Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Martin Kelly. History Expert. Martin Kelly, M. It was a proprietary colony of Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore.
Like other settlements in the New World, the Maryland Colony was established as a religious refuge. Although it was created as a haven for English Catholics, many of the original settlers were Protestants. In , Maryland passed the Maryland Toleration Act, the first law in the New World designed to encourage religious tolerance.
Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Kelly, Martin. Facts About the Maryland Colony. Early Spanish mariners were probably the first white people to visit the Maryland area.
The first European to record an entrance into Chesapeake Bay appears to have been Giovanni da Verrazzano in It was not until the early years of the 17th century that English explorers arrived, Bartholomew Gilbert in and John Smith in The colony was to be named in honor of the king's consort, Henrietta Maria. Charles I was deeply concerned about the presence of the Dutch in North America and decided to establish Maryland as a buffer between Virginia and the New Netherland.
The exact boundaries were not accurately described, which led to a dispute with Virginia that would not be settled for years. Before colonization began, the first Lord Baltimore died and left the grant to his son, Cecilius, the second Lord Baltimore.
Since the charter did not expressly prohibit the establishment of non-Protestant churches, Cecilius Calvert encouraged fellow Catholics to settle there. While establishing a refuge for Catholics who were facing increasing persecution in Anglican England, the Calverts also were interested in creating profitable estates. To this end, and to avoid trouble with the British government, they also encouraged Protestant immigration.
Just as the city plan for St. Mary's City reflected the ideals of the founders, the city plan of Annapolis reflected those in power at the turn of the 18th century. The plan of Annapolis extends from two circles at the center of the city — one including the State House and the other the Anglican St. Anne's Church now Episcopal. The plan reflected a stronger relationship between church and state, and a colonial government more closely aligned with the Protestant church.
Tobacco was the main export crop in the colonial era; it involved a great deal of hand labor, usually done by slaves, the original royal charter granted Maryland the Potomac River and territory northward to the fortieth parallel. This was found to be a problem, as the northern boundary would have put Philadelphia, the major city in Pennsylvania, within Maryland.
The Calvert family, which controlled Maryland, and the Penn family, which controlled Pennsylvania, decided in to engage two surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, to establish a boundary. They surveyed what became known as the Mason—Dixon Line, which became the boundary between the two colonies. The crests of the Penn family and of the Calvert family were put at the Mason—Dixon line to mark it.
Later the Mason—Dixon line was used as a boundary between free and slave states under the Missouri Compromise of In , Maryland ceded land to form the District of Columbia. Consequently, Marylanders fought on both sides and many families were divided. Maryland's Eastern Shore and Western Shore embrace the Chesapeake Bay, and the many estuaries and rivers create one of the longest waterfronts of any state.
The Bay produces more seafood—oysters, crabs, clams, fin fish—than any comparable body of water. Since the s, fish stocks have declined due to increased residential and commercial development in the area and the attendant amount of nutrients, sediment, and toxic substances polluting the water.
In , President Barack Obama signed the Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection Executive Order that called on the federal government "to restore and protect the nation's largest estuary and its watershed. The outcome resolved many issues which remained from the American War of Independence, but involved no boundary changes.
The United States declared war in for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by Britain's continuing war with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against American expansion, outrage over insults to national honor after humiliations on the high seas, and possible American interest in annexing British North American territory part of modern-day Canada which had been denied to them in the settlement ending the American Revolutionary War.
During the War of the British conducted raids against cities along Chesapeake Bay, up to and including Havre de Grace. There were also two notable battles that occurred in the state.
The first was the Battle of Bladensburg, which occurred on August 24, just outside the national capital, Washington, D. The militiamen defending the city were routed and retreated in confusion through the streets of the city. They burned and looted major public buildings, forcing President James Madison to flee to Brookeville, Maryland.
Battle of North Point Monument dedicated , ca. Baltimore was not only a busy port, but the British thought it harbored many of the privateers who were despoiling British ships. Baltimore had been well fortified with excellent supplies and some 15, troops. Maryland militia fought a determined delaying action at the Battle of North Point, during which a Maryland militia marksman shot and killed the British commander, general Robert Ross.
The battle bought enough time for Baltimore's defenses to be strengthened. After advancing to the edge of American defenses, the British halted their advance and withdrew.
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