Portal:Maryland

Shortcut

P:MD

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

Maryland Portal

Baltimore Task Force

Frederick Task Force

Montgomery Task Force

WikiProject Maryland

Main page

Discussion

Introduction

Maryland (US: /ˈmɛrɪlənd/ ^ⓘ MERR-il-ənd) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east, and the national capital and federal district of Washington, D.C. to the southwest. With a total area of 12,407 square miles (32,130 km²), Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area, and its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the 18th-most populous state and the fifth-most densely populated. Maryland's capital city is Annapolis, and the most populous city is Baltimore.

Maryland's coastline was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. Prior to that, it was inhabited by several Native American tribes, mostly the Algonquian peoples. As one of the original Thirteen Colonies, 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. In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion, which enshrined the principle of toleration. Religious strife was common in Maryland's 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 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. Many of its citizens played key political and military roles in the American Revolutionary War. Although it was a slave state, Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, and its proximity to Washington D.C. and Virginia made it a significant strategic location. After the Civil War ended, 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^[update], 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, Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean. 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. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Featured article - show another

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia..

Virginia Poe, as painted after her death

Virginia Eliza Poe (née Clemm; August 15, 1822 – January 30, 1847) was the wife of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The couple were first cousins and publicly married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27. Biographers disagree as to the nature of the couple's relationship. Though their marriage was loving, some biographers suggest they viewed one another more like a brother and sister. In January 1842, she contracted tuberculosis, growing worse for five years until she died of the disease at the age of 24 in the family's cottage, at that time outside New York City.

Along with other family members, Virginia Clemm and Edgar Allan Poe lived together off and on for several years before their marriage. The couple often moved to accommodate Poe's employment, living intermittently in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. A few years after their wedding, Poe was involved in a substantial scandal involving Frances Sargent Osgood and Elizabeth F. Ellet. Rumors about amorous improprieties on her husband's part affected Virginia Poe so much that on her deathbed she claimed that Ellet had murdered her. After her death, her body was eventually placed under the same memorial marker as her husband's in Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore, Maryland. Only one image of Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe has been authenticated: a watercolor portrait painted several hours after her death. (Full article...)

List of featured articles

General images

Image 1Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles (from Maryland)
Image 2A map showing Maryland's median income by county. Data is sourced from the 2014 ACS five-year estimate report, published by the U.S. Census Bureau (from Maryland)
Image 3The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which connects Maryland's Eastern and Western Shores (from Maryland)
Image 4A feral Chincoteague Pony on Assateague Island on Maryland's Atlantic coastal islands (from Maryland)
Image 5Ellicott City Station, on the original Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line, the oldest remaining passenger station in the nation. The rail line is still used by CSX Transportation for freight trains, and the station is now a museum. (from Maryland)
Image 6The bombardment of Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore, which inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" (from Maryland)
Image 7Physical regions of Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 8Maryland population distribution map; Maryland's population is concentrated mostly in the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. (from Maryland)
Image 9Great Falls on the Potomac River (from Maryland)
Image 10The Maryland State House in Annapolis dates to 1772, and houses the Maryland General Assembly and offices of the governor. (from Maryland)
Image 11The historical coat of arms of Maryland in 1876 (from Maryland)
Image 12Köppen climate types of Maryland, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Maryland)
Image 13Black-eyed susans, the state flower, grow throughout much of the state. (from Maryland)
Image 14Agriculture is an important part of Maryland's economy. (from Maryland)
Image 15The Battle of Antietam in 1862, one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, with nearly 23,000 casualties (from Maryland)
Image 16Patapsco River includes the Thomas Viaduct and is part of the Patapsco Valley State Park; the river forms Baltimore's Inner Harbor as it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. (from Maryland)
Image 17Maryland's counties (from Maryland)
Image 18M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens (from Maryland)
Image 19A 1732 map of Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 20Winter on Lancaster Street in Baltimore's Fells Point (from Maryland)
Image 21Western Maryland is known for its heavily forested mountains. A panoramic view of Deep Creek Lake and the surrounding Appalachian Mountains in Garrett County. (from Maryland)

Map of counties in Maryland by racial plurality, according to 2020 U.S. census findings

Non-Hispanic White

40–50%

50–60%

60–70%

70–80%

80–90%

90%+

Black or African American

50–60%

60–70%

(from Maryland)

Image 23Baltimore Basilica, the first Catholic cathedral built in the U.S. (from Maryland)
Image 24Sunset over a marsh at Cardinal Cove on the Patuxent River (from Maryland)
Image 25The ruins left by the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 (from Maryland)
Image 26Memorial Chapel at the University of Maryland, Maryland's flagship university (from Maryland)
Image 27Ethnic origins in Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 28University of Maryland, Baltimore County (from Maryland)
Image 29Ocean City, a beach resort along the Atlantic Ocean and a popular tourist destination in Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 30Spiro Agnew, the 39th Vice President of the United States during the Nixon administration, the highest-ranking political leader from Maryland since the nation's founding (from Maryland)
Image 31Tidal wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the nation and the largest water feature in Maryland (from Maryland)
Image 32American Film Institute Silver Theater (from Arts and culture of Maryland)

edit

In the news

November 1, 2007 - Westboro Baptist Church ordered to pay US$11 million to family of fallen US soldier
September 30, 2007 - Interview with gay marriage movement founder Evan Wolfson
September 1, 2007 - Four jackpot winners confirmed in US 'Mega Millions' lottery drawing
May 20, 2007 - Horse racing: Curlin wins 2007 Preakness Stakes

Current events on Wikinews

edit

On this day...

February 18

Births

1804 - Thomas Pratt
1956 - Paul Reed Smith

More selected anniversaries...

Good article - show another

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

The original Ma and Pa, with the former PRR's York–Hanover, Pennsylvania branch highlighted

The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark MPA), colloquially known as the "Ma and Pa", was an American short-line railroad between York and Hanover, Pennsylvania, formerly operating passenger and freight trains on its original line between York and Baltimore, Maryland, from 1901 until the 1950s. The Ma and Pa was popular with railfans in the 1930s and 1940s for its antique equipment and curving, picturesque right-of-way through the hills of rural Maryland and Pennsylvania. Reflecting its origin as the unintended product of the merger of two 19th-century narrow-gauge railways, the meandering main line took 77.2 miles (124 km) to connect Baltimore and York (via Bel Air, Maryland and Delta, Pennsylvania), although the two cities are only 45 miles (72 km) apart.

Passenger service on the railroad was discontinued on August 31, 1954, and its trackage in Maryland was abandoned in June 1958. The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad acquired a former 19-mile (31 km) Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) branch line between York and Hanover in 1976, now operated by a successor corporation, York Railway. Most of the remaining original line in Pennsylvania was abandoned by 1984. (Full article...)

List of good articles

Selected article - show another

Great Seal of the State of Maryland

The government of Maryland is conducted according to the Maryland Constitution. The United States is a federation; consequently, the government of Maryland, like the other 49 state governments, has exclusive authority over matters that lie entirely within the state's borders, except as limited by the Constitution of the United States.

Administrative influence in Maryland is divided among three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. Unlike most other states, significant autonomy is granted to many of Maryland's counties. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Did you know?

...that unlike most other American courts, the judges on the Maryland Court of Appeals wear crimson (not black) robes, and neck bands, reminiscent of British court dress?
...that Kent Island was founded in 1631 as part of Virginia, three years before St. Mary's City was founded?

...that the Thomas Viaduct (pictured) over the Patapsco River was the first multi-span masonry railroad bridge in the United States when it was constructed between 1833 and 1835?

Archive – Start a new article

edit