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| Geography | |
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See also: List of counties in Maine, List of Maine rivers, and List of lakes in Maine
To the south and east is the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and northeast is New Brunswick, a province of Canada. The Canadian province of Quebec is to the northwest. Maine is both the northernmost state in New England and the largest, accounting for nearly half the region's entire land area. Maine has the distinction of being the only state to border just one other state (New Hampshire to the west). Maine is the easternmost state in the United States both in terms of its extreme points and its geographic center. The municipalities of Eastport and Lubec are, respectively, the easternmost city and town in the United States. Estcourt Station is Maine's northernmost point, as well as the northernmost point in New England. (For more information see extreme points of the United States).
Maine's Moosehead Lake is the largest lake wholly in New England, as Lake Champlain is located between Vermont and New York. A number of other Maine lakes, such as South Twin Lake, are described by Thoreau. Mount Katahdin is both the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which extends southerly to Springer Mountain, Georgia, and the southern terminus of the new International Appalachian Trail which, when complete, will run to Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Maine has several unique geographical features. Machias Seal Island and North Rock, off its easternmost point, are claimed by both the U.S. and Canada and are within one of four areas between the two countries whose sovereignty is still in dispute, but it is the only one of the disputed areas containing land. Also in this easternmost area is the Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere.
Maine is the least densely populated U.S. state east of the Mississippi River. It is called the Pine Tree State; nearly 90% of its land is forested.[7] In the forested areas of the interior lie much uninhabited land, some of which does not have formal political organization into local units (a rarity in New England). The Northwest Aroostook, Maine unorganized territory in the northern part of the state, for example, has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km2) and a population of 27, or one person for every 100 square miles (260 km2).
Maine is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. The land near the southern and central Atlantic coast is covered by the mixed oaks of the Northeastern coastal forests. The remainder of the state, including the North Woods, is covered by the New England-Acadian forests.[8]
Maine has almost 230 miles (400 km) of coastline (and 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of tidal coastline).[9][10] West Quoddy Head is the easternmost piece of land in the contiguous 48 United States. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, beaches, fishing villages, and thousands of offshore islands, including the Isles of Shoals, which straddle the New Hampshire border. There are jagged rocks and cliffs and many bays and inlets. Inland are lakes, rivers, forests, and mountains. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to the sea has been summed up by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden, Maine in "Renascence":
The coast in Maine near Acadia park.
"All I could see from where I stood
was three long mountains and a wood
I turned and looked the other way
and saw three islands in a bay"
Geologists describe this type of landscape as a "drowned coast," where a rising sea level has invaded former land features, creating bays out of valleys and islands out of mountain tops.[11] A rise in the elevation of the land due to the melting of heavy glacier ice caused a slight rebounding effect of underlying rock; this land rise, however, was not enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of former land features.
Much of Maine's geography was created by heavy glacial activity at the end of the last ice age. Prominent glacial features include Somes Sound and Bubble Rock. Carved by glaciers, Somes Sound is considered to be the only fjord on the eastern seaboard and reaches depths of 175 feet (50 m). The extreme depth and steep drop-off allow large ships to navigate almost the entire length of the sound. These features also have made it attractive for boat builders, such as the prestigious Hinckley Yachts. Bubble Rock is what is known as a "glacial erratic" and is a large boulder perched on the edge of Bubble Mountain in Acadia National Park. By analyzing the type of granite, geologists were able to discover that glaciers carried Bubble Rock to its present location from the town of Lucerne — 30 miles (48 km) away.
Boothbay Harbor
Acadia National Park is the only national park in New England.
