What to Know Before Donating to A Charity in Maryland?

Maryland (US: /ˈmɛrɪlənd/ MERR-il-ənd) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania to the north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Baltimore is the largest city in the state and the capital is Annapolis. Its occasional nicknames include Old Line State, Free State, and Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after Henrietta Maria, the French Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, then known as Mary in England. Before Europeans explored the coast in the 16th century, Maryland was inhabited by various groups of Native Americans, primarily Algonquian peoples and, to a lesser extent, the Iroquois and Sioux. Maryland, one of England's original Thirteen Colonies, was founded by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert who wanted to provide a religious sanctuary for persecuted Catholics in England. In 1632, Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a charter naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria. Unlike the Pilgrims and Puritans who rejected Catholicism in their colonies, Lord Baltimore envisioned a colony where people of different religious sects would live together according to the principle of tolerance. Consequently, in 1649, the Maryland General Assembly passed a religious law enshrining this principle by punishing anyone who "rebuked" a fellow Marylander because of his religious affiliation. However, religious disputes were frequent in the early years and Catholics remained a minority, though in greater numbers than in any other English colony. Maryland's early settlements and population centers were centered on the rivers and other waterways that flowed into the Chesapeake Bay. The economy was largely based on plantations and focused primarily on growing tobacco. The demand for cheap labor by the Maryland settlers led to the importation of many African indentured servants and slaves. In 1760, Maryland's current borders took shape after the resolution of a long-standing border dispute with Pennsylvania. Maryland was active in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and in 1776 its delegates signed the Declaration of Independence. Many of its citizens later played important political and military roles in the war. In 1790, the state granted land for the founding of the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. Although Maryland was then a slave state, it remained in the Union during the American Civil War due to its strategic location in the conflict. After the Civil War, Maryland participated in the Industrial Revolution fueled by its seaports, railroad network, and mass immigration from Europe. Since the 1940s, the state's population has grown rapidly to approximately six million, making it one of the most densely populated states in the United States. In 2015, Maryland had the highest median household income of any state, largely due to its proximity to Washington DC. and a highly diversified economy encompassing manufacturing, retail, government, real estate, higher education, information technology, defense procurement, etc. Health and biotechnology. The state's central role in U.S. history is reflected in its possession of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita. Sixteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties and the city of Baltimore border the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay Estuary and its many tributaries, which together extend more than 4,000 miles of shoreline. Despite being one of the smallest states in the United States, it has a diversity of climates and topographical features that have earned it the nickname "America in Miniature". In this sense, Maryland's geography, culture, and history combine elements of the country's Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Southern regions.

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