Maryland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

State of Maryland
Flag of Maryland Seal Nickname(s): Old Line State; Free State Motto(s): Fatti maschii, parole femine (Manly deeds, womanly words)
Official language(s)	None (English, de facto)
Demonym	Marylander
Capital	Annapolis
Largest city	Baltimore
Largest metro area	Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
Area	Ranked 42nd in the US
- Total	12,407 sq mi (32,133 km²)
- Width	101 miles (145 km)
- Length	249 miles (400 km)
- % water	21
- Latitude	37° 53′ N to 39° 43′ N
- Longitude	75° 03′ W to 79° 29′ W
Population	Ranked 19th in the US
- Total	5,600,388
- Density	541.9/sq mi  209.2/km² (5th in the US)
- Median income	$65,144[1][2] (1st)
Elevation
- Highest point	Hoye Crest[3] 3,360 ft  (1,024 m)
- Mean	344 ft  (105 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[3] 0 ft  (0 m)
Admission to Union	April 28, 1788 (7th)
Governor	Martin O'Malley (D)
Lieutenant Governor	Anthony G. Brown (D)
U.S. Senators	Barbara Mikulski (D) Ben Cardin (D)
Congressional Delegation	List
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations	MD US-MD
Website	www.maryland.gov

Maryland (IPA: /ˈmɛrələnd/) is a state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia and West Virginia to the south and west, Pennsylvania to the north, and Delaware to the east. Historically it was part of the Chesapeake Bay Colony where planters cultivated tobacco as a cash crop dependent on slave labor.^[4][5] It is comparable in size to the European country of Belgium.^[6] According to the most recent information provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, as of August 2007, Maryland is now the wealthiest state in the United States, with a median household income of US$65,144, ahead of New Jersey which had previously held that title.^[7]

It was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution and bears two nicknames, the Old Line State and the Free State. Its history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both the Northern and Southern regions of the United States. Generally, the rural Western,^{[citation needed]} Southern and Eastern Shore regions of Maryland reflect a Southern culture,^[8] while densely-populated Central Maryland — radiating outward from Baltimore City and the Washington Beltway — exhibit characteristics of the Northeast.^[9]

Maryland is a life sciences hub with over 350 biotechnology firms, making it the third-largest such cluster in the nation.^[10] Institutions and agencies located throughout Maryland include University System of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Celera Genomics, Human Genome Sciences (HGS), The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Geography

Physical geography

See also: List of islands in Maryland and List of rivers in Maryland

Maryland possesses a great variety of topography, hence its nickname, "America in Miniature."^[11] It ranges from sandy dunes dotted with seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with water snakes and large bald cypress near the bay, to gently rolling hills of oak forest in the Piedmont Region, and mountain pine groves in the west.

Tidal wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay, largest freshwater estuary in the world and the largest physical feature in Maryland.

Geographic regions of Maryland

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 West Virginia and Virginia. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted on the Maryland side by Washington, DC, which sits on land that was originally part of Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state, and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Most of the state's waterways are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with the exceptions of a portion of Garrett County (drained by the Youghiogheny River as part of the watershed of the Mississippi River), the eastern half of Worcester County (which drains into Maryland's Atlantic coastal bays), and a small portion of the state's northeast corner (which drains into the Delaware River watershed). So prominent is the Chesapeake in Maryland's geography and economic life that there has been periodic agitation to change the state's official nickname to the "Bay State," a name currently used by Massachusetts.

The highest point in Maryland is Hoye Crest on Backbone Mountain, in the southwest corner of Garrett County, near the border with West Virginia and near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac River. Maryland's only ski area, Wisp, is located close to Backbone Mountain. Near the small town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state, the state is only about 1-mile (2 km) wide. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason-Dixon Line to the north, and the north-arching Potomac River to the south.

Maryland state welcome sign

Portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. For example, the Delmarva Peninsula comprises the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the entire State of Delaware, and the two counties that make up the Eastern Shore of Virginia, while the westernmost counties of Maryland are considered part of Appalachia. Much of the Baltimore-Washington corridor lies just south of the piedmont in the Coastal Plain,^[12] though it straddles the border between the two regions.

A quirk of Maryland's geography is that the state contains no natural lakes.^[13] During the last Ice Age, glaciers did not reach as far south as Maryland, and therefore did not carve out deep natural lakes as exist in northern states. There are numerous man-made lakes, the largest being Deep Creek Lake, a reservoir in Garrett County. The lack of glacial history also accounts for Maryland's soil, which is more sandy and muddy than the rocky soils of New England.

Human geography

See also: List of counties in Maryland, List of incorporated places in Maryland, and List of census-designated places in Maryland

Maryland counties

The majority of Maryland's population is concentrated in the cities and suburbs surrounding Washington, DC and Maryland's most populous city, Baltimore. Historically, these and many other Maryland cities developed along the fall line, the point at which rivers are no longer navigable from sea level due to the presence of rapids or waterfalls. Maryland's capital, Annapolis, is one exception to this rule, lying along the Severn River close to where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Other major population centers include suburban hubs Columbia in Howard County, Silver Spring, Rockville and Gaithersburg in Montgomery County, Frederick in Frederick County and Hagerstown in Washington County. The eastern, southern, and western portions of the state tend to be more rural, although they are dotted with cities of regional importance such as Salisbury and Ocean City on the Eastern Shore, Lexington Park and Waldorf in Southern Maryland, and Cumberland in Western Maryland.

Annapolis	Bethesda	College Park	Cumberland
Ellicott City	Frederick	Gaithersburg	Greenbelt
Hagerstown	Laurel	Ocean City