Maryland lies between the parallels of 37° 53' and 39° 44' N. lat., and the meridians of 75° 4' and 79° 33' W. long. It contains 12,210 sq. m.—very nearly the size of Holland—of which about one-fifth is water. The length from east to west is 196 miles, and the breadth 128 miles. On the north and east it is separated from Pennsylvania and Delaware by 'Mason and Dixon's Line' (q.v.); the south-western border follows the course of the Potomac River, the whole of which, with the exception of about 12 miles in the District of Columbia (q.v.), is under the jurisdiction of Maryland, down to the low-water mark on the Virginia side.
The surface elevation varies greatly, from sea-level to an altitude of 3500 feet. In the west it is mountainous (see BLUE RIDGE); in the middle hilly and rolling; in the east and south-east low and undulating. A line drawn from the mouth of the Susquehanna to the city of Washington will cut the state into two nearly equal parts, and divide the mountain and hill country from the low lands on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. The productions and occupations are largely determined by the physical features—in the west coal and lumber; in the middle corn and wheat; in the east fish, fruit, and vegetables. The climate is generally regarded as unusually healthful. The mean summer temperature is 75°, the mean winter temperature 34°. The annual rainfall varies from 38 inches in the mountains to 46 inches near the Atlantic coast. The mountain air is regarded as a specific for hay-fever. The prevalent diseases on the shores of the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay were formerly bilious and intermittent fevers of a mild form, and they still exist to some extent in these districts.
The geological formations vary with the surface elevations. The southern section of both the eastern and western shores is alluvial; north of the alluvial deposit is a tertiary formation; north-west of this come metamorphic rocks; west of them a wide belt of Silurian and Devonian formation; and still farther west Carboniferous strata beginning at Cumberland. In the Tertiary we find marl in abundance; in the metamorphic rocks gneiss, granite, limestone, and iron; in the Carboniferous extensive veins of bituminous coal of the best quality. One remarkable vein in the George's Creek district is 14 feet thick. Over 200 kinds of marble have been found in the state, some of them equal to the Italian marbles. Copper-mines are extensively worked in the middle district; and almost all the chrome used in the United States comes from the same location. Near Baltimore are large beds of clay, from which bricks of peculiar excellence and beauty are manufactured; and in an adjoining county valuable quarries of soapstone are worked with profit.
The soil is well adapted to cultivation, with the exception of the mountain tops in the west, and a small proportion of marsh land in the east, which might, however, be easily and profitably reclaimed. The forest-trees are principally pine, chestnut, and oak; hickory and walnut are becoming scarce. The staple fruit-tree is the peach, which covers many thousands of acres: Maryland peaches, preserved in air-tight cans, are exported to all quarters of the world. Tobacco is the principal crop in the peninsula between the Chesapeake and the Potomac, as it was the main reliance of the early settlers, constituting even their ordinary medium of exchange. Tomatoes, melons, small fruits, and all kinds of vegetables are cultivated on the eastern shore and sent to the markets of Baltimore and Philadelphia. The mountains still contain many deer; and wild geese, swans, and turkeys are found in considerable numbers at the proper season, as well as woodcock, grouse, and quail (locally called partridge). Immense flocks of wild ducks of various species throng the estuaries of the Chesapeake on the approach of cold weather: the 'canvas-back' is found nowhere else in perfection.
The Chesapeake Bay (q.v.) divides Maryland into two unequal portions, the Eastern and the Western Shore. With its estuaries it gives the state a coastline of more than 500 miles, and almost that number of steamboat landings: on the Eastern Shore there is scarcely a farm more than 5 miles distant from a navigable river, accessible to steamboats of light draught. Shad and herring are caught in large numbers, and the average annual supply of oysters reaches 20 millions of bushels, giving employment to more than 30,000 persons. For the leading manufactures, see BALTIMORE, where most are located. Baltimore is also the principal port and great commercial centre of the state. Maryland has about 1300 miles of railway, and two canals (from Cumberland, in the west, to Washington, 184½ miles, and between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, 12½ miles).
Maryland has a well-developed system of free public schools. In 1890 there were in attendance 189,214 pupils, including 35,000 coloured children, who are educated in separate schools, but under the same management. There is in every county a high school or academy which gives secondary instruction and fits pupils for college. The colleges supported in whole or in part by the state are St John's College, Annapolis (originally King William's School); Washington College, Chestertown, Kent county, to the foundation of which George Washington contributed £100 sterling; the Agricultural College, near Bladensburg; and the Western Maryland College, Westminster. There are also several denominational colleges. The foremost of the educational institutions of Maryland is the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. There is a school for the feeble-minded at Pikesville; a school for the deaf and dumb at Frederick; and in Baltimore a school for the blind, and a school for coloured blind children and deaf-mutes, all supported by the state at an annual expense of about $60,000. The asylum for the insane at Catonsville is admirably managed.
Maryland returns six members to congress. The Legislature is styled the General Assembly, and consists of two houses—the Senate and the House of Delegates. The Senate is composed of one member from each of the twenty-three counties and three from the city of Baltimore, elected by the people. The House of Delegates has ninety-one members, eighteen from Baltimore city, and the remainder from the counties in proportion to their respective population. The seat of government is at Annapolis. Baltimore had in 1890 a pop. of 434,151. The other principal towns are Cumberland, Hagerstown, Frederick, Westminster, on the western shore; Salisbury, Easton, and Cambridge, on the eastern. Pop. (1830) 447,030; (1860) 687,049; (1880) 934,943; (1890) 1,042,390.
History.—In 1632 Charles I. of England issued a patent to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, granting him all the land 'from Watkins Point on the Bay, northward to the 40th degree of latitude, and from the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay on the east to the Potomac River on the west.' This grant included not only the present Maryland, but also parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware, which led to many vexatious disputes, some of which were settled only in 1890. The district was named in honour of Henrietta Maria, Charles's queen. In March 1634 a party of English gentlemen and their servants and retainers, under the command of Leonard Calvert, a brother of Lord Baltimore, landed on the shore of a river now called St Mary's, a branch of the Potomac, and bought from the Indians a tract of land. The friendly relations thus commenced with the Indians, and but rarely interrupted, together with the announcement of toleration and protection to all Christians of whatever shade of religious belief, led to the rapid and peaceful growth of the new colony. Maryland was among the first of the colonies to take an active part in the war of independence. In the war between the states (1861-65) the people of Maryland were divided in sentiment, but the state remained within the Union. See J. T. Scharf, History of Maryland (3 vols. Baltimore, 1879).