Maryland - The US Explained

only eight states are smaller than maryland which takes up less land than rwanda equatorial guinea or the solomon islands but within that relatively small area it fits a cross section of the eastern united states home to the peaks and valleys of appalachia two of the largest urban areas in the u.s and the country's ninth longest coastline stretching along the marshes of the country's largest bay the traditional border between north and south today it's one of six majority minority states with people of color making up over half of maryland's population and it is the wealthiest state in the union with its historical and modern significance large population and diverse physical environment maryland is a fascinating state and the seventh place i'll cover in the u.s explained a 56-part series on every state territory and federal district in the country by order of admission hello and welcome to that is interesting i'm your host carter this is the u.s explained episode 7 maryland [Music] before i get started sorry that i haven't uploaded a us explain video in a while in addition to this channel i'm a student and have two jobs so if i haven't uploaded for a bit i haven't gotten lazy or forgotten that i have a channel i'm just busy and you'll have to be a little patient now that it's summer though i'll have much more time to focus on making videos and you can expect me to upload much more frequently anyways back to the video according to the kept in climate classification most of maryland sits in a humid subtropical climate zone with hot humid weather in the summer and somewhat mild winters except for the state's panhandle which lies in the west in the appalachians or appalachians the pronunciation really depends on where you live and it's humid continental with four distinct seasons and colder winters than the rest of the state it's nicknamed the old lion state the name george washington gave it after the maryland line a group of just under 300 maryland soldiers who served in the revolutionary war and face down 2 000 british troops in order to cover the escape of the continental army from the battle of brooklyn in new york only a few dozen soldiers from the maryland line survived but they prevented the continental army from losing far more troops and washington gave maryland its nickname in their honor another common nickname is america in miniature or little america which refers to the small state's significant geographic diversity home to mountains rolling hills flat farmland cities bays swamps and beaches it was named after henrietta maria or queen mary whose husband british king charles the first granted maryland its colonial charter in fact charles the first had north and south carolina named after him so the couple between them has three states that bear their names it has in my opinion one of the most distinctive state flags in the country the black and gold is the banner of the calvert family and the red and the white that of the crosslands george calvert whose mother was part of the crossland family applied for maryland to become a colony but died before he could see it happen his son cecil calvert who inherited his father's title of lord baltimore saw the colony to fruition he also inherited a coat of arms consisting of the banners of both the calvert and crossland families the banner of lord baltimore was adopted as the state flag following the civil war maryland was a border state a slave-holding southern state who decided to remain with the union marylanders who supported the union often flew the calvert flag while those who left to join the confederacy flew the crossland banner after the war the flag of lord baltimore which consisted of both banners was chosen to send a message of unity while many state flags are just a state seal slapped on a blue background maryland's is quite unique and you can see residents proudly displaying the distinctive design across much of the state and even in neighboring areas like washington dc the flag of baltimore maryland's largest city whose name comes from cecil coward's title makes use of the calvert banner and it also gave its name to a bird that lives throughout the western hemisphere but which due to its black and gold feathers is named the baltimore oriole surrounding the vast majority of the chesapeake bay maryland is truly a maritime state and is a major producer of seafood famed especially for its abundance of blue crabs it produces half of all blue crabs in the country often served in maryland with old bay a seasoning that's very popular across the state i was going to say that the crab is an unofficial symbol of maryland but it's not the state actually lists the blue crab as their official state crustacean which i think is pretty great i've seen a lot of bumper stickers in and around maryland and in other parts of the country showing the maryland flag in the shape of a crab and both are really common symbols while its land area of 9 707 square miles or 25 141 square kilometers makes maryland one of the smallest states in the country it has a fairly large population with over 6 million people living within its borders this gives it a population density of 618 people per square mile or 238 per square kilometer a similar population density to lichtenstein or luxembourg it borders four other states in one federal district i'm about to talk about maryland's borders and it is probably one of the most oddly shaped states in the country so i'm hoping you'll be able to follow along with me on this one it shares this entire northern border a straight east-west line with pennsylvania