Maryland summary

Maryland, State, eastern U.S. Area: 12,406 sq mi (32,131 sq km). Population: (2020) 6,177,224; (2023 est.) 6,180,253. Capital: Annapolis. A Middle Atlantic state, Maryland is deeply indented by Chesapeake Bay and is bordered by Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia. The state’s main geographic regions are the coastal plain along Chesapeake Bay, the rich farming country of the Piedmont plateau, and the Appalachian Mountains. First occupied by late Ice Age hunters c. 10,000 bce, the area was later inhabited by the Nanticoke and Piscataway tribes. Capt. John Smith charted the Chesapeake Bay region in 1608. Maryland was included in a charter given by the British king to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Leonard Calvert, his brother, founded the first settlement in 1634 at St. Marys City. Maryland became the first American colony to establish religious freedom. Its boundary dispute with Pennsylvania was settled in the 1760s with the drawing of the Mason-Dixon Line. In 1788 Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. The state ceded the District of Columbia as the site for a new federal capital in 1791. It was involved in the War of 1812 (see Fort McHenry). The U.S. Naval Academy was founded at Annapolis in 1845. Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War, but strong Southern sentiments resulted in the imposition of martial law. After the war, it prospered as an important entrepôt for consumer goods to the South and Midwest. During the 20th century its proximity to the national capital spurred population growth. Its economy is based primarily on government services and manufacturing.