, 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
. The lack of glacial history also accounts for Maryland's soil, which is more sandy and muddy than the rocky soils of
The majority of Maryland's population is concentrated in the cities and suburbs surrounding
. Historically, these cities and many others in Maryland 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,
close to where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Other major population centers include suburban hubs
. 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
.
Maryland has wide array of climates for a state of its size. It depends on numerous variables, such as proximity to water, elevation, and protection from northern weather due to
.
, with very flat topography and very sandy or muddy soil. This region has a
(Köppen Cfa), with hot, humid summers and a short, mild to cool winter. This region includes the cities of
.
) of hot, humid summers and moderately cold winters where significant snowfall and significant subfreezing temperatures are an annual occurrence. This region includes
.
and the Midwestern U.S.) with warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters.
Precipitation in the state is very generous, as it is on most of the East Coast. Annual rainfall ranges from 40-45 inches (1000-1150 mm) in virtually every part of the state, falling very evenly. Nearly every part of Maryland receives 3.5-4.5 inches (95-110 mm) per month of precipitation. Snowfall varies from 9 inches (23 cm) in the coastal areas to over 100 inches (250 cm) a winter in the western mountains of the state.
, Maryland's plant life is abundant and healthy. A good dose of annual precipitation helps to support many types of plants, including
, the state tree, which can grow in excess of 70 feet (20 m) tall. Maryland also possesses an abundance of pines and
among its endemic tree life. Many foreign species are cultivated in the state, some as ornamentals, others as novelty species. Included among these are the
in the warmer central and eastern parts of the state. USDA plant
in the state range from Zone 5 in the extreme western part of the state to 6 and 7 in the central part, and Zone 8 around the southern part of the coast, the bay area, and most of
.
, particularly in the woody and mountainous west of the state, and overpopulation can become a problem from year-to-year. The
.
Lawns in Maryland carry a variety of species, mostly due to its location in the Transition Zone for
. The western part of the state is cold enough to support
, and Fine Fescues, which are widespread from the foothills west. The area around the
.
can be grown in the parts of the state that are in Zone 8.
Main article: History of Maryland History As of 2006, Maryland has an estimated population of 5,615,727, which is an increase of 26,128, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 319,221, or 6.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 189,158 people (that is 464,251 births minus 275,093 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 116,713 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 129,730 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 13,017 people.
In 2006, 645,744 were counted as foreign born, which represents mainly people from Latin America and Asia. About 4.0% are undocumented (illegal) immigrants.
Most of the population of Maryland lives in the central region of the state, in the
Baltimore Metropolitan Area and
Washington Metropolitan Area, both of which are part of the
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The Eastern Shore is less populous and more rural, as are the counties of western and southern Maryland.
The two counties of Western Maryland (
Allegany,
Garrett, are mountainous and sparsely populated, resembling
West Virginia more than they do the rest of Maryland. Although the African American proportion is not as high as it was during the eighteenth century peak of tobacco plantation production (when it was 38%), Maryland still has the largest black population of any state outside of the
Deep South. Maryland also has the second largest Korean American population, trailing only Texas. In fact, 1.7% are Korean, while as a whole, almost 6.0% are Asian.
The
center of population of Maryland is located on the county line between
Anne Arundel County and
Howard County, in the
unincorporated town of
Jessup [3].
Demographics The five largest reported ancestries in Maryland are
German (15.7%),
Irish (11.7%),
English (9%),
American (5.8%), and
Italian (5.1%
[4]).
African Americans are concentrated in
Baltimore City,
Prince George's County, and the southern Eastern Shore. Most of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland are populated by Marylanders of British ancestry. Western and northern Maryland have large
German-American populations.
Italians and
Poles are centered mostly in the large city of
Baltimore.
Maryland has one of the largest proportions of racial minorities in the country, trailing only the four
minority-majority states.
Race Maryland was founded for the purpose of providing religious toleration of England's Catholic minority. Nevertheless, Parliament later reversed that policy and discouraged the practice of Catholicism in Maryland. Despite the founding intent of the colony, Catholics have never been in a majority in Maryland since early Colonial times. Nonetheless, it is the largest single denomination in Maryland. The present religious composition of the state is shown below:
Religions in Maryland Christian
Other
Despite the Protestant majority, Maryland has been prominent in US Catholic tradition, partially because it was intended by George Calvert as a haven for English Catholics. Baltimore was the location of the first Catholic bishop in the U.S. (1789), and
Emmitsburg was the home and burial place of the first American-born citizen to be
canonized,
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Georgetown University, the first Catholic University, was founded in 1789 in what was then part of Maryland.