and the northeastern and northwestern corners of the state are not too far from pittsburgh and philadelphia respectively you've probably heard of this border named the mason dixon line after the people who surveyed it done to resolve a border dispute between the pen and calvert families who founded pennsylvania and maryland as colonies it became the traditional border between the northern and southern us and many people still consider maryland a southern state however over time it has become more and more associated with the northeastern u.s and today has major cultural distinctions from many states that are thought of as southern it's often grouped in the mid-atlantic together with states like new york pennsylvania delaware new jersey and sometimes virginia and west virginia but whether it is still a southern state or is now more part of the north is a cause for disagreement personally i'd say it's a bit of both but more northern than southern just northeast of the tip of the chesapeake bay the mason-dixon line becomes a north-south border again a mostly straight line that it shares with delaware slicing down the delmarva peninsula further south it takes a sharp turn east heading for 35 miles or 56 kilometers to the atlantic ocean which has a 30 mile or 50 kilometer coastline on the southern tip of the delmarva peninsula is the eastern shore of virginia cut off from the eastern shore of maryland by an east-west border that cuts across the chesapeake bay splitting some of its marshy islands between the two states the border reaches the chesapeake's western shore at the mouth of the potomac river which is at this point a wide tidal estuary almost an arm of the bay itself unlike some river borders which often cut through the middle of the waterway maryland for pretty much the entire length of its border controls all of the potomac the whole way up to the virginia side of the river the river makes up the entirety of maryland's southern border and along with the fact that the chesapeake bay cuts the state in two is in large part responsible for the state's odd shape creating the panhandle in western maryland part way up the potomac in between maryland and virginia a rectangular notch is carved out of the state it is of course the district of columbia home to washington the capital city of the united states the 14th video in this series is going to be on dc but due to the extent to which the city's suburbs stretch into both maryland and virginia and the resulting massive impact the district has in nearby parts of both states you'll get to learn a good bit about washington dc in this video and the one on virginia as well as the border follows the potomac back into the appalachians it changes from a border with virginia to a border with west virginia and it gets very close to the border with pennsylvania that i discussed earlier when i say very close i mean very very close at the town of hancock at the thinnest section of the panhandle the state is only 1.85 miles wide in fact there's a highway cutting right through that section and if you drive it you can start in pennsylvania cross the entire width of maryland and end in west virginia all in just three minutes near the town of old town the potomac is formed by the confluence of its northern and southern branches and the maryland west virginia border follows the river's north branch to its headwaters where it then cuts straight north till it reaches pennsylvania though larger than only eight other states maryland's odd shape means that it takes up some pretty different geographic areas from the beaches on the atlantic coast to rural farmland swamps on the chesapeake bay and the mountains of the appalachians while plenty of states also have a variety of different geographic features within their borders maryland is somewhat unique in that it fits them all in a relatively small area the western panhandle of the state is quite rural and stretches over 100 miles into the appalachians growing up in western pennsylvania i can tell you that there are a lot of similarities between it in western maryland both are rural and mountainous with a mix of forests and small farms and many towns are former industrial centers now facing poverty and economic challenges the region's two main population centers are cumberland and hagerstown cumberland a major stopping point on the cumberland road a path settlers would take to cross the appalachians lies tucked in between the mountains right across the potomac's north branch from west virginia and just two miles from pennsylvania in the other direction and is home to about 50 000 people in its urban area while other cities have more people in their city limits hagerstown which sits near where the potomac cuts through the great valley of the appalachians is the second largest urban area whose urban core is centered in maryland home to around 182 000 people in its urban area despite these two small cities western maryland is pretty sparsely populated in comparison to the densely packed central part of the state all in all only 4.4 percent of maryland's population lives in its western section the state's strange shape means that much of western maryland is closer to pittsburgh than baltimore and towns like martinsburg and morgantown and west virginia aren't far either a short drive in the area might take you through three or four different states and the famed appalachian trail cuts right through it its distance along with geographic differences align it more closely with west virginia and western pennsylvania than the urbanized central part of the state on top of a large number of rural