MARYLAND

The Middle Atlantic region. a constituent state of the United States of America lying in the Middle Atlantic region of the country. Maryland is divided into two partseastern and westernby the northern reaches of Chesapeake Bay, which is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. In the eastern part Maryland shares the Delmarva Peninsula with Delaware and Virginia. In the west the Potomac River forms the state's southern boundary with Virginia and West Virginia. The Mason and Dixon Line forms the state's northern border with Pennsylvania. The District of Columbia occupies a small enclave along the left (north) bank of the Potomac River. The state capital is Annapolis, and Baltimore is the state's largest city. The earliest inhabitants of Maryland were late Ice Age hunters who roved the area about 10,000 BC. At the time of initial European contact, the main Indian groups were the Algonquian-speaking Nanticoke and Piscataway tribes. The warlike Iroquoian-speaking Susquehanna tribe exerted heavy pressure from the north on the colonists until peace was negotiated in 1652. Captain John Smith from Virginia explored and charted the Chesapeake Bay region in 1608. In 1632 Maryland was given in a charter by the British king Charles I to Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. The colony was named for Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. Leonard Calvert, Cecilius' younger brother, founded the first settlement in 1634 at St. Mary's City, the first capital. The Roman Catholic Calvert family stipulated a policy of religious freedom for their colony, though only within the bounds of Trinitarian Christianity; a religious toleration act was passed in 1649. The colony became a haven for persecuted English Catholics and dissidents from sectarian rigidity in other colonies. The primary economic interest of the early settlers was cultivating tobacco, which was accomplished by the labours of indentured servants and African slaves. As more land was cleared for farms, the population centre shifted rapidly to the north and west. The capital of the colony was moved to Annapolis in 1694, and the city of Baltimore was founded in 1729. The Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution and acknowledging the independence of the colonies was ratified on Jan. 14, 1784, by the Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. On April 28, 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. The state ceded land for the District of Columbia as the site for a new federal capital in 1791. During the War of 1812 the British, who had burned the government buildings at Washington, D.C., were repulsed by the guns of Fort McHenry (Sept. 1314, 1814) in their attempt to inflict similar punishment on Baltimore. With the reestablishment of peace, Maryland turned toward development. Construction projects included the Cumberland (National) Road across the Appalachian Mountains, the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Chesapeake and Delaware canals, the first intercity telegraph line (from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.), and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which eventually stretched westward to Chicago and St. Louis, Mo. The U.S. Naval Academy was founded at Annapolis in 1845. During the American Civil War, Maryland remained loyal to the Union, but strong Southern sentiments resulted in the imposition of martial law throughout. Maryland was the site of several major Civil War military campaigns and battles, including Antietam, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Physiographically Maryland can be divided into three main regions: (1) the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the east, which is penetrated by the long, broad Chesapeake estuaries, (2) the Piedmont Plateau in the centre, which has good farming soils, and (3) the Appalachians in the west, which largely consist of forested ridges and valleys; Backbone Mountain, in the far western panhandle, at 3,360 feet (1,024 metres) is the state's highest point. The boundary between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont is the Fall Line, or limit of navigation, of the rivers; settlements often developed at that site on each river. Most of Maryland drains toward Chesapeake Bay, but in the extreme west the Youghiogheny River flows northward into the Ohio River system, and in the extreme east a narrow portion of the Delmarva Peninsula drains directly into the Atlantic. The climate of eastern Maryland is humid and warm-temperate. Summer temperatures may reach highs of 107 F (42 C), and relative humidity approaches 100 percent for extended periods. Winters are generally free of ice and snow. In the far west the climate is continental, with warm summers and cold winters. Rainfall averages more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) a year, with the greatest concentration falling in the summer. Forests cover some two-fifths of the land. The early settlement of Maryland was primarily by British farmers and tradesmen. African slaves were brought to work in Maryland under the first Calverts. Baltimore, the largest city in the state, was a major immigration centre for Europeans in the 19th century. Most of Maryland lies within the great population complex of the Eastern Seaboard, and four-fifths of its inhabitants live in areas classified as urban. The Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas contain more than three-fourths of the state's population. The economy of Maryland is based primarily on government service and manufacturing. Department of Defense installations and several large federal agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, are among the largest employers in the state. In addition, thousands of Maryland suburbanites commute daily to government jobs in Washington, D.C. The city of