Maine, the north-easternmost state of the American Union, is bounded N. by the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, E. by New Brunswick, S. and SE. by the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Maine), W. by New Hampshire, and NW. by the province of Quebec. Area, 33,040 sq. m., of which one-tenth is water, there being many large and fine lakes (Moosehead, Chesuncook, Schoodic, Grand, Sebago, &c.) and important rivers (Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Saco, St Croix, Aroostook, and Walloostook or St John). It is thus somewhat larger than Ireland. Measured in a direct line the coast extends some 270 English statute miles, but if its sinuities and the outlying island-shores were measured it is estimated that the whole would be extended to about 2500 miles. When the poet Whittier speaks about 'hundred-harbour'd Maine,' he scarcely exaggerates, for the rocky coast-line, broken by the force of the waves and trench'd in former geological times by glaciers, forms almost that number of anchorages, some of them highly important for their commerce, and others serving as harbours of refuge. Towards the south-west the shore is sandy, and there are salt marshes, producing much coarse hay. The surface is uneven, and in the north-central regions and the west it is even mountainous. The scenery at some points (as on Mount Desert Island, on some of the lakes, and in the region near Camden) is very picturesque. The highest mountain is Katahdin (5385 feet). The soil is mostly stony and hard, as in New England generally, but some sections are very fertile—the Aroostook region in the north-east for the most part exceedingly so. The northern portion of the state is covered in great part with a dense forest, and its population is very sparse.
The geological features are complex, but a great proportion of the strata shows metamorphic traces. The surface is everywhere scored with prehistoric glacier and drift ice. Granite is very extensively quarried, and presents many handsome varieties. Excellent lime is largely produced. Traces of coal are found (as at Georgetown and Bucksport), and there are local beds of valuable graphite. The state is rich in rare minerals. Many silver-mines have been opened, and a few are still operated in a small way; but the ores (sulphide of silver accompanying galena, &c.) are often rebellious and expensive to work. Vast beds of copper (bornite, chalocite, chalcopyrite) exist, some of them quite rich. Felspar, flagstone, limonite, mica, yellow-ochre, glass sand, slate (the latter in vast quantities and of high grade), lead ores, talc, tripoli, and manganese are all wrought to a greater or less extent. Tourmaline is obtained as a precious stone, for jewellers' use; and lepidolite, a mineral rich in the rare metal cesium, is locally found in considerable abundance. Mineral waters are shipped in large quantities.
The cool climate and the opportunities for fishing and shooting make this state a favourite region for summer resort. The winter climate is severe for the latitude; the winters are long and the snows deep. Ice, which is harvested especially on the Kennebec, is an important commodity for export. The leading crops are hay, potatoes, apples (of excellent quality), and the ordinary grains and small fruits. The sweet varieties of maize (sugar-corn) are extensively cultivated, and are sold largely in tins and glass for winter consumption; this is a prominent industry in some sections. The rainfall is copious. The rivers of Maine afford an enormous water-power, only a relatively small part of which is at present utilised. Forest products (timber, tan-bark, &c.) are extensively cut. Navigation is favoured by the numerous inlets and the large navigable streams, and railway communication is fairly developed. Timber, building-stone, ice, cattle, wool, and farm products are shipped. Maine has considerable shipbuilding (more than any other state), and the coasting trade is carried on largely. The fishing interests are extensive; mackerel, lobsters, herring, 'sardines' (here mostly small herring), fish-oil, and fish-guano are the staple products of the fisheries. The principal manufacturing industries of the state are the making of cotton and woollen goods, leather, boots and shoes, flour, paper, and foundry products, the sawing and planing of lumber, shipbuilding, the canning of fruit and lobsters, &c.
Maine contains sixteen counties, and returns four members to congress. The chief towns are Portland, the largest city and principal seaport; Bangor, on the navigable river Penobscot; Lewiston, the seat of extensive cotton manufactures; Augusta, the state capital; Bath, noted for its shipbuilding; Auburn, Belfast, Rockland, Biddeford, Saco, Brunswick, Brewer, Eastport, Gardiner, Hallowell, Waterville, &c. Education is general and on the whole progressive. There are colleges of repute at Brunswick, Waterville, Lewiston, and Orono, the last a state institution. The Maine Liquor Law, one of the earliest of the stringent Liquor Laws (q.v.; and see TEMPERANCE), was enacted in 1851. The population is mainly of the English Puritan stock of New England. There is a large element of French-speaking Canadian immigrants, and in the extreme north there is a considerable body of Acadian French who have occupied for nearly 150 years a fertile region on the river St John. Latterly there has been an influx of Irish, Swedish, and German settlers. An old German colony near the coast has become completely Americanised. There are a few Indians left in the state; but the African element is very small indeed. Pop. (1820) 298,335; (1860) 628,279; (1880) 648,936; (1890) 661,086.
History.—The early Dutch settlements did not prove permanent. The English established settlements here as early as 1607, but with no success. The French planted an unsuccessful colony on Neutral Island in 1604, but all their attempts at colonisation on the coast were speedily abandoned. Bristol or Pemaquid was settled in 1630, and had an interesting early history, becoming in 1648 a centre of a new but temporary 'Ducal State' subject to the Duke of York, afterwards James II. York, settled probably in 1624, was the capital of a colony under Sir Ferdinando Gorges (q.v.). In 1635 the western part of Maine received the title of the Province of Maine, and from 1651 to 1820 it formed a detached part of Massachusetts, called the district of Maine; Massachusetts in 1677 bought the title to the Gorges colony. Eastern Maine until 1691 formed a part of Acadia or Nova Scotia. Maine became a state in 1820. An angry dispute with Great Britain as to the northern and eastern boundary was settled in 1842 by a compromise. Latterly the depletion of the pine-forests and a large emigration to the West have checked the material progress of Maine, but its healthful climate and its natural resources ensure to the state a prosperous future. See G. J. Varney, Brief History of Maine (Portland, 1889).