regions this small state is home to not one but two major urban areas they both sit in central maryland an area of rolling hills and flat coastal plains sitting between the difficult to settle appellations and the excellent ports and fisheries of the chesapeake bay the urban area of baltimore home to 2.2 million people is the 19th largest in the country and the largest that is centered in maryland just 26 miles or 42 kilometers to the south lies the district of columbia while washington dc the u.s capitol is not part of maryland it was carved out of the state in 1790 and while nearly 700 000 people live within the district the total population of it in its suburbs is 4.5 million which makes it the eighth largest urban area in the country many of dc's suburbs such as bethesda silver spring gaithersburg and rockville are located in maryland giving the state around an additional 2 million people this means interestingly that maryland's dc suburbs alone have only slightly fewer people living within them than the entire baltimore urban area while distinct cities some of their suburbs do overlap and just like with philadelphia and new york you can travel from baltimore to dc without ever really entering a rural area the state is dominated by these two cities with its next largest urban areas places like hagerstown and frederick which sits in central maryland right up against where the appalachians began home to far smaller populations baltimore and washington both lie in the northeast megalopolis the region where the appalachians give way to a flat coastal plain and the rivers that begin in the mountains create numerous bays inlets and harbors in the atlantic has the ideal conditions for major cities to develop though washington dc was a planned city it would not have grown so extensive had it not sat in a prime geographic position on the fall line of the potomac which made it as far back as boats could travel in the river and had it not had plenty of room to expand nearby in fact it's possible that had the u.s capital been located elsewhere a major city perhaps not as large would still have developed on the site georgetown maryland and alexandria virginia already existed on the site prior to the creation of the district of columbia baltimore also sits on a fall line that of the patapsco river where it essentially becomes a tidal arm of the chesapeake bay maryland's geography is dominated by the bay the largest in the united states nearly three times larger than the san francisco bay it was formed by the susquehanna river which drains much of central pennsylvania and along with plenty of marshes swamps and wetlands is filled with numerous inlets and tributaries providing many locations for major port cities like baltimore to develop and guaranteeing that maryland despite being a relatively small state will be home to a large population slicing down the middle of the state it's hard to exaggerate the bay's importance to maryland it's the reason baltimore is the 16th busiest port in the country the reason maryland's a major center of trade and transportation and the reason it's fishing and seafood industry is so prominent in addition to baltimore towns like havree de grace located where the susquehanna which flows through maryland for just 15 miles meets the bay aberdeen and of course the capital city of annapolis all sit on the chesapeake bay in central maryland and the dc suburbs are only about 10 miles away the bay also divides maryland physically in two there are only two ways to get to the eastern shore of maryland which shares the delmarva peninsula with delaware and virginia without leaving the state crossing the bay bridge from outside annapolis or driving through a stretch of land less than three miles wide that sits between the bay and the delaware border the chesapeake and delaware canal which makes it easier for boats to travel from say philadelphia to baltimore has essentially fully severed the eastern shore from the rest of the state it's very rural and agricultural just as with neighboring delaware it's home to a major chicken farming industry and most of the area is farmland like all of maryland fishing and catching seafood is a major economic driver on the eastern shore its largest urban area the inland town of salisbury has a population of just under 100 000 people the region altogether is home to 449 000 people or 8 percent of the state for comparison baltimore city limits alone hold 609 thousand it's low-lying marshy and flat and has a coastline on both the chesapeake and the atlantic the barrier islands on the atlantic coast are home to most of the state's beaches and the coastal town of ocean city is a popular tourist destination home to boardwalks and high rises along the beach though home to under 7 000 people ocean city gets a stunning 8 million visitors each year many of whom are summer vacationers from baltimore and dc assateague island split between the eastern shores of maryland and virginia is home to the famous assateague horses or as they're sometimes known chincoteague ponies these wild horses have lived on the barrier island for centuries with legends saying their ancestors fled from a spanish galleon that wrecked off the coast the more probable theory is that they are descended from horses kept on the island by the colonists regardless these wild horses are fascinating they roam around the marshes and beaches of the island then participate in a yearly event in virginia called the pony penning in which some of them swim to the mainland numerous indigenous peoples lived in maryland prior to its colonization the masawamek lived in the