Areas under the protection and management of the National Park Service include:[12]
Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Maine Acadian Culture in St. John Valley
Roosevelt Campobello International Park near Lubec
Saint Croix Island International Historic Site at Calais
[edit] Tags:Mount Katahdin,Atlantic Ocean,Eastern,State,New England,Northeastern,United States,New Hampshire,Canadian,Quebec,New Brunswick,Moosehead Lake,Lake Champlain,Thoreau,Appalachian Trail,Springer Mountain,Georgia,International Appalachian Trail,Belle Isle,Machias Seal Island,North Rock,Four Areas Between The Two Countries Whose Sovereignty Is Still In Dispute,Old Sow,Tidal,Whirlpool,U.s. State,Mississippi River,Pine Tree State,Temperate Broadleaf And Mixed Forests,Biome,Oaks,Northeastern Coastal Forests,New England-acadian Forests,West Quoddy Head,Isles Of Shoals,Edna St. Vincent Millay,Ice Age,Somes Sound,Hinckley Yachts,Acadia National Park,National Park Service,Roosevelt Campobello International Park,Saint Croix Island International Historic Site,Canada,Acadia, | |
| Climate | |
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Maine experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb), with warm (although generally not hot), humid summers. Winters are cold and snowy throughout the state, and are especially severe in the northern parts of Maine. Coastal areas are moderated somewhat by the Atlantic Ocean. Daytime highs are generally in the 75–80 °F (24–27 °C) range throughout the state in July, with overnight lows in the high 50s°F (around 15 °C). January temperatures range from highs near 32 °F (0 °C) on the southern coast to overnight lows averaging below 0 °F (−18 °C) in the far north.[13] The state's record high temperature is 105 °F (41 °C), set in July 1911, at North Bridgton.[14] Maine has fewer days of thunderstorms than any other state east of the Rockies, with most of the state averaging less than 20 days of thunderstorms a year. Tornadoes are rare in Maine, with the state averaging fewer than two per year, mostly occurring in the southern part of the state.[15]
In January 2009, a new record low temperature for the state was set at Big Black River of −50 °F (−46 °C), tying the New England record.[13] The state's record high temperature is 105 °F (41 °C), set in July 1911, at North Bridgton.[14]
Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures (°F) For Various Maine Cities
City
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Caribou
19/0
23/3
34/15
47/29
63/41
72/50
76/55
74/53
64/44
51/34
37/24
25/8
Portland
31/12
34/16
42/25
53/35
63/44
73/53
79/59
77/57
69/48
58/37
47/30
36/19
[citation needed]
[edit] Tags:/,Humid Continental Climate,Thunderstorms, | |
| History | |
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Main article: History of Maine
Maine State House, designed by Charles Bulfinch, built 1829–1832
The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples including the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Penobscot. The first European settlement in what is now called Maine was in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, including Samuel de Champlain, the noted explorer. The French named the entire area, including the portion that later became the State of Maine, Acadia. The first English settlement in Maine was established by the Plymouth Company at Popham in 1607, the same year as the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.The Popham colonists returned to England after 14 months. [16]
Two Jesuit missions were established by the French; one on Penobscot Bay in 1609, and the other on Mount Desert Island in 1613. The same year, Castine was established by Claude de La Tour. In 1625, Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour erected Fort Pentagouet to protect Castine. The coastal areas of western Maine first became the Province of Maine in a 1622 land patent. Eastern Maine north of the Kennebec River was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the Territory of Sagadahock. A second settlement was attempted at a place called York, in 1623 by English explorer and naval Captain Christopher Levett, granted 6,000 acres (24 km2) by King Charles I of England.[17] That settlement also failed.
Central Maine was formerly inhabited by people of the Androscoggin tribe, also known as Arosaguntacook. The Androscoggin were a tribe in the Abenaki nation. They were driven out of the area in 1690 during King Philip's War. They were relocated at St. Francis, Canada, which was destroyed by Rogers' Rangers in 1759, and is now Odanak. The other Abenaki tribes suffered several severe defeats, particularly during Dummer's War, with the capture of Norridgewock in 1724 and the defeat of the Pequawket in 1725, which greatly reduced their numbers. They finally withdrew to Canada, where they were settled at Bécancour and Sillery, and later at St. Francis, along with other refugee tribes from the south.[18]
The province within its current boundaries became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. Maine was much fought over by the French, English and allied natives during the 17th and early 18th centuries, who conducted raids against each other, taking captives for ransom or, in some cases, adoption by Native American tribes. For instance, the Abenaki took captives taken during raids of Massachusetts in Queen Anne's War of the early 1700s to Kahnewake, a Catholic Mohawk village near Montreal, where some were adopted and others ransomed.[19][20]
After the English defeated the French in Acadia in the 1740s, the territory from the Penobscot River east fell under the nominal authority of the Province of Nova Scotia, and together with present-day New Brunswick formed the Nova Scotia county of Sunbury, with its court of general sessions at Campobello. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and British forces occupied eastern Maine in both conflicts.[21] The treaty concluding revolution was ambiguous about Maine's boundary with British North America. The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed, although the final border with British territory was not established until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.
Maine was physically separate from the rest of Massachusetts. Long-standing disagreements over land speculation and settlements led to Maine residents and their allies in Massachusetts proper forcing an 1807 vote in the Massachusetts Assembly on permitting Maine to secede; the vote failed. Secessionist sentiment in Maine was stoked during the War of 1812 when Massachusetts pro-British merchants opposed the war and refused to defend Maine from British invaders. In 1819, Massachusetts agreed to permit secession if voters in Maine approved. Due to these considerations and rapid population growth, in 1820 Maine voted to secede from Massachusetts. The secession and formation of the state of Maine as the 23rd state occurred on March 15, 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise, which geographically limited the spread of slavery and enabled the admission to statehood of Missouri the following year, while keeping a balance between slave and free states.[22][23][24]
Maine's original capital was Portland, the largest city in Maine, until it was moved to Augusta in 1832 to make it more central within the state.
