PRINCE GEORGE'S

county, south-central Maryland, U.S. It consists of a piedmont and plains region bounded by the Patuxent River to the northeast and east and the Potomac River (constituting the border with Virginia) and Washington, D.C., to the west. Prince George's county is home to Andrews Air Force Base, the National Agricultural Research Center, and the northern part of Cedarville State Forest. The county was created in 1695 and named for Prince George of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne of England. It contains northeastern and eastern suburbs of Washington, D.C., including Hyattsville, College Park (seat of the University of Maryland), New Carrollton, and Greenbelt, a planned-community experiment undertaken and then sold by the federal government (1935-54). Some outlying cities and towns are Bowie, Laurel, and Upper Marlboro, the county seat. Principal industries are business and research services, agriculture, and manufacturing. Area 486 square miles (1,260 square km). Pop. (1990) 728,553; (1996 est.) 773,810.