west the piscataway nanticoke and susquehanna around the chesapeake bay the nakache tank where the dc suburbs are today and the pocomoke around the southern part of the eastern shore colonists arriving from europe brought with them highly contagious diseases like smallpox that the native people of the americas had not yet been exposed to such diseases ended up killing an estimated 90 of native americans those that did survive often clashed with and at times were massacred by european colonists who continued expanding their settlements and pushing the native population westward the masawamek and susquehannock were enemies of the seneca members of the powerful iroquois confederacy and many died at the hands of iroquois attacks those that did survive were scattered with some assimilating it with the seneca and other native peoples many nakachang were killed or displaced by english colonists and those that did survive joined with piscataway many piscataways still live in maryland today and two tribes in the state have state but not federal recognition the pocomoke people remain in maryland's eastern shore as well and the nanocock live in maryland and other parts of the mid-atlantic as well as ontario and oklahoma like i mentioned before maryland was founded by the calvert family george calvert the first lord baltimore initiated the creation of the colony but died before king charles gave him a charter to establish it his son seizol the second lord baltimore received the charter soon after in 1632 and named the colony after king charles's wife building a capital city near where the potomac meets the chesapeake bay which they called saint mary's city but the capital was later moved further upstream to annapolis the calverts were catholic and catholics were often persecuted by the protestant majority in england so they sought to create a colony where catholics could live and practice their religion and peace maryland was initially an appealing place for catholics to move and what was far from having a catholic majority adherence of catholicism made up a substantial proportion of the colony however things did not go the way the calverts planned and nearby puritan settlements waged war on maryland at one point puritans took control of the colonial government and outlawed catholicism and catholic churches were burned to the ground despite the calvert's intentions in the colony maryland did not really become a safe place for catholics to practice their faith until after they became a state initially very agricultural maryland was dependent on labor from at first indentured servants and then enslaved people brought from africa who were forced to grow and harvest tobacco the economic driver of the colony maryland joined the american revolution rebelling against british rule and after the revolutionary war on april 28th 1788 ratified the us constitution becoming the seventh state to join the country baltimore and annapolis each at one point served as the capital city of the united states and when a site for the permanent capital was chosen it was carved out from maryland and virginia virginia however took their contribution back and so the current district of columbia consists completely of the land that maryland donated during the war of 1812 fort mchenry which guarded baltimore was attacked by british troops and a poet from frederick named francis scott key witnessed it describing the attack in a song called the star-spangled banner which of course went on to become the u.s national anthem in the 1830s the chesapeake and ohio canal was built bringing coal from cumberland to dc just around the same time that the first ever railroad was built in the u.s from baltimore to what is now the suburb of ellicott city it was the beginning of the baltimore and ohio or b o railroad which would stretch across much of the east and midwest one of the most influential marylanders in history was frederick douglass who was born on the eastern shore into slavery and escaped becoming a famed orator author and voice of the abolitionist movement another marylander who escaped slavery and became a renowned abolitionist leader was harriet tubman who led dozens of enslaved people to freedom across the underground railroad during the civil war though a slave-holding southern state maryland remained with the union though many residents of the border state were bitterly divided with some supporting the union and others supporting the confederacy the same state that gave us frederick douglass and harriet tubman also produced john wilkes booth who assassinated abraham lincoln and a plot to assassinate the incoming president in baltimore and route to his inauguration would have likely been successful had it not been foiled by detectives some of the first deaths of the war occurred in baltimore in its most brutal battle took place outside of the western maryland town of sharpsburg known as the battle of antietam it saw 23 000 casualties including 3 600 deaths in a single day alone to this day the second deadliest day in u.s history after only the galveston hurricane of 1900 in texas the result of the battle led to lincoln's signing of the emancipation proclamation which freed all enslaved people in the confederacy after the war maryland's status as a major port and railroad center grew cumberland on the chesapeake and ohio canal became the second largest city in the state bringing coal from the appalachians to the industrial centers of the east coast in 1904 much of baltimore burned to the ground in an incredibly destructive fire since world war ii maryland has been changing rapidly the tobacco