MARYLAND

Maryland, home to the Chesapeake Bay that nearly bisects it, sits on middle southern part of the Eastern Seaboard, nestled between Pennsylvania, both Virginias, Delaware and the sea. Delaware’s Virginia border is broken by the nation’s capital, the District of Columbia, but this territorial wound is very beneficial to the state.

It is partially this proximity to Washington, D.C. that makes Maryland as wealthy a state as it. Many of D.C.’s wealthiest people live in the Maryland suburbs surrounding the District. Besides this, almost 25% of Maryland’s workforce is made up of white collar workers. This is due in part to the many federal agencies that are actually located in Maryland rather than in the capital proper. The Census Bureau, EPA, FDA, IRS, NASA, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Social Security Administration are just a few of the many government agencies located there. There are several military installations in Maryland, including Camp David, Andrews Air Force Base, Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the U.S. Naval Academy. Secondary service sectors take advantage of this concentration of federal money, so Maryland also has large bio-sciences and defense contracting sectors. Baltimore is a major shipping port.

Maryland’s landscape is as varied as its economy, earning the state the nickname "America in Miniature." In the east there are sandy dunes sprouting hardy sea grass and the bay areas sport marshy wetlands and bald cypress trees that might appear more at home in Florida. Off the coast, there are riparian valleys and rolling hills dotted with pines. The far western border with West Virginia takes in some of the mountain peaks of the Appalachian Range. The varied geography makes for varied climates, too. The western part of the state has a continental climate with warm, dry summers and cold snowy winters, such as one might find in New England or the Midwest. Maryland even receives the occasional tornado. The southern bay areas have a humid subtropical climate like that which exists along the Gulf Coast, and Maryland is vulnerable to hurricanes. There’s still more diversity to the state. Maryland has a diverse population, too. Almost 60% of the population is white, almost 30% is black, about 5% is Hispanic of any race and almost 5% is Asian.

All this variety gives Maryland great natural and cultural resources, plus it plays an important role in American history. Maryland was one of the original 13 colonies, and one of the most heavily Catholic regions of British colonies. It joined the revolt against Britain in the American Revolution, and, after independence, Maryland was the seventh state to join the United States, in 1788. The state ceded land to create our nation’s capital, along with Virginia, and because of its proximity to the capital and importance as a shipping port, the British tried to capture Baltimore in the War of 1812. Maryland remained a Union state during the Civil War, despite Confederate sympathies, and it extended the right to vote to all males, regardless of race, in 1867.