1. Fun Fact: Maryland forests cover approximately 2.7 million acres, basically 43% of the states land surface. Hadja Boimah American History Honors September 25, 2014

2. THROW BACK INFO.FUN FACTS  In 1632 King Charles of England granted a Maryland Charter to George Calvert.  The Maryland Colony was founded by George Calvert, but before settlement began, George Calvert died and was succeeded by his son, who established Maryland as a haven for Roman Catholics persecuted in England.  In 1633 the first group of settlers set sail for Maryland to establish a colony of freemen led by Leonard Calvert, George’s youngest son.  Maryland was the fourth Colony to be established in Colonial America.  One of the Southern Colonies, Maryland was a Proprietary colony  The state was named Maryland in honor of Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles I.

3. Our Father Who art In Heaven……  The Maryland colony was a melting pot of Anglican, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, and Episcopalian beliefs. Definitely one of the states under the “bible belt” even today. How many people?? Maryland had just over 700 colonist that settled when it was first settled but it grew rapidly to over 4,000 back then. Now the state’s population has skyrocketed to 5.8 million people. Politics:  Maryland had both a representative system and a bicameral legislature firmly established. Lord Baltimore could not tax his people without their consent, but he could coin money, make war and peace, pardon criminals, establish courts, and grant titles of nobility.  In 1649, The Toleration Act was passed. This was the first law in America that said that all Christians were free to worship in their own ways. Culture :  Colonial Maryland was refuge for heavily persecuted British-American Catholics. However, the colony was heavily populated by Protestants. Slavery and indentured servitude were very popular. Tobacco was the main cash crop; therefore most families lived on farms.

4. The Southern Colonies had the largest slave population who worked on the plantations. They concentrated on agriculture and developed the plantations exporting tobacco, cotton, corn, vegetables, grain, fruit and livestock grew rice, sugar, indigo and other crops. Crops were traded for items that could not be produced on the plantations including shoes, lace, thread, farm tools and dishes.