Religion See also: List of federal installations in Maryland and List of shopping malls in Maryland The
Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maryland's gross state product in 2004 was US$228 billion.
Maryland's economic activity is strongly concentrated in the tertiary service sector, and this sector, in turn, is strongly influenced by location. One major service activity is transportation, centered around the Port of Baltimore and its related rail and trucking access. The port ranked 10th in the U.S. by tonnage in 2002 (Source:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, "Waterborn Commerce Statistics"). Although the port handles a wide variety of products, the most typical imports are raw materials and bulk commodities, such as
iron ore,
petroleum,
sugar, and
fertilizers, often distributed to the relatively close manufacturing centers of the inland
Midwest via good overland transportation. The port also receives several different brands of imported motor vehicles.
A second service activity takes advantage of the close location of the center of government in
Washington, D.C. and emphasizes technical and administrative tasks for the defense/aerospace industry and bio-research laboratories, as well as staffing of satellite government headquarters in the suburban or exurban Baltimore/Washington area. In addition many educational and medical research institutions are located in the state. In fact, the various components of
Johns Hopkins University and its medical research facilities are now the largest single employer in the Baltimore area. Altogether,
white collar technical and administrative workers comprise 25% of Maryland's
labor force, one of the highest state percentages in the country.
Maryland has a large food-production sector. A large component of this is commercial fishing, centered in Chesapeake Bay, but also including activity off the short Atlantic seacoast. The largest catches by species are the
blue crab,
oysters,
striped bass, and
menhaden. The Bay also has uncounted millions of overwintering waterfowl in its many wildlife refuges. While not, strictly speaking, a commercial food resource, the waterfowl support a tourism sector of sportsmen.
Maryland has large areas of fertile agricultural land in its coastal and
Piedmont zones, although this land use is being encroached upon by urbanization. Agriculture is oriented to dairying for nearby large city milksheads plus specialty perishable horticulture crops, such as
cucumbers,
watermelons,
sweet corn,
tomatoes,
muskmelons,
squash, and
peas (Source:USDA Crop Profiles). In addition, the southern counties of the western shoreline of Chesapeake Bay are warm enough to support a
tobacco cash crop zone, which has existed since early Colonial times. There is also a large
chicken-farming sector in the state;
Salisbury is home to
Perdue Farms. Maryland's food-processing plants are the most significant type of manufacturing by value in the state.
Manufacturing, while large in dollar value, is highly diversified with no sub-sector contributing over 20% of the total. Typical forms of manufacturing include electronics, computer equipment, and chemicals. The once mighty primary metals sub-sector, which at one time included what was then the largest steel factory in the world at
Sparrows Point, still exists, but is pressed with foreign competition,
bankruptcies, and company
mergers.
Mining other than construction materials is virtually limited to coal, which is located in the mountainous western part of the state. The brownstone quarries in the east, which gave Baltimore and Washington much of their characteristic architecture in the mid-1800s, were once a predominant natural resource. Historically, there used to be small gold-mining operations in Maryland, some surprisingly near Washington, but these no longer exist.
Maryland imposes 4
income tax brackets, ranging from 2% to 4.75% of personal income. The city of Baltimore and Maryland's 23 counties levy local "piggyback" income taxes at rates between 1.25% and 3.2% of Maryland taxable income. Local officials set the rates and the revenue is returned to the local governments quarterly. Maryland's state
sales tax is 5%. All real property in Maryland is subject to the
property tax. Generally, properties that are owned and used by religious, charitable, or educational organizations or property owned by the federal, state or local governments are exempt. Property tax rates vary widely. No restrictions or limitations on property taxes are imposed by the state, meaning cities and counties can set tax rates at the level they deem necessary to fund governmental services. These rates can increase, decrease or remain the same from year to year. If the proposed tax rate increases the total property tax revenues, the governing body must advertise that fact and hold a public hearing on the new tax rate. This is called the Constant Yield Tax Rate process.
