Maine (i/ˈmeɪn/; French: État du Maine) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost portion of New England. It is known for its scenery—its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, its heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways—as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the only inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European encounter, several Algonquian-speaking peoples inhabited the area. The first European settlement in Maine was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations, and conflict with the local peoples caused many to fail over the years.
As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements survived. Patriot and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts. On March 15, 1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the 50 United States.
Read more about Maine: Geography, History, Demographics, Economy, Law and Government, Notable Residents
Other articles related to "maine":
... on the ridge separating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence watershed from the Gulf of Maine watershed, where three minor civil divisions of the state of Maine—namely. 1873 and validated in 1895, is marked (like all the corners of the minor civil divisions of Maine) by a brightly painted 8-foot wooden pole ...
... Maine was to be the third Montana-class battleship ... Maine would have been the third ship to bear that name had she been commissioned ...
... Season Champion 1947 New Hampshire 1948 New Hampshire 1949 Connecticut, Maine 1950 New Hampshire 1951 Maine 1952 Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire 1953 New Hampshire, Rhode Island 1954 New Hampshire 1955 Rhode ...
... A citizen of Maine is known as a "Mainer," though the term "Downeaster" may be applied to residents of the northeast coast of the state ...
... See also Oxford (CDP), Maine As of the census of 2000, there were 3,960 people, 1,487 households, and 1,094 families residing in the town ...
Famous quotes containing the word maine:
“Making a logging-road in the Maine woods is called “swamping” it, and they who do the work are called “swampers.” I now perceived the fitness of the term. This was the most perfectly swamped of all the roads I ever saw. Nature must have coöperated with art here.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Oh, there are people, all right, settled in the sea;
It is as populous as Maine today,
But no one who will give you the time of day.”
—William Meredith (b. 1919)
“It was a Maine lobster town—
each morning boatloads of hands
pushed off for granite
quarries on the islands.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)