Maryland State Flag |
Maryland State Seal |
Maryland Location |
Maryland
Maryland
is a state in the east of the United States. Its U.S. postal abbreviation
is MD. Its Associated Press abbreviation is Md.
USS Maryland was
named in honor of this state.
| State
nickname |
Old
Line State; Free State |
| Capital |
Annapolis |
| Largest
City |
Baltimore |
| Governor
(2004) |
Robert
L. Ehrlich |
Area
- Total
- Land
- Water
- % water |
Ranked
42nd
32,160 km˛
25,338 km˛
6,968 km˛
21% |
Population
- Total (2000)
- Density |
Ranked
19th
5,296,486
165/km˛ |
Admittance
into Union
- Order
- Date |
7th
April 28, 1788 |
| Time
zone |
Eastern:
UTC-5/-4 |
Latitude
Longitude |
37°53'N
to 39°43'N
75°4'W to 79°33'W |
Width
Length
Elevation
- Highest
- Mean
- Lowest |
145
km
400 km
1,024 meters
105 meters
0 meters |
| ISO
3166-2 |
US-MD |
| State
Song |
"Maryland,
My Maryland." |
| State
Bird |
Baltimore
Oriole |
| State
Flower |
black-eyed
susan |
| State
Sport |
jousting |
| State
Dog |
Chesapeake
Bay Retriever |
| State
Fish |
rockfish
(striped bass) |
| State
Crustacean |
Blue
Crab |
| State
Cat |
Calico
Cat |
| State
Tree |
Wye
Oak (a very old White oak) |
History
George Calvert,
1st Baron Baltimore applied to Charles I for a new royal charter for
what was to become the Province of Maryland. George Calvert died in
April 1632, but a charter for "Maryland Colony" (in Latin, "Terra Maria")
was granted to his son, Cćcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, on June
20, 1632. The new colony was named in honour of Henrietta Maria, Queen
Consort of Charles I.
The English colony
of Maryland was founded
by Lord Baltimore who on March 25, 1634 led 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 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.
St.
Mary's City was the largest site of the original Maryland colony,
and was the seat of state government until just before the beginning
of the 18th century (when the government was moved to Annapolis).
The government was moved at about the same time as the persecution of
Maryland Catholics by Puritans from Virginia;
during the persecutions, all of the original Catholic churches of southern
Maryland were burned down.
St. Mary's
City is now an archaelogical site, with a small tourist center.
Maryland
was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule
in the American Revolution.
Maryland
remained largely neutral in the United States Civil War. As it did not
secede (in part due to precautions taken by the government in Washington,
D.C.), it was not included under the Emancipation Proclamation and
retained legal slavery until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment
in 1865.
Government
As in all fifty states, the
head of the executive branch of government is a Governor. The legislative
branch, the Maryland General Assembly, consists of a 47-member Senate
and a 141-member House of Delegates. The capital is Annapolis,
in Anne Arundel County.
Geography
 Maryland
is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania,
on the west by West Virginia,
on the 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. 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,
right near the border with West
Virginia near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac.
Physical formations
- Appalachian Mountains
- Chesapeake Bay
Maryland
is about a mile wide around the town of Hancock,
making it the narrowest state. Little-known fact: Maryland
is larger than the entire African country of Lesotho.
Economy
Federal Agencies
- National Archives
(Lanham facility)
- National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA)
- Goddard Space
Flight Center National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- National Institutes
of Health (NIH)
- Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC)
- National Security
Agency (NSA)
- Smithsonian Environmental
Research Center (SERC)
Military Facilities
Transit
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.
Maryland's main
airport is Baltimore-Washington International Airport (formerly known
as Friendship Airport). The Maryland
suburbs of Washington,
D.C. are also serviced by the other two airports in the region,
Reagan National and Dulles International Airports, both in Virginia.
Amtrak Trains serve
Baltimore along the Northeast Corridor.
MARC trains, operated by the State's Transit Authority, connect nearby
Washington, D.C. and Baltimore,
and other towns.
Demographics
As of 2000, the
state's population was 5,296,486.
Important Cities and Towns
Colleges and Universities
- Baltimore
Hebrew University
- Baltimore
International College
- Capitol
College
- Chesapeake
College
- College
of Notre Dame of Maryland
- Columbia
Union College
- Goucher
College
- Hood College
- Johns Hopkins
University
- Loyola
College
- Maryland
institute, College of Art
- Morgan
State University
- Mount St.
Mary's University
- St. John's
College, Annapolis
- St. Mary's
College of Maryland
- Soujourner-Douglass
College
- The Uniformed
Services University of the Health Sciences
- United
States Naval Academy
|
- University
System of Maryland
- Bowie
State University
- Coppin
State College
- Frostburg
State University
- Salisbury
University
- Towson
University
- University
of Baltimore
- University
of Maryland, Baltimore
- University
of Maryland, Baltimore County
- University
of Maryland, College Park
- University
of Maryland Eastern Shore
- University
of Maryland
- University
College
- University
of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
- University
of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
- USM
Shady
Grove Education Center
- Washington
Bible College
- Washington
College
- Western
Maryland College
- Villa
Julie College
|
Professional Sports Teams
- National Football
League
- Baltimore
Ravens
- Washington
Redskins
- Baltimore Bayhawks,
Major League Lacrosse
- Baltimore Orioles,
Major League Baseball
- Minor League
baseball teams
- Hagerstown
Suns
- Bowie Baysox
- Frederick
Keys
- Aberdeen
IronBirds
- Delmarva
Shorebirds
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