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Maryland became a state on April 28, 1788 making it the 7th state in the nation.  One of the original 13 Colonies, Maryland was founded in 1634 by Lord Baltimore, whose given name was George Calvert.  Unfortunately, he died right before the ship left England so his son, also called Lord Baltimore but whose given name was Cecilius Calvert.  The new Colonists bought an Indian village and their stores of corn so that they could survive the rest of that season and lived with those Indians for a time. The colony had many troubles and several little civil wars in its first years. These mostly grew out of the religious differences of the people. But after a while Maryland prospered and grew rich by raising tobacco.

The capital city is Annapolis, which is also the home of the United States Naval Academy and part of the Washington D.C. area.

Situated on the Chesapeake Bay, which is the largest bay in the United States, the state is carved in half with the Easter and Western parts on either side of the bay.

Maryland is significant is so many other ways - for example Harriet Tubman, who was born a slave on a Maryland plantation around 1820, was a major force in the Underground Railroad.  Another little known fact is that the first verse of The Star Spangled Banner was written on a British ship on the Chesapeake Bay during the Revolutionary War.  The author, Francis Scott key was trying to negotiate the release of a friend and was caught in the middle of a raging battle.  When the battle was over key saw that the American flag was still flying, and he was inspired to write the poem on a scrap of paper.  In 1931, this poem put to music was made the United States National Anthem.

Another unique thing about Maryland is the presence of wild ponies on some of the islands off the coast.  Early in the settlement period a ship filled with Spanish ponies crashed near Assateague Island.  Some of these ponies were able to swim to nearby Chincoteague Island.  Today the wild herd still exists and every year there is an annual pony drive where some of them are rounded up and adopted out to keep the herd a manageable size.

A brief history of Arizona. Drag the time line to see more events and click on the titles to see a description.

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