Concept

Maryland

Summary
Maryland (USˈmɛrᵻlənd ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. With a total land area of , Maryland is the eighth-smallest state by land area, but its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the 18th-most populous state and the fifth-most densely populated. Baltimore is the largest city in the state, and the capital is Annapolis. The western portion of the state contains numerous stretches of the Appalachian Mountains, while the central portion is primarily composed of the Piedmont. The eastern side of the state makes up the Chesapeake Bay, sharing the border with Delaware, and the southeastern side borders the Atlantic Ocean. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after Henrietta Maria, the French-born queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who was known then in England as Mary. Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Maryland was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans – mostly by Algonquian peoples and, to a lesser degree, Iroquoian and Siouan. As one of the original Thirteen Colonies of England, 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. Unlike the Pilgrims and Puritans, who rejected Catholicism in their settlements, Lord Baltimore envisioned a colony where people of different religious sects would coexist under the principle of toleration. Accordingly, in 1649 the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion, which enshrined this principle by penalizing anyone who "reproached" a fellow Marylander based on religious affiliation.
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