Baltimore has about one-sixth of the state's manufacturing establishments. The largest manufacturing payrolls are in the primary metals, electronic and electrical equipment, food processing, printing and publishing, and transportation equipment industries. The main agricultural products are chickens, corn (maize), soybeans, and tobacco. The fishing industry's most important catch is crab; other Maryland seafood products include other types of shellfish and perch and other finfish. The major mineral resources are bituminous coal, stone, and sand and gravel. Multiple routes of the interstate highway system radiate from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., both of which have circular beltways to divert through traffic from their central city areas. Chesapeake Bay is crossed by a road bridge near Annapolis, linking Maryland's Eastern Shore to the rest of the state. Amtrak provides passenger rail service to Baltimore. Montgomery and Prince George's counties are served by Washington's Metro subway. The Port of Baltimore is one of the nation's largest in volume of foreign traffic handled. Baltimore-Washington International Airport is located between the two cities. Virtually all towns, cities, and rural areas of Maryland are marked by relics of the pastlandmarks, monuments, museums, festivalsor by products of Chesapeake Bay or sporting or artistic events. Antietam Battlefield, Assateague Island, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and Fort McHenry are among the areas administered by the National Park Service. The state presents annual subsidies to Baltimore's symphony orchestra, art museum, public library, and resident theatre. The University of Maryland is a system of 11 schools; other institutions of note include Johns Hopkins University, St. John's College, and Goucher College. Area 10,455 square miles (27,078 square km). Pop. (1990) 4,780,753; (1996 est.) 5,071,604. constituent state of the United States of America. One of the original 13 states, it lies at the centre of the Eastern Seaboard, astride the great industrialpopulation complex that stretches from Maine to Virginia. Its small size10,460 square miles (27,092 square kilometres), about 6 percent of which is water, excluding Chesapeake Baybelies the great diversity of its landscapes and of the ways of life that they foster: from the low-lying and water-oriented Eastern Shore and Chesapeake Bay area, through the metropolitan hurly-burly of Baltimore, its largest city, to the forested Appalachian foothills and mountains of its western reaches. Maryland is thought to have been named in honour of the wife of King Charles I by a grateful Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who in 1632 was granted a charter for the land as a haven in which his fellow Roman Catholics might escape the restrictions placed on them in England. A deep sense of history is notable in the quiet charm of Annapolis, its capital since 1694, and in the white-domed, pillared statehouse, built in 1772, the nation's oldest statehouse in continuous use. Annapolis' 40-block Colonial Historic District contains more pre-Revolutionary structures than any other U.S. historic district. The narrow, crooked streets of Annapolis, the houses abutting directly on the brickwork sidewalks, the graceful tree-covered green about the statehouse, and the myriad masts of boats at dock or anchor in the harbour reflect more an earlier America than a state geared to the latest in technology. Geography, too, has provided Maryland a role in U.S. history, as a pivot between the North and the South. Its northern border with Pennsylvania is the famous Mason and Dixon Line, drawn in the 1760s to settle disputes between the Penn and Calvert families and traditionally regarded as the boundary between the North and the South. To the south much of the boundary with Virginia is formed by the Potomac River, a symbolic barrier during the Civil War. On the north bank of the Potomac lies the District of Columbia, coterminous with the city of Washington, a small enclave ceded by Maryland in 1791 for the site of the national capital. East of the Chesapeake, the Eastern Shore shares the Delmarva Peninsula with Delaware on the north and Virginia on the south. In the mountainous west Maryland's panhandle, which is joined to the rest of the state by a narrow waist, interlocks with the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. Additional reading Maryland's physical and human geography is discussed in Eugene L. Meyer, Maryland Lost and Found: People and Places from Chesapeake to Appalachia (1986); and James E. Dilisio, Maryland: A Geography (1983). Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration in the State of Maryland, Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State (1940, reissued 1973), also available in a newer version by Earl Arnett, Robert J. Brugger, and Edward C. Papenfuse, Maryland: A New Guide to the Old Line State, 2nd ed. (1999), includes much historical information. Two useful atlases are DeLorme Mapping Company, Maryland, Delaware Atlas & Gazetteer (1993), which details the state's topography; and Raymond, Parish, Pine & Plavnick, The State of Maryland Historical Atlas (1973). Hamill Kenny, The Placenames of Maryland, Their Origin and Meaning (1984), combines geography and local history. Joseph L. Arnold, Maryland: Old Line to New Prosperity (1985), focuses on the state's economic conditions and industries. Politics and government are addressed by George H. Callcott, Maryland & America, 1940 to 1980 (1985). Historical works include Carl Bode, Maryland: A Bicentennial History (1978); Aubrey C. Land, Colonial Maryland (1981); Robert J. Brugger, Maryland: A Middle Temperament, 16341980 (1988); and Harold R. Manakee, Maryland in the Civil War (1961). Ongoing research is published in Maryland Historical Magazine (quarterly). James H. Bready