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State nickname: Old Line State | |||||
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File:US md highlighted map.jpg (In Detail) | |||||
| Capital | Annapolis | ||||
| Area - Total - Land - Water - % water |
32,160 km² | ||||
| Population
- Density |
Ranked 17
165/km² | ||||
| Admittance into Union
- Date | 7 | ||||
| Time zone | |||||
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Latitude |
37°53'N to 39°43'N | ||||
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Width |
145 km | ||||
Maryland (MD) is a state in the east of the United States. Its U.S. postal abbreviation is MD.
USS Maryland was named in honor of this state.
History
The English colony of Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore, and was one of the few dominantly Catholic regions among the English colonies in America. 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 territory north of the Potomac River up to the fortieth parallel. This was found to be a problem, because this 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 a line which would form the boundary between their two colonies. This line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767. (Mason and Dixon's survey also fixed the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania and the approximately north-south portion of the boundary between Delaware and Maryland. The Delaware-Pennsylvania boundary is a circle, and the Delaware-Maryland boundary does not run truly north-south because it was intended to bisect the Delmarva Peninsula rather than follow a meridian. However, the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary is a true east-west line.) The Mason-Dixon line thus surveyed became the symbolic boundary between the North and South, as Pennsylvania abolished slavery early while Delaware and Maryland remained slave states until the American Civil War.
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 for some years after the Civil War.
Law and Government
As in all fifty states, the head of the executive branch of government is a Governor. The legislative branch is called the General Assembly, and consists of a Senate and an House of Delegates.
Geography
See: List of Maryland counties
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. Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state.
- Physical formations
Economy
- Federal Agencies
- National Institutes of Health
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center
Demographics
As of 2000, the state's population was 5,296,486.
Important Cities and Towns
- Annapolis - state capital
- For a more exhaustive list, see List of cities in Maryland
Education
Colleges and Universities
Professional sports teams
Miscellaneous Information
The state bird is the Baltimore oriole; the state flower is the black-eyed susan; state sport is jousting; state dog is the Chesapeake Bay Retriever; state cat is the calico cat; and the state song is "Maryland, My Maryland." Nickname is "The Old Line State."
See also Maryland Cookies.