Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America

18 February 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Richard Zietz/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Richard Zietz/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centuries, they began fighting the American Revolutionary War in April 1775 and formed the United States of America by declaring full independence in July 1776. Just prior to declaring independence, the Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: New England (New Hampshire; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut); Middle (New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Delaware); Southern (Maryland; Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; and Georgia). The Thirteen Colonies came to have very similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, dominated by Protestant English-speakers. The first of these colonies was Virginia Colony in 1607, a Southern colony. While all these colonies needed to become economically viable, the founding of the New England colonies, as well as the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania, were substantially motivated by their founders’ concerns related to the practice of religion. The other colonies were founded for business and economic expansion. The Middle Colonies were established on an earlier Dutch colony, New Netherland. All the Thirteen Colonies were part of Britain’s possessions in the New World, which also included territory in Canada, Florida, and the Caribbean.   read more…

Germantown in Maryland

1 November 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Germantown Library © Carol M. Highsmith - Library of Congress

Germantown Library © Carol M. Highsmith – Library of Congress

Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. With a population of 91,249 as of 2020 U.S. Decennial Census, Germantown is the third most populous place in Maryland, after the city of Baltimore, and the census-designated place of Columbia. Germantown is located approximately 28 miles (45 km) outside the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. and is an important part of the Washington metropolitan area.   read more…

The Carnival Pride

1 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Cruise Ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  8 minutes

in Nassau, Bahamas © ArnoldReinhold/cc-by-4.0

in Nassau, Bahamas © ArnoldReinhold/cc-by-4.0

Carnival Pride is a Spirit-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was laid down on March 30, 2000, launched on March 29, 2001 and completed and delivered to Carnival on December 12, 2001. She was christened by American scientist and astronaut Tamara Jernigan in Port Canaveral, Florida, on January 7, 2002.   read more…

Annapolis in Maryland

30 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

© Carol M. Highsmith

© Carol M. Highsmith

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baltimore and about 30 miles (50 km) east of Washington, D.C., Annapolis is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. Its population was measured at 38,394 by the 2010 census. This city served as the seat of the Confederation Congress (former Second Continental Congress) and temporary national capital of the United States in 1783–1784. At that time, General George Washington came before the body convened in the new Maryland State House and resigned his commission as commander of the Continental Army. A month later, the Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris of 1783, ending the American Revolutionary War, with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States. The city and state capitol was also the site of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which issued a call to the states to send delegates for the Constitutional Convention to be held the following year in Philadelphia. Over 220 years later, the Annapolis Peace Conference was held in 2007. Annapolis is the home of St. John’s College, founded 1696; the United States Naval Academy, established 1845, is adjacent to the city limits.   read more…

Baltimore in Maryland

23 August 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

George Peabody Library at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University © Matthew Petroff/cc-by-sa-3.0

George Peabody Library at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University © Matthew Petroff/cc-by-sa-3.0

Baltimore is the largest city in the state of Maryland within the United States. Baltimore was established by the Constitution of Maryland as an independent city in 1729. With a population of 602,495 in 2018, Baltimore is the largest such independent city in the United States. As of 2017, the population of the Baltimore metropolitan area was estimated to be just under 2.802 million, making it the 21st largest metropolitan area in the country. Baltimore is located about 40 miles (60 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., making it a principal city in the Washington-Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), the fourth-largest CSA in the nation, with a calculated 2018 population of 9,797,063.   read more…

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore

19 September 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  6 minutes

Gilman Hall © Daderot

Gilman Hall © Daderot

Johns Hopkins University is an American private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, the university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur, abolitionist, and philanthropist Johns Hopkins. His $7 million bequest (~$150 million in 2017 dollars)—of which half financed the establishment of Johns Hopkins Hospital—was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States at that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as the institution’s first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. Adopting the concept of a graduate school from Germany‘s ancient Heidelberg University, Johns Hopkins University is considered the first research university in the United States.   read more…

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine

13 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine © National Park Service Digital Image Archives

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine © National Park Service Digital Image Archives

Fort McHenry, in Baltimore in Maryland, is a coastal star-shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay September 13–14, 1814. It was during the bombardment of the fort that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star-Spangled Banner, the poem that would eventually be set to the tune of To Anacreon in Heaven and become the national anthem of the United States.   read more…

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