Baltimore City is the eighth largest port in the nation, and was at the center of the February 2006
controversy over the
Dubai Ports World deal because it was considered to be of such strategic importance. The state as a whole is heavily industrialized, with a booming economy and influential technology centers. Its computer industries are some of the most sophisticated in the United States, and the federal government has invested heavily in the area. Maryland is home to several large military bases and scores of high level government jobs.
Economy 
Transportation See also: List of Maryland state highways, List of minor Maryland state highways, and List of decommissioned Maryland state highways Maryland's
Interstate highways include
I-95, which enters the northeast portion of the state, goes through
Baltimore, and becomes part of the eastern section of the
Capital Beltway to the
Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
I-68 connects the western portions of the state to
I-70 at the small town of Hancock. I-70 continues east to Baltimore, connecting
Hagerstown and
Frederick along the way.
I-83 connects Baltimore to southern central Pennsylvania (
Harrisburg and
York, Pennsylvania). Maryland also has a portion of
I-81 that runs through the state near Hagerstown.
I-97, fully contained within Anne Arundel County and the shortest one- or two-digit Interstate highway outside of Hawaii, connects the Baltimore area to the Annapolis area.
There are also several
auxiliary Interstate highways in Maryland. Among them are
I-695, the McKeldin (Baltimore) Beltway, which encircles Baltimore; a portion of
I-495, the Capital Beltway, which encircles Washington, D.C.; and
I-270, which connects the Frederick area with the Washington area. The Capital Beltway is currently heavily
congested; however, the
ICC or
Inter
county
Connector, which may begin construction in 2007, could be the beginning of an outer, second beltway. Construction of the ICC was a major part of the campaign platform of former Governor
Robert Ehrlich, who was in office from 2003 until 2007.
Maryland also has a
state highway system that contains routes numbered from 2 through 999, however most of the higher-numbered routes are either not signed or are relatively short. Major state highways include Routes
2 (Governor Ritchie Highway/Solomons Island Road),
4,
5,
32,
100,
210 (Indian Head Highway),
295 (Baltimore-Washington Parkway), and
404.
Roads See also: List of airports in Maryland Maryland's largest airport is
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (formerly known as Friendship Airport and recently renamed for former Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall, who was born in Baltimore). The only other airports with commercial service are at
Hagerstown and
Salisbury. The Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., are also serviced by the other two airports in the region,
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and
Dulles International Airport, both in
Northern Virginia.
Airports See also: List of Maryland railroads Amtrak trains serve Baltimore's
Penn Station, BWI Airport,
New Carrollton, and Aberdeen along the
Northeast Corridor. In addition, train service is provided to
Rockville and
Cumberland on the
Amtrak Capitol Limited.
MARC trains, operated by the State's Transit Authority, connect nearby
Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, and other towns. The
Washington Metro subway and bus system serve Montgomery County and Prince George's County. The Maryland Transportation Authority's light rail and subway system serve Baltimore City and adjacent suburbs.
Trains Main article: Government of Maryland Law and government Since pre-
Civil War times, Maryland politics has been largely controlled by the
Democrats. Even as the politics of the Democratic party have shifted, over the last century, the views of the state have shifted with them. Blue-collar "
Reagan Democrats" frequently vote Republican, but Maryland is nonetheless well-known for its loyalty to the Democratic Party, especially inside metropolitan areas. The state is dominated by the two urban/inner suburban regions of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. . In addition, many jobs are directly or indirectly dependent upon the federal government. As a result, Baltimore, Montgomery County and Prince George's County often decide statewide elections. This is balanced by lesser populated areas on the Eastern Shore, Western Maryland, and outer suburbs that tend to support Republicans, even though seven of nine Shore counties have Democratic-majority voter rolls.
Maryland has supported the Democratic nominee in the last four presidential elections, and by an average of 15.4%. In 1980, it was one of just six states to vote for
Jimmy Carter. Maryland is often among the Democratic nominees' best states. In 1992,
Bill Clinton fared better in Maryland than any other state except his home state of
Arkansas. In 1996, Maryland was Clinton's 6th best, in 2000 Maryland ranked 4th for Gore and in 2004
John Kerry showed his 5th best performance in Maryland.
