Maryland

}}

}}

'''Maryland''' ({{IPAc-en|US|audio=en-us-Maryland.ogg|ˈ|m|ɛr|ᵻ|l|ə|n|d}} {{respell|MERR|il|ənd}}){{Efn|In American English, the first syllable is pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛr|-}} even by the minority of speakers who contrast the vowels in ''merry'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛr|i}} and ''Mary'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛər|i}}. The pronunciation {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛər|ᵻ|l|ə|n|d}} {{respell|MAIR|il|ənd}} is the predominant one in British [[Received Pronunciation]].<ref>{{cite LPD|3}}</ref>}} is a [[U.S. state|state]] in the [[Mid-Atlantic (United States)|Mid-Atlantic]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Mid-Atlantic Home : Mid–Atlantic Information Office |url=https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408092405/https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/|archive-date=April 8, 2019|access-date=July 27, 2017|website=U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics }}</ref> region of the United States. It borders the states of [[Virginia]] to its south, [[West Virginia]] to its west, [[Pennsylvania]] to its north, and [[Delaware]] to its east, as well as with 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 {{Convert|12407|sqmi|km2}}, Maryland is the [[List of U.S. states and territories by area|ninth-smallest state by land area]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maryland - 2023 - III.B. Overview of the State |url=https://mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov/Narratives/Overview/5f6bf77b-2287-4416-9871-38c1d74644fd |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov |archive-date=January 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103080055/https://mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov/Narratives/Overview/5f6bf77b-2287-4416-9871-38c1d74644fd |url-status=live }}</ref> and its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the [[List of U.S. states and territories by population|18th-most populous state]] and the [[List of states and territories of the United States by population density|fifth-most densely populated]]. Maryland's capital city is [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], and the state's most populous city is [[Baltimore]].<ref name="BaltBrit">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Baltimore |title=Baltimore |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=June 18, 2023 |access-date=April 25, 2019 |archive-date=July 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719161537/https://www.britannica.com/place/Baltimore |url-status=live }}</ref>

'''Maryland''' ({{IPAc-en|US|audio=en-us-Maryland.ogg|ˈ|m|ɛr|ᵻ|l|ə|n|d}} {{respell|MERR|il|ənd}}){{Efn|In American English, the first syllable is pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛr|-}} even by the minority of speakers who contrast the vowels in ''merry'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛr|i}} and ''Mary'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛər|i}}. The pronunciation {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛər|ᵻ|l|ə|n|d}} {{respell|MAIR|il|ənd}} is the predominant one in British [[Received Pronunciation]].<ref>{{cite LPD|3}}</ref>}} is a [[U.S. state|state]] in the [[Mid-Atlantic (United States)|Mid-Atlantic]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Mid-Atlantic Home : Mid–Atlantic Information Office |url=https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408092405/https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/|archive-date=April 8, 2019|access-date=July 27, 2017|website=U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics }}</ref> and [[South Atlantic (United States)|South Atlantic]] region of the United States. It borders the states of [[Virginia]] to its south, [[West Virginia]] to its west, [[Pennsylvania]] to its north, and [[Delaware]] to its east, as well as with 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 {{Convert|12407|sqmi|km2}}, Maryland is the [[List of U.S. states and territories by area|ninth-smallest state by land area]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maryland - 2023 - III.B. Overview of the State |url=https://mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov/Narratives/Overview/5f6bf77b-2287-4416-9871-38c1d74644fd |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov |archive-date=January 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103080055/https://mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov/Narratives/Overview/5f6bf77b-2287-4416-9871-38c1d74644fd |url-status=live }}</ref> and its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the [[List of U.S. states and territories by population|18th-most populous state]] and the [[List of states and territories of the United States by population density|fifth-most densely populated]]. Maryland's capital city is [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], and the state's most populous city is [[Baltimore]].<ref name="BaltBrit">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Baltimore |title=Baltimore |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=June 18, 2023 |access-date=April 25, 2019 |archive-date=July 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719161537/https://www.britannica.com/place/Baltimore |url-status=live }}</ref>

