Overview - Maryland State

State Capital
Annapolis

Discover:
Maryland

Wikipedia
A A+ A++ A+++

Maryland - History


We would like to provide the residents of  Maryland  a basic history overview.


Welcome to the Maryland Home page. The Maryland Home page provides as much information as possible on Maryland. Knowing Maryland’s history is essential to guiding its future. Within Maryland’s Home page, you will also find Maryland’s Founders, Holiday, and Birthday sections.

Maryland has a population of 6177224. Household median income in Maryland is $84,805Maryland’s Ethnic is the following: White(58.5%), Black(31.1%), Hispanic(10.6%), Asian(6.7%), Multiple(2.9%), Native(0.1%).


Maryland (US: (listen) MERR-il-ənd) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. With a total land area of 12,407 square miles (32,130 km2), Maryland is the 8th-smallest state by land area.


Its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the 18th-most populous state and the 5th-most densely populated. Baltimore is the largest city in the state, and the capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after Henrietta Maria, the French-born queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who was known then in England as Mary.Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Maryland was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans – mostly by Algonquian peoples and, to a lesser degree, Iroquoian and Siouan.


As one of the original Thirteen Colonies of England, Maryland was founded by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. In 1632, Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a colonial charter, naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria.


Unlike the Pilgrims and Puritans, who rejected Catholicism in their settlements, Lord Baltimore envisioned a colony where people of different religious sects would coexist under the principle of toleration. Accordingly, in 1649 the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion, which enshrined this principle by penalizing anyone who "reproached" a fellow Marylander based on religious affiliation.


Nevertheless, religious strife was common in the early years, and Catholics remained a minority, albeit in greater numbers than in any other English colony. Maryland's early settlements and population centers clustered around rivers and other waterways that empty into the Chesapeake Bay. Its economy was heavily plantation-based and centered mostly on the cultivation of tobacco.


Demand for cheap labor from Maryland colonists led to the importation of numerous indentured servants and enslaved Africans. In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following the settlement of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. Maryland was an active participant in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and by 1776, its delegates signed the Declaration of Independence.


Many of its citizens subsequently played key political and military roles in the war. In 1790, the state ceded land for the establishment of the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. Although then a slave state, Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, its strategic location giving it a significant role in the conflict.


After the Civil War, Maryland took part in the Industrial Revolution, driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe. Since the 1940s, the state's population has grown rapidly, to approximately six million residents, and it is among the most densely populated U.S. states.


As of 2015, Maryland had the highest median household income of any state, owing in large part to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and a highly diversified economy spanning manufacturing, retail services, public administration, real estate, higher education, information technology, defense contracting, health care, and biotechnology.


Maryland is one of the most multicultural states in the country; it is one of the six states where non-Whites compose a majority of the population, with the fifth-highest percentage of African Americans, and high numbers of residents born in Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and South and East Asia.


The state's central role in U.S. history is reflected by its hosting of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita. Sixteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties, as well as the city of Baltimore, border the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay estuary and its many tributaries, which combined total more than 4,000 miles of shoreline.


Although one of the smallest states in the U.S., it features a variety of climates and topographical features that have earned it the moniker of America in Miniature. In a similar vein, Maryland's geography, culture, and history combine elements of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, and Southern regions of the country.


What you can do in the WikiXM Maryland News

Engage with your town in a Live format.

With various live chat features, you can engage with locals in a virtual conversation.

You can discuss or write about local issues.

Create & post topics in "town" you love like Sports, Entertainment

You can ask your Community questions that only locals may be able to answer.

Ask questions about local services, where to find local activies or get other local advice from those that live in your town.

Local interest Groups are a great way to engage locally.

Create a local group in an area of your interest like Mt. Bikiing, Hiking, a book group.

Get to know your town better.

See what we've included about your town and how can get to know your towns history much better and participate in its future.

What is WikiXM?

View Category Page

Top Articles in Maryland

See More

The Maryland founder's page is dedicated to those people in the Maryland area that initially made the Maryland WikiXM news a reality. Without their initiative, foresight and social fortitude the Maryland WikiXM news would not have happened.

BWI Airport sees crowds Sunday following Thanksgiving holiday week

The TSA said the Sunday after Thanksgiving would be the last busy travel day of the major travel week... Read more

Chilly start to week Monday with temps only in the 40's

Meteorologist Ava Marie says it will be a chilly start to the week with sunny skies and brisk temps for Monday.... Read more

Maryland Reporters

See More

The Maryland's Reporters play an important role in keeping their communities informed. They investigate stories, write articles, and inform the public about what is happening in their area.

No Reporters in Maryland.

This could be you

Maryland Live Town Chat

Start a discussion, not a fire. Post with kindness.

Sign in Now to take part in the Live Chat

Town
Talk