Both Maryland Senators and six of its eight Representatives in Congress are Democrats, and Democrats hold super-majorities in the state Senate and House of Delegates. The previous Governor,
Robert Ehrlich was the first Republican to be elected to that office in four decades, and after one term lost his seat to
Baltimore Mayor Martin J. O'Malley, a
Democrat.
U.S. Congressman
Steny Hoyer, a member of the
Democratic Party, is the
Majority Leader for the
110th Congress of the
U.S. House of Representatives. Majority Leader Hoyer currently represents the
fifth congressional district of Maryland covering parts of
Anne Arundel and
Prince George's counties, in addition to all of
Charles,
Calvert and
St. Mary's counties in
southern Maryland.
John Kerry easily won the state's 10 electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 13 percentage points with 55.9% of the vote. However, presidential election years are not deeply contested as national party resources are spent mostly in
swing states.
The 2006 election cycle witnessed no significant change in this pattern of Democratic dominance, even though there were two major highly-contested races. After Democratic Senator
Paul Sarbanes announced that he was retiring, Democratic Congressman
Benjamin Cardin defeated Republican Lieutenant Governor
Michael S. Steele, with fifty-five percent of the vote, against Steele's forty-four percent. The governorship was also a point of interest, as Republican incumbent
Robert Ehrlich was defeated by Democratic party challenger
Martin O'Malley, the Mayor of Baltimore, 53%-46%.
Doug Duncan, another leading candidate for the Democratic slot, pulled out of the highly anticipated primary, announcing his withdrawal on
June 22,
2006, citing
clinical depression.
While Maryland is a Democratic party stronghold, perhaps its best known political figure is a Republican--former Governor
Spiro Agnew, who served as United States Vice President under
Richard Nixon. He was Vice President from 1969 to 1973, when he resigned in the aftermath of revelations that he had taken
bribes while he was Governor of Maryland. In late 1973, a court found Agnew guilty of violating tax laws
The late Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall was raised in Baltimore, and during his time on the bench represented the liberal wing of the court that helped protect abortion on a federal level, and uphold laws eliminating racial discrimination in the public and private spheres.
Politics Education See also: List of school districts in Maryland and List of high schools in Maryland Public primary and secondary education in Maryland is overseen by the
Maryland State Department of Education. The highest educational official in the state is the
State Superintendent of Schools, currently Dr. Nancy Grasmick, who is appointed by the
State Board of Education to a four-year term of office. The Maryland General Assembly has given the Superintendent and State Board autonomy to make educationally-related decisions, limiting its own influence on the day to day functions of public education. Each county and county-equivalent in Maryland has a
local Board of Education charged with running the public schools in that particular jurisdiction.
Maryland has a broad range of private primary and secondary schools. Many of these are affiliated with various religious sects, including
parochial schools of the
Catholic Church,
Quaker schools,
Seventh-day Adventist schools, and
Jewish schools. In 2003, Maryland law was changed to allow for the creation of publicly funded charter schools, although the charter schools must be approved by their local Board of Education and are not exempt from state laws on education, including collective bargaining laws.
Primary and secondary education See also: List of colleges and universities in Maryland The oldest college in Maryland, and the third oldest college in the United States, is
St. John's College, founded in 1696 as King William's School. Maryland has 18 other private colleges and universities, the most prominent of which is Baltimore's
Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876 with a grant from Baltimore entrepreneur
Johns Hopkins.
The first and largest public university in the state is the
University of Maryland, College Park, which was founded as the Maryland Agricultural College in 1856 and became a public
land grant college in 1864. The majority of public universities in the state are affiliated with the
University System of Maryland. Two state-funded institutions,
Morgan State University and
St. Mary's College, as well as two federally-funded institutions, the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the
United States Naval Academy are not affiliated with the University System of Maryland.
Colleges and universities See also: List of sports teams in Maryland Due to the presence of two major metropolitan areas in the state, those surrounding
Washington, DC and
Baltimore, Maryland has a number of major and minor professional sports franchises. Two teams of the
National Football League play in Maryland, the
Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore and the
Washington Redskins in
Prince George's County. The
Baltimore Orioles are the
Major League Baseball franchise in the state. Lacking a
National Basketball Association franchise, many Maryland residents are fans of the
Washington Wizards or the
Philadelphia 76ers. There are also a number of smaller sports franchises in the state, including five minor league baseball teams.
See also
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