industry pretty much died out in the eastern shore and coal production in the west as well as manufacturing in baltimore is heading the same way in baltimore this has contributed to high levels of poverty and crime and the city has a saddening distinction of having one of the highest murder rates in the country second only to st louis out of major cities at the same time the maryland suburbs of baltimore and dc have become increasingly well off with high paying jobs in business government medicine education and defense building a high earning workforce in suburban counties like montgomery county in fact howard county suburban county of baltimore is the second wealthiest county in the entire country after just loudoun county the suburban county of dc and virginia as the seat of the u.s government and center of the eighth largest urban area in the country washington dc is an economic powerhouse plenty of corporations agencies and non-profits want to have headquarters or offices there but the district of columbia is relatively small in terms of area and with height limits on all buildings there is very limited space this means that the district of columbia is a very expensive place to live companies and organizations may get priced out of it and choose to open headquarters in the suburbs instead or leave the dc metro altogether for nearby baltimore major companies and even government agencies like marriott the ritz-carlton geico the national institutes of health and the food and drug administration are all located in maryland's dc suburbs even washington dc's nfl team plays at the fedex field in land over maryland similarly people who work in the district may not be able to afford to live there and reside in maryland instead the two major suburban counties of dc located in maryland are montgomery county and prince george's county home to major suburbs like gaithersburg rockville bethesda college park home to the university of maryland bowie and silver spring lots of maryland suburbs are on the metro dc's transit system and the longest escalator in the western hemisphere is located at the wheaton station in maryland having lived in dc for a short time i can attest some of the metro's escalators are ridiculously long like you feel like you're gonna fall off when you're at the top prince george's county is home to joint base andrews where the president lands after taking off from the white house lawn in marine one the presidential helicopter to board air force one catoctin mountain park located in the mountains of western maryland and frederick county is home to camp david the presidential retreat which has been known for hosting high-profile diplomatic summits baltimore which as i mentioned earlier is the 19th largest urban area in the country and the largest in the state sits at the mouth of the patapsco river on chesapeake bay historically a major port and center of trade transportation and industry it has since unfortunately become known for its economic decline which has come with job loss poverty and crime the city's population has been dropping for decades and many buildings are left completely empty despite its significant challenges baltimore's still an incredible city that is maryland's heart and soul most of maryland's tallest buildings are located in the city and with older brick buildings sitting side by side with the modern skyline of baltimore's inner harbor a redeveloped dockside neighborhood that has become the city's premier tourist destination home to attractions such as the national aquarium it even has its own washington monument located in the historic mount vernon neighborhood which was made before the more famous monument in dc and was designed by the same architect baltimore has more historic buildings than any other city in the entire country with the national register of historic places part of the national park service marking a stunning one-third of all the city's buildings as historic places famed poet edgar allan poe is from baltimore and the city's football team the baltimore ravens take their name from perhaps his most well-known poem in addition baseball legend babe ruth is from baltimore as well both of the major league sports teams representing maryland play out of baltimore with their football team the ravens playing in the city's m t bank stadium in their baseball team the baltimore orioles at the city's famous camden yards the baltimore sun is the largest maryland newspaper in circulation and the city is home to the renowned johns hopkins university known for its programs in medicine and science the social security administration is headquartered in baltimore as well as companies like mccormick which of course makes old bay and under armour with its location on chesapeake bay contributing to a major maritime culture baltimore is known for having delicious seafood especially crab cakes and other crab related cuisine the final city i'm going to talk about is annapolis it's nowhere near the size of baltimore the dc suburbs from just 39 000 people in its city limits but has an outsized influence on the state it sits in anne arundel county right on the chesapeake at the mouth of the severn river and is a similar distance from both dc and baltimore but manages to just escape the suburbs of each it's an old historic town home to beautiful red brick streets and buildings with boats docked throughout numerous tidal endless cutting through it it's sort of a quintessential chesapeake bay harbor town annapolis is the capital city of maryland the closest state capital to the u.s capitol and its beautiful state house built in 1772 making it