Maryland

In the United States, the state of Maryland is located in the Mid-Atlantic area. To its south and west, it is bordered by the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia; to its north, it is bordered by Pennsylvania; and to its east, it is bordered by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean. Although Annapolis is the state capital, Baltimore is the most populous city in Maryland. It has been referred to as the Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State on occasion. It is named after Henrietta Maria, who was the Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland and was born in France. At the time, she was known as Mary in England.

Native Americans of various Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan subgroups lived in what is now the state of Maryland prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, when they began to explore the coastline of the state. George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a convert to Catholicism, established the state of Maryland as one of the original Thirteen Colonies of England. He did so with the intention of providing a religious shelter for Catholics who were being persecuted in England. Charles I of England presented Lord Baltimore with a colonial charter in 1632 and named the new settlement after Lord Baltimore's wife, Henrietta Maria. Lord Baltimore envisioned a colony in which individuals of all religious faiths would cohabit in accordance with the idea of toleration. This was in contrast to the practises of the Pilgrims and the Puritans, who barred Catholicism from their colonies. As a result, in the year 1649, the Maryland General Assembly issued an Act Concerning Religion, which institutionalised this idea by punishing anybody who "reproached" a fellow Marylander based on the individual's religious allegiance. However, religious struggle was widespread in the early years, and Catholics continued to be a minority, although having a larger population than in any other English colony at the time.

Early communities and population centres in Maryland were established in areas close to rivers and other waterways that flowed into the Chesapeake Bay. Its economy was primarily focused on the growing of tobacco and was supported by a large number of plantations. Due to the high need for low-cost labour in Great Britain, the number of indentured servants, those forced to work in prisons, and African slaves rapidly increased. In 1760, a long-running boundary dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania was finally resolved, which resulted in the formation of Maryland's present borders. The state of Maryland had an active role in the events that led up to the American Revolution, and by 1776, representatives from the state had signed the Declaration of Independence. Following the conflict, a significant number of its inhabitants went on to play important political and military positions. In 1790, the state donated territory to the federal government so that the District of Columbia could become the capital of the United States.

In spite of the fact that it was a slave state at the time, Maryland remained a part of the Union throughout the American Civil War. Due to its advantageous position, the state played an important part in the fight. After the end of the Civil War, Maryland participated in the Industrial Revolution, which was propelled by the state's seaports, railroad networks, and significant influx of immigrants from Europe. The population of the state has increased at a fast rate since the 1940s, and it is now among the most densely populated states in the United States, with nearly six million inhabitants. As of the year 2015, the state of Maryland had the nation's highest median household income. This was due in large part to the state's close proximity to Washington, D.C., as well as its highly diversified economy, which included sectors such as manufacturing, retail services, public administration, real estate, higher education, information technology, defence contracting, health care, and biotechnology. It is a reflection of the state's significant position in the history of the United States that it is home to some of the largest numbers of historic sites per capita.

The tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay estuary and its numerous tributaries are bordered by sixteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties, as well as the city of Baltimore. This gives the state a combined total of more than 4,000 miles of coastline along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. It is one of the smallest states in the United States, but since it has such a diverse range of weather and geographical characteristics, it is often referred to as "America in Miniature." In a manner analogous to this, the geography, culture, and history of the state of Maryland mix aspects of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, and Southern areas of the United States.