Maryland's coastline was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. Prior to that, it was inhabited by several [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes, mostly the [[Algonquian peoples]].<ref>{{cite web |title=People, Tribes and Bands |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/native/html/01native.html |website=Maryland Manual On-line: A Guide to Maryland and its Government |publisher=Maryland State Archives |access-date=August 25, 2019 |archive-date=July 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717013734/https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/native/html/01native.html |url-status=live }}</ref> One of the original [[Thirteen Colonies]], the [[Province of Maryland]] was founded in 1634 by [[George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore]], a [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|Catholic]] convert<ref name="Cecilius Calvert 2010">"George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert, Barons Baltimore" William Hand Browne, Nabu Press (August 1, 2010), {{ISBN|117662539X}} {{ISBN|978-1176625396}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=English and Catholic : the Lords Baltimore in the seventeenth century|author=Krugler, John D.|date=2004|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0801879630|location=Baltimore|oclc=53967315}}</ref> who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=History of Maryland: Province and State|last=Andrews|first=Matthew Page|publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc|year=1929|location=Garden City, New York|pages=3–5}}</ref> In 1632, [[Charles I of England]] granted Lord Baltimore a [[colonial charter]], naming the colony after his wife, [[Henrietta Maria of France|Henrietta Maria]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ma01.asp|title=The Charter of Maryland : 1632|date=December 18, 1998|website=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=May 2, 2018|archive-date=March 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325164510/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ma01.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly passed an [[Maryland Toleration Act|Act Concerning Religion]], which enshrined the principle of [[toleration]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/maryland_toleration.asp|title=Avalon Project—Maryland Toleration Act; September 21, 1649|website=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=May 3, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125140850/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/maryland_toleration.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> Religious strife was common in Maryland's early years, and [[Catholic Church|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 economy|plantation-based]] and centered mostly on the cultivation of [[tobacco]]. Demand for cheap labor from Maryland colonists led to the importation of numerous [[Indentured servitude in British America|indentured servants]] and [[History of slavery in Maryland|enslaved Africans]]. In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following the [[Mason–Dixon line|settlement]] of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. Many of its citizens played [[Maryland in the American Revolution|key political and military roles]] in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Although it was a [[Slave states and free states|slave state]], Maryland [[Border states (American Civil War)|remained in the Union]] during the [[American Civil War]], and its proximity to Washington D.C. and Virginia made it [[Maryland in the American Civil War|a significant strategic location]]. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Maryland took part in the [[Industrial Revolution in the United States|Industrial Revolution]], driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe.

Maryland's coastline was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. Prior to that, it was inhabited by several [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes, mostly the [[Algonquian peoples]].<ref>{{cite web |title=People, Tribes and Bands |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/native/html/01native.html |website=Maryland Manual On-line: A Guide to Maryland and its Government |publisher=Maryland State Archives |access-date=August 25, 2019 |archive-date=July 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717013734/https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/native/html/01native.html |url-status=live }}</ref> One of the original [[Thirteen Colonies]], the [[Province of Maryland]] was founded in 1634 by [[George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore]], a [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|Catholic]] convert<ref name="Cecilius Calvert 2010">"George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert, Barons Baltimore" William Hand Browne, Nabu Press (August 1, 2010), {{ISBN|117662539X}} {{ISBN|978-1176625396}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=English and Catholic : the Lords Baltimore in the seventeenth century|author=Krugler, John D.|date=2004|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0801879630|location=Baltimore|oclc=53967315}}</ref> who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=History of Maryland: Province and State|last=Andrews|first=Matthew Page|publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc|year=1929|location=Garden City, New York|pages=3–5}}</ref> In 1632, [[Charles I of England]] granted Lord Baltimore a [[colonial charter]], naming the colony after his wife, [[Henrietta Maria of France|Henrietta Maria]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ma01.asp|title=The Charter of Maryland : 1632|date=December 18, 1998|website=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=May 2, 2018|archive-date=March 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325164510/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ma01.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly passed an [[Maryland Toleration Act|Act Concerning Religion]], which enshrined the principle of [[toleration]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/maryland_toleration.asp|title=Avalon Project—Maryland Toleration Act; September 21, 1649|website=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=May 3, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125140850/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/maryland_toleration.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> Religious strife was common in Maryland's early years, and [[Catholic Church|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 economy|plantation-based]] and centered mostly on the cultivation of [[tobacco]]. Demand for cheap labor from Maryland colonists led to the importation of numerous [[Indentured servitude in British America|indentured servants]] and [[History of slavery in Maryland|enslaved Africans]]. In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following the [[Mason–Dixon line|settlement]] of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. Many of its citizens played [[Maryland in the American Revolution|key political and military roles]] in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Although it was a [[Slave states and free states|slave state]], Maryland [[Border states (American Civil War)|remained in the Union]] during the [[American Civil War]], and its proximity to Washington D.C. and Virginia made it [[Maryland in the American Civil War|a significant strategic location]]. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Maryland took part in the [[Industrial Revolution in the United States|Industrial Revolution]], driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe.