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State of Maine
Flag of Maine Seal Nickname(s): The Pine Tree State Motto(s): Dirigo
Official language(s)	None (English de facto)
Capital	Augusta
Largest city	Portland
Largest metro area	Portland-South Portland-Biddeford
Area	Ranked 39th
- Total	33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)
- Width	210 miles (338 km)
- Length	320 miles (515 km)
- % water	13.5
- Latitude	42° 58′ N to 47° 28′ N
- Longitude	66° 57′ W to 71° 5′ W
Population	Ranked 40th
- Total	1,274,923
- Density	41.3/sq mi  15.95/km² (38th)
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Katahdin[1] 5,268 ft  (1,606 m)
- Mean	591 ft  (180 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[1] 0 ft  (0 m)
Admission to Union	March 15, 1820 (23rd)
Governor	John Baldacci (D)
U.S. Senators	Olympia Snowe (R) Susan Collins (R)
Congressional Delegation	List
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations	ME US-ME
Web site	www.maine.gov

The State of Maine (IPA: /ˈmeɪn/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is the northernmost portion of New England. The state is known for its scenery — its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, and its heavily forested interior — as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.

The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking peoples. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party. 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. Both colonies were predated by the Roanoke Colony by 22 years. Because the Popham Colony did not survive the harsh Maine winters and the Roanoke Colony was lost, Jamestown enjoys the distinction of being regarded as America’s first permanent English-speaking settlement. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations, and Indian attacks wiped out many of them over the years. As Maine entered the 18th century only a half dozen settlements still survived. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Because it was physically separated from the rest of Massachusetts (properly speaking, the Department of Maine was an exclave of Massachusetts) and because it was growing in population at a rapid rate, Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820 as a component of the Missouri Compromise.

Origin of the name

There continues to be much interest in the origin of the name of Maine as there is not a definitive answer. The Maine legislature in 2002 adopted a resolution establishing Franco-American Day which stated that the state was named after the ancient French province of Maine.^[2] Other theories mention earlier places with similar names, or claim it's a nautical reference to the mainland.^[3] 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.^