older than the country is the oldest state capitol building still in use today much of the city is taken up by the u.s naval academy another prestigious school which prepares people to serve in the navy and the marines maryland is very diverse being one of just six majority minority states in the country meaning people of color make up over 50 of the population alongside california nevada new mexico texas and hawaii 32.2 percent of marylanders are black the fourth highest percentage of any state in the country and the highest outside of the deep south prince george's county in the dc suburbs is the wealthiest majority black county in the u.s 10.6 percent of marylanders are latino and 6.4 percent are american the ninth highest proportion of any state historically baltimore was a major port of entry into the united states and many of the state's residents are descendants of immigrants from ireland germany and eastern europe washington dc is the center of the ethiopian american community in the u.s and many ethiopian immigrants are now moving to the maryland suburbs as well salvadoran immigrants also have a major presence in maryland with the state having the highest percentage of salvadoran americans in the country 3.3 percent many of whom live in prince george's county despite its catholic heritage maryland actually is a below average proportion of catholic residents today and is far less diverse religiously than it is ethnically politically maryland strongly favors the democratic party which is unsurprising considering high levels of urbanization as well as racial diversity typically tend to correspond with a state having more liberal political values it has a cook partisan voting index or pvi of d plus 14 which means it typically votes for the democratic party by a margin 14 higher than the rest of the country on average that's a democratic lien on par with massachusetts and california and surpassed by only vermont and hawaii interestingly though maryland is one of three left-leaning northeastern states with strong democratic party support that has a republican governor governor larry hogan a republican in a blue state is actually the second most popular governor in the country as of when i made this video the current speaker of the house nancy pelosi represents san francisco but is actually from a prominent maryland political family with her father serving the house from maryland and her father and brother both serving as mayor of baltimore interestingly not a single president has come out of maryland but they did give us one vice president spiro agnew who ended up resigning in disgrace not long before the president he served with richard nixon did the same that is it for maryland i want to give a big thank you to everyone who has already joined my patreon through you can access different things such as behind the scenes videos early access to maps i create an exclusive discord q a with me ad free content and shout outs in my videos which are included right here please be sure to check out the tii store where you'll be able to purchase all sorts of official that is interesting products in merchandise including shirts hoodies embroidered beanies masks mugs embroidered backpacks made by champion laptop stickers and sleeves and so on one of the products that i'm most excited about are these limited edition framed state prints that commemorate each video in the us explained these are available as soon as the corresponding us explained video is uploaded but only 10 of each will be released so make sure to buy one before they go out of stock right now you'll be able to buy a maryland state print so please click the link in the description and go pay a visit to the ti store also please subscribe to my brother's channel quinn the cameraman he made the great intro at the beginning of this video that i'll use in all the us explained videos i try to be pretty thorough with this video but i know there are definitely things i missed as there was a lot to talk about i want to give a big thank you to everyone from maryland who helped give me information for this video leaving detailed and informative comments on youtube as well as discord i truly would not have been able to make this video without all your help my next video in this series will be on south carolina and i haven't spent very much time there so i'll need all the help i can get if you're from south carolina please respond to my community post or my comment here or leave something in the discord server to let me know what you'd like to see included about your home state i really appreciate the well over 300 of you who have already joined my discord server if you haven't joined the discord server yet it's a great place to continue conversations about the topics discussed in these videos interact with fellow viewers and help provide information about upcoming states in the series it's a great community and we do fun stuff like geography game nights live podcasts and so on i'll put links to both the patreon and the discord in the comments thank you for watching this video and i hope you learned something new subscribe for more content like this i cover the countries cities people and places of the world and beyond these videos will leave you saying that is interesting [Music] you

Channel: That Is Interesting

Views: 207,667

Rating: 4.9411473 out of 5

Keywords: maryland, united states of america, the us explained, video on each state, baltimore, annapolis, dc, washington, living in maryland, moving to maryland

Id: 5EhpwWIqsJQ

Length: 35min 7sec (2107 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021