax rate increases the total property tax revenues, the governing body must advertise that fact and hold a public hearing on the new tax rate. This is called the Constant Yield Tax Rate process.

Transportation

Maryland's major Interstate highways include I-95, which enters the northeast portion of the state, goes through Baltimore, and becomes the Capital Beltway to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. I-68 connects the western portions of the state to Frederick, and I-70 connects Frederick with Baltimore. I-695 is the Baltimore beltway.

Maryland also has a state highway system that contains routes numbered from 2 through 999, however most of the higher-numbered routes are either not signed or are relatively short (see List of minor Maryland state highways). Some of the major state highways of Maryland include Routes 2, 4, 100, and 404.

Maryland's main airport is Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (formerly known as Friendship Airport and recently renamed for former Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall). The Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. are also serviced by the other two airports in the region, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles International Airport, both in Northern Virginia.

Amtrak trains serve Baltimore along the Northeast Corridor. In addition, train service is provided between Washington, D.C., Rockville, Maryland, and Cumberland, Maryland on the Amtrak Capitol Limited. MARC trains, operated by the State's Transit Authority, connect nearby Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, and other towns. Montgomery County and Prince George's County are served by the Washington Metro subway and bus system.

Law and government

Main article: Government of Maryland

The Government of Maryland is conducted according to the state constitution. The Government of Maryland, like the other 49 state governments, has exclusive authority over matters that lie entirely within the state's borders, except as limited by the Constitution of the United States. Maryland is a republic; the United States guarantees her "republican form of government" ^[2] although there is considerable disagreement about the meaning of that phrase.

Power in Maryland is divided among three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. Unlike most other states, significant autonomy is granted to many of Maryland's counties.

Most of the business of government is done in Annapolis, the state capital. Virtually all state and county elections are held in even numbered years not divisible by four, in which the President of the United States is not elected - this, as in other states, is intended to divide state and federal politics.

Politics

Since pre-Civil War times, Maryland politics has been largely controlled by the Democrats. In the last decade, however, Republicans have made inroads in the state, including the election of the first Republican governor in almost four decades, and larger numbers of new voters are classifying themselves as independents. Blue-collar "Reagan Democrats" frequently vote Republican. Maryland is nonetheless well-known for its liberalism and loyalty to the Democratic Party, especially inside metropolitan areas. The state is dominated by the two urban/inner suburban regions of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. In addition, many jobs are directly or indirectly dependent upon the federal government. As a result, Baltimore, Montgomery County and Prince George's County often decide statewide elections. This is balanced by lesser populated areas on the Eastern Shore, Western Maryland, and outer suburbs that tend to support Republicans.

Maryland has supported the Democratic candidate in the last four presidential elections, both Maryland Senators and six of its eight Representatives in Congress are Democrats, and Democrats hold super-majorities in the state Senate and House of Delegates. John Kerry easily won the state's 10 electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 13 percentage points with 55.9% of the vote. However, presidential election years are not deeply contested as national party resources are spent in other states and turnout and interest is frequently relatively low.

These statistics easily make Maryland one of the most liberal states in the country, but it has escaped much of the criticism and defamation heaped on other Democratic-leaning states such as Massachusetts.

Important cities and towns

Main article: List of cities in Maryland

See also: List of census-designated places in Maryland and Richest Places in Maryland

• Annapolis – state capital, home of United States Naval Academy
• Baltimore – most populous city; commercial and cultural hub
• Bel Air – center of commerce and government in Harford County; northern gateway to Baltimore
• Bethesda – Suburb of D.C; Home to National Institutes of Health (N.I.H) and Bethesda Naval Hospital; best-educated city in the U.S with a population of 50,000 or more.
• College Park – D.C. suburb, home to the University of Maryland, College Park and College Park Airport, the oldest continuously operated airport in the United States
• Columbia – large unincorporated planned community managed by the Columbia Association; were it incorporated, it would be Maryland's 2nd largest city
• Ellicott City – county seat of Howard County
• Frederick – western gateway to Appalachian Mountains, suburban center
• Gaithersburg – home to National Institute of Standards and Technology; 2nd most populous city.
• Hagerstown – largest community in 3 county Western Maryland region
• Ocean City – very popular beach resort on Atlantic coastline; 2nd most populous city in numbers of residents during the summer months
• Rockville – county seat and business center of Montgomery County northwest of Washington; 3rd largest city
• Salisbury – largest city and business center of Delmarva peninsula
• Towson – county seat of suburban Baltimore County

Education

Colleges and universities

Professional sports teams

Miscellaneous topics

Cultural Identity

Maryland has always been a border state. Before the Civil War, the proximity of Confederate Virginia to the United States capital in Washington greatly frightened President Lincoln. In order to create a buffer zone, Lincoln ordered the arrest of all Confederate sympathizers from the Maryland state Senate. It is for this reason alone that Maryland remained in the Union. This, coupled with Maryland's mainly Southern climate in the eastern parts, and Northern climate in the west, has led to a bit of cultural confusion as to which region Maryland actually belongs. Many Marylanders would be seriously offended by the notion that theirs is a Southern state. Most refer to Maryland and Delaware as the "Mid Atlantic". Some people include Virginia in this category, for similar reasons such as the development of Northern Virginia.

Military facilities

• Aberdeen Proving Ground
• Andrews Air Force Base
• Army Research Laboratory
• National Naval Medical Center
• Fort Meade
• Fort Detrick
• Indian Head Naval Surface Weapons Center
• Naval Air Station Patuxent River
• School of Military Packing Technology
• United States Naval Academy
• Webster Field

Historical facilities

• Fort McHenry
• Bainbridge Naval Training Center

State symbols

• State bird: Baltimore Oriole
• State boat: skipjack
• State cat: calico cat
• State crustacean: blue crab
• State dinosaur: Astrodon johnstoni
• State dog: Chesapeake Bay Retriever
• State drink: milk
• State fish: rockfish (striped bass)
• State flower: black-eyed susan
• State folk dance: square dance
• State fossil: Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae
• State gem: Patuxent River Stone
• State horse: thoroughbred horse
• State insect: Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly
• State nicknames: "The Old Line State" and "The Free State."
• State reptile: diamondback terrapin
• State song: "Maryland, My Maryland"
• State sport: jousting, lacrosse (state team sport)
• State theatres: Center Stage and Olney Theatre
• State tree: white oak

For Further reading

• Robert J. Brugger. Maryland, A Middle Temperament: 1634-1980 (1996) full scale history
• Suzanne Ellery Greene Chappelle, Jean H. Baker, Dean R. Esslinger, and Whitman H. Ridgeway. Maryland: A History of its People (1986)

See also

• List of people from Maryland
• List of parks in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area

External links

• State of Maryland (government website)
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Maryland Authors and Literature
• Catholic Encyclopedia article
• Jewish Encyclopedia article

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