The 20th Maine, under the command of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, defended Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. Its soldiers prevented the Union Army from being flanked by the Confederate Army.
Four U.S. Navy ships have been named USS Maine in honor of the state.
[edit] Tags:Capital,Largest City,American Revolution,Massachusetts,Wabanaki,Abenaki,Passamaquoddy,Maliseet,Pierre Dugua, Sieur De Mons,Plymouth Company,Jamestown, Virginia,Jesuit,Penobscot Bay,Mount Desert Island,Claude De La Tour,Charles De Saint-Étienne De La Tour,Kennebec River,Territory Of Sagadahock,Charles I Of England,Androscoggin Tribe,Abenaki Nation,King Philip's War, | |
| Etymology | |
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There is no definitive explanation for the origin of the name 'Maine'. The state legislature in 2001 adopted a resolution establishing Franco-American Day, which stated that the state was named after the former French province of Maine.[25] Other theories mention earlier places with similar names, or claim it is a nautical reference to the mainland.[26] The first known record of the name appears in an Aug. 10, 1622 land charter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, English Royal Navy veterans, who were granted a large tract in present-day Maine that Mason and Gorges "intend to name The Province of Maine." Mason had served in Royal Navy in the Orkney Islands where the chief island was called Mainland, a more likely name derivation for these English sailors than the French province.[27] A year later, in 1623, the English naval captain Christopher Levett, exploring the New England coast, wrote: "The first place I set my foote upon in New England was the Isle of Shoulds, being Ilands [sic] in the sea, above two Leagues from the Mayne."[28] Whatever the origin, the name was fixed in 1665 when the King's Commissioners ordered that the "Province of Maine" be entered from then on in official records.[29]
[edit] Tags:Legislature, | |
| Demographics | |
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Maine Population Density Map.
Historical populations
Census
Pop.
%±
1790
96,540
—
1800
151,719
57.2%
1810
228,705
50.7%
1820
298,335
30.4%
1830
399,455
33.9%
1840
501,793
25.6%
1850
583,169
16.2%
1860
628,279
7.7%
1870
626,915
−0.2%
1880
648,936
3.5%
1890
661,086
1.9%
1900
694,466
5.0%
1910
742,371
6.9%
1920
768,014
3.5%
1930
797,423
3.8%
1940
847,226
6.2%
1950
913,774
7.9%
1960
969,265
6.1%
1970
992,048
2.4%
1980
1,124,660
13.4%
1990
1,227,928
9.2%
2000
1,274,923
3.8%
2010
1,328,361
4.2%
Source: 1910-2010[30]
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Maine was 1,328,188 on July 1, 2011, a -0.01% decrease since the 2010 United States Census.[2]
As of 2008, Maine had an estimated population of 1,321,504, which is an increase of 6,520, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 46,582, or 3.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 6,413 people (that is 71,276 births minus 64,863 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 41,808 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 5,004 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 36,804 people. The population density of the state is 41.3 people per square mile, making it the least densely populated state in New England, the American northeast, the eastern seaboard, of all of the states with an Atlantic coastline and of all of the states east of the Mississippi River.
The mean population center of Maine is located in Kennebec County, just east of Augusta.[31] The Greater Portland metropolitan area is the most densely populated with nearly 20% of Maine's population.[32] As explained in detail under "Geography", there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior.
In 2009, Maine was one of three states to have lost population.[33]
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| Race, ancestry, and language | |
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At the 2010 Census, 94.4% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 1.1% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.6% non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% non-Hispanic Asian, 0.1% from some other race (non-Hispanic) and 1.4% of two or more races (non-Hispanic). 1.3% of Maine's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race).[34]
Demographics of Maine (csv)
By race
White
Black
AIAN*
Asian
NHPI*
2000 (total population)
98.08%
0.77%
1.03%
0.93%
0.06%
2000 (Hispanic only)
0.66%
0.06%
0.03%
0.02%
0.01%
2005 (total population)
97.81%
1.02%
1.00%
1.06%
0.06%
2005 (Hispanic only)
0.91%
0.07%
0.03%
0.02%
0.00%
Growth 2000–05 (total population)
3.37%
37.45%
0.77%
17.68%
2.76%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only)
3.09%
38.61%
0.95%
18.10%
9.48%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only)
44.03%
22.69%
-5.57%
-3.52%
-43.56%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
The largest ancestries in the state are:
30.6% English
25.0% French Canadian and Acadian
18.3% Irish
8.3% German
5.8% Italian
4.8% Scottish
2.6% Scotch-Irish
2.3% Polish
[35] Most Americans in Maine are of English descent, but have family that has been in the country for so long, in many cases since the early 17th century, that they choose to identify simply as "American".[36][37][38][39][40][41][42]
Maine is second only to New Hampshire in the percentage of French Americans among U.S. states. It also has the largest percentage of non-Hispanic Tags:-4, | |
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