Maryland is a state in the eastern mid-atlantic region 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.

Contents [showhide]
1 History

2 Law & Government

3 Geography

4 Economy

5 Military facilities

6 Transit

7 Demographics

8 Important cities and towns

9 Counties

10 Famous Marylanders

11 Education

11.1 Colleges and universities

12 Professional sports teams

13 Miscellaneous information

14 External links

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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, Cæcilius 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. See: Annapolis Convention.

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.

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Law & Government
Main article: Government of Maryland

As in all fifty states, the head of the executive branch of government is a Governor (see also List of Maryland Governors).

The legislative branch, the Maryland General Assembly, consists of a 47-member Senate and a 141-member House of Delegates. The legislature meets in the Maryland state house in the capital,Annapolis, in Anne Arundel County.

The state judiciary is headed by the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state's supreme court.

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Geography
See: List of Maryland counties, List of Maryland rivers

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
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Economy
Federal Agencies
Census Bureau
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
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)
Social Security Administration (SSA)
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Military facilities
Aberdeen Proving Ground
Andrews Air Force Base
Bethesda Naval Medical Center
Fort Meade
Indian Head Naval Surface Weapons Center
Patuxent River Naval Air Station
Webster Field
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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.

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Demographics
As of 2000, the state's population was 5,296,486.

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Important cities and towns
Annapolis – state capital.
Baltimore – Most populous city; commercial and cultural hub.
For a more exhaustive list, see List of cities in Maryland
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Counties
See List of counties in Maryland
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Famous Marylanders
See List of people from Maryland

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Education
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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

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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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Miscellaneous information
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)
State song: "Maryland, My Maryland."
Nicknames: "The Old Line State" and "The Free State."
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.

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External links
State of Maryland (http://www.maryland.gov/)
http://www.maryland.com/
Maryland travel guide (http://www.travelconsumer.com/usstates/maryland.htm)

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Maryland".

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