Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Maryland

Copyright, 1882, by W. T. Brantly.

ARYLAND, one of the thirteen original States of the American Union, lies between the parallels of 37° 53' and 39° 43' 26" N. lat., and 75° 4' and 79° 33' W. long. It is bounded on the N. by Pennsylvania and Delaware; E. by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean; and S. and W. by Virginia and West Virginia. The total area of the State is 12,210 square miles, of which about 2350 square miles are covered by the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and of the Potomac and other rivers.

Topography.&mdash;The configuration of the State is very irregular. Its extreme length east and west is about 200 miles, and its breadth varies from 4 to 120 miles. The coast-line has no harbours, but a narrow beach and a shallow lagoon, called Sinepuxent Bay, extend along its entire length. The central geographical feature of the State is the Chesapeake Bay, the greatest inlet in the United States, and one which is navigable throughout for the largest vessels. The bay at its ocean mouth, between Cape Charles and Cape Henry, is 12 miles wide; it extends north and south about 200 miles; its breadth at

the widest point is 40 miles, and its average breadth is 10 miles. It contains many islands, and its shore-line, which is extremely irregular, is deeply indented with estuaries. That part of the State which lies between the bay on the west and the State of Delaware and the ocean on the east is locally known as the Eastern Shore. The surface of this region is for the most part level, and but little raised above the sea. The peninsula between the Potomac river and the west shore of the bay constitutes another geographical division similar in its general features to the Eastern Shore. Its surface, however, is more undulating, and on the north-west it rises to a ledge of Primitive rocks which runs from the Potomac river at a point about 10 miles above Washington city north-east to the Susquehanna river, and separates the tide-water portion of the State from the third division. This latter region gradually rises as it extends westward until it culminates in the mountains of the great Appalachian range, which are called, in Maryland, the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies. The principal rivers of the Eastern Shore are the Pocomoke, Nanticoke, Choptank, and Elk. These are rather estuaries than rivers, and are not navigable for any distance from their mouths. The Susquehanna flows into the bay at its head, and is navigable for a few miles. On the western shore are the Potomac, navigable for 125 miles, to Washington city, the Patuxent, the largest river which is altogether within the State, navigable for small vessels for 40 miles, and the Patapsco, on which Baltimore city is situated, navigable for 22 miles. The tide rises and falls in all these rivers. With the exception of the Youghiogheny, all the Maryland streams flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

Geology and Minerals.&mdash;A great diversity of geological formation is found in Maryland. The lower part of the Eastern Shore is an alluvial plain, and the numerous islands in the bay are composed of similar alluvial deposits. The northern part of the Eastern Shore, beginning at the Choptank river, is a Tertiary formation, whose strata of sands and clays overspread deposits of marl, which is of great value as a fertilizer. The peninsula on the western shore of the bay belongs to the same Tertiary formation, which, towards the north-west, gives place to a range of metamorphic rocks. This belt of rocks, which includes a strip of New Red Sandstone, enters the State near the head of the bay, and extends south-west to the Potomac, with an average breadth of about 20 miles. The principal rocks are gneiss, talc-slates, limestone, granite, serpentine, and divers hydrated magnesian silicates. The limestone supplies a marble highly valued as a building material, and the serpentine rocks yield the valuable metallic element of chromium, which has been extensively and profitably worked. Oxides of iron occur in gneiss, and the Jurassic clays contain the brown hæmatite ores from which iron is manufactured. These ores were worked even during the colonial period, and in 1751 Maryland exported 2950 tons of pig iron to England. Bog iron ore is also found on the Eastern Shore. Beds of different kinds of clays which are used in the manufacture of bricks, porcelain, &amp;c., are abundant, and veins of copper ore are also worked. Passing westward of the metamorphic rocks, we meet a wide belt of Silurian and Devonian formation, and the first ridge of the Appalachian range, beyond which lies the broad Hagerstown valley resting upon Trenton limestone. Numerous parallel ridges, enclosing valleys of great fertility, and belonging to the Middle Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous formations, follow. This belt of lines of elevation nearly parallel with the ocean, which is a characteristic of the Appalachian chain, has, in Maryland, an average breadth of about 40 miles, and trends to the south west. The mountainous region, which extends to the western extremity of the State, but

with elevations rarely exceeding 2500 feet, begins at Cumberland, and here the Silurian and Devonian formations give place to the Carboniferous. This portion of Maryland is one of the most important bituminous coal regions in America. There are several coal-fields with horizontal seams lying near the surface, but the most considerable is that of the George's Creek valley between Dan's Mountain on the east and Savage Mountain on the west. This narrow valley, about 20 miles long, contains the &ldquo;big seam&rdquo; of bituminous coal, of the extraordinary thickness of 14 feet. The Maryland coal is unequalled in the manufacture of iron and the generation of steam. The number of tons mined in 1881 was 2,261,918, and it is estimated that 550 square miles of Coal-measures remain. This Carboniferous formation also contains deposits of iron ore which are extensively worked.

Climate, Soil, &amp;c.&mdash;The climate of Maryland is equable and salubrious, except in some of the lower counties on the bay, which, in summer, are subject to malarious exhalations. The mean annual temperature in the southern part of the State is 56°, in the middle 54°, and in the western 50°. The mean temperature at Baltimore is in spring 53°.8, in summer 76°.2, in autumn 57°.1, in winter 36°.2. The mean annual temperature is 55°.9. The mean annual barometer is 30.064 inches, and the annual rainfall 41.94 inches. The death-rate in the State is 1.81 per cent. In Baltimore city it was 19.34 per 1000 in 1879, and 24.7 in 1880.

The soil of the Eastern Shore, and of the peninsula on the western shore of the bay, is composed of sand and clay, and when properly cultivated is very productive. Much attention is there bestowed upon the growth of peaches and other fruits. The land in the central part of the State, and in the valleys of the mountainous part, is of great fertility. The original forest still covers a considerable area of the western portion. There are about one hundred species of trees in the State. The deciduous oaks, hickory, chestnut, walnut, cedar, and beech trees are especially abundant. The bay and its estuaries contain inexhaustible beds of the finest oysters, yielding many thousand bushels annually. There are several kinds of tortoises, the most highly esteemed of which are the Malaclemys palustris and the Ptychemys rugosa. At least eighty kinds of edible fishes abound in the waters of the State, and swimming birds are very numerous.

Population, Divisions.&mdash;The State is divided into twenty-three counties and the corporation of Baltimore city. The counties are—Alleghany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne, St Mary's, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico, and Worcester. There are five cities—Baltimore, the metropolis of the State, and the seventh city in the United States (population in 1880, 332,313; in 1870, 267,354), Cumberland (population in 1880, 10,693), Frederick (8659), Hagerstown (6627), and Annapolis (6498), the capital of the State, and the seat of the naval academy of the United States.

The body of 200 emigrants who colonized Maryland in 1634 had increased twenty-five years later to 12,000. In 1671 the population was 20,000; in 1715, 30,000; in 1748, 130,000, of whom 36,000 were negroes; in 1761, 164,007 (including 49,675 negroes); in 1775, 200,000; in 1782. 254,050 (including 83,362 negroes). The growth of population as exhibited by the decennial census returns of the United States is as follows:&mdash;

History.&mdash;The charter of Maryland, which constituted the first proprietary government established in America, was obtained from Charles I. by Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, who had been one of the principal secretaries of state to James I. Lord Baltimore died before the patent passed the seals, and it was issued to his son the second Lord Baltimore on June 20, 1632. The name Maryland (Terra Mariæ) was bestowed upon the colony by Charles I. in honour of his queen Henrietta Maria. In 1633 Lord Baltimore despatched a number of emigrants, under the command of his brother Leonard Calvert, to colonize the territory. They settled at St Mary's on the 27th March 1634, and the first legislative assembly, which was composed of all the freemen of the province, met in February 1635. Before the grant of the charter a trading station had been established, by William Clayborne of Virginia, upon Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, and the early years of the colony were greatly disturbed by contests with him, in which, however, Lord Baltimore was finally successful. The Baltimores were Catholics, and Maryland was designed to be a place of refuge for English Catholics, but, from the earliest period, religious toleration for all Christians was proclaimed and practised. Maryland has always claimed the honour of having been the first government in which liberty in matters of faith was established by law. Under the charter by which Maryland was made a province of the empire Baltimore was the owner of the soil, and enjoyed all the rights that had ever been exercised by a count palatine. The laws of the provincial assemblies which received his assent were not subject to the revision of the crown. In 1652 the parliamentary commissioners deposed Lord Baltimore's officers, and appointed a Puritan council to govern the province. After several years of contest between the proprietary and Puritan parties, the power of the former was finally re-established. At the time of the Revolution of 1688 the failure of Lord Baltimore's deputies to proclaim William and Mary gave an opportunity to the disaffected Protestants in the province to incite a revolt, which resulted in the overthrow of their feudal lord. The king and queen approved of this colonial Protestant revolution, and Maryland was taken directly under the government of the crown. The Church of England was then established, and disabilities imposed upon Catholics and dissenters. Maryland remained a royal colony until 1714, when, upon the death of the third Lord Baltimore, his son, who was a Protestant, was recognized as the proprietary. The province was governed by the Baltimores until the revolution of 1776. The original charter limits included all the present State of Delaware and a large part of Pennsylvania. The grant to William Penn conflicted with that of Maryland, and a controversy between the two colonies began in 1682, and was not concluded until 1760, when the Penns, armed with a decision of the privy council and a decree in chancery, were successful. &ldquo;Mason and Dixon's line&rdquo;—famous in American politics—was established between the provinces in 1763-67. During the war for independence Maryland furnished her full quota of troops, but refused to ratify the articles of confederation until those colonies which had claims to western lands surrendered them to the general Government. Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief to the colonial congress at Annapolis in December 1783. Maryland ratified the constitution of the United States on the

28th April 1788, and in 1790 ceded to the United States 60 square miles of territory, where the national capital is situated. At the outbreak of the civil war Maryland was a slave-holding State, and popular sentiment was divided between the North and the South, but the decisive measures adopted by the Federal Government made it impossible for the State to leave the Union. The history of the State has been written by M$c$Mahon (1831), Bozman (1837), M$c$Sherry (1849), and Scharf (1879). The Maryland Historical Society at Baltimore has a large collection of colonial and revolutionary MSS., newspapers, and historical works, and has published numerous essays upon questions of local history. (W. T. B.)