Located in the eastern United States, Maryland is bordered by Pennsylvania on the north, Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Virginia and West Virginia along the Potomac River on the state's southern boundary. Washington DC is carved out of Maryland at the Potomac. The state is split into two sections--western Maryland and the Eastern Shore--by the Chesapeake Bay. Ocean vessels can sail almost the entire length of this majestic bay. Western Maryland is a land of rolling hills, mountains, and plateaus. Eastern Maryland is flat and extends to the ocean. From the mountains to the bay to the ocean, Maryland is a land unique in its historic landmarks, attractions, and outdoor recreation opportunities. It is often called The Old Line State, a name dating back to its decorative "troops of the line" praised by George Washington for valor during the Revolutionary War. Maryland is a state of enormous vitality whose estimated population is now at 5.3 million, representing a growth of more than eleven percent over a ten-year period. The state capital is Annapolis, home of the United States Naval Academy.

Maryland has five main land regions. The Atlantic Coastal Plain is a tidewater area that lies on both sides of the Chesapeake, which separates urban Maryland from the Delmarva Peninsula, home to farms, orchards, canning plants, and dairies. The Piedmont Plateau crosses Maryland from northeast to southwest between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and contains one of the richest dairy areas in the U.S. as well horse-breeding country. The Blue Ridge is a narrow mountainous strip separating the Piedmont Plateau from the Appalachian Ridge to the east and the Valley region to the west. The Appalachian Ridge and Valley, with forests covering most of the region, separates Pennsylvania on the north from West Virginia on the south. The Appalachian Plateau includes the Allegheny Mountains which dominate the region. Maryland's ocean coastline is formed entirely by the barrier islands, Assateague and Fenwich. Important islands in the bay include Kent (first English settlement in Maryland), Tilghman, Taylors, Smith, South Marsh, and Bloodsworth. Major rivers which cross the Eastern Shore include the Elk, Sassafras, Chester, Choptank, Nanticoke, Wicomoco, and Pocomoke. The largest river of Western Maryland is the Potomac; others are the Patapsco, Patuxent, and Gunpowder. The Susquehanna flows into the state from Pennsylvania. Maryland's largest lake is the man-made Deep Creek Lake in the Alleghenies. Natural resources include fertile soil, abundant seafood, and minerals. Principal cities are Baltimore, the largest, Annapolis, the Washington DC suburbs of Silver Spring and Bethesda, Rockville, Cumberland, Frederick, Hagerstown, Salisbury, and the seashore resort of Ocean City. Conservation programs are designed to prevent soil erosion, conserve fish and wildlife, preserve open space and Chesapeake Bay. A few famous Marylanders are Francis Scott Key, author of The Star-Spangled Banner, Baltimore journalist and essayist H.L. Mencken, and etiquette author Emily Post.

Though manufacturing is the main contributor to Maryland's economy, the state has a strong agriculture based largely on dairy and poultry products, corn and tobacco. Other key economic factors are commercial fishing, notably shellfish, forestry, mining, international trade and shipping. Manufactures include chemicals, clothing, food products, machinery, metals, medical and scientific instruments, transportation equipment, printing and publishing. The area is served by the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, the Chesapeake Bay and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the port of Baltimore, extensive rail and highway systems, including the JFK Memorial Highway and Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

Popular attractions are Baltimore's Museum of Art, African Art Museum, Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera House, and Morris A. Mechanic Theatre; the Maryland Historical Society which displays the original manuscript of The Star-Spangled Banner; the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum; the historic Antietam Battlefield, Barbara Frietchie House, St. Mary's Statehouse, Fort McHenry National Monument, and Fort Frederick, built in 1756; the Wye Oak, largest white oak tree in the U.S.; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Baltimore's Inner Harbor; Merriweather Post Pavilion; Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club, and the Atlantic and bay beaches. The state's major outdoor recreational opportunities ranging from fishing, boating, and swimming to hunting, golf, and skiing. Annual events feature the Preakness and other horse racing attractions at Pimlico. For professional sports enthusiasts, there are the Baltimore Orioles major league baseball club, the NFL Baltimore Ravens, and NFL Washington Redskins which play at FedEx Field in Landover.

The Maryland area was occupied by Algonkian Indians when Spanish ships explored Chesapeake Bay in the 1500s. The bay region was mapped by Captain John Smith in 1608. The Virginia fur trader established the first white settlement in Maryland on Kent Island in 1631. The following year Charles I of England granted the Maryland territory to George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, who soon died and passed the charter to his son Cecil, second Lord Baltimore, who colonized the upper Chesapeake Bay area in 1634 and named it Maryland in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. Bay hostilities broke out when Lord Baltimore seized control of Claiborne's Kent Island trading enterprise. In 1649 the Maryland Assembly passed America's first legislation concerning religious tolerance. At the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, George Washington resigned as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army at Annapolis. Francis Scott Key, while watching British gunboats bombard Fort McHenry during War of 1812, was inspired to write The Star-Spangled Banner, which became our National Anthem. Maryland ratified the U. S. Constitution on April 28, 1788, and became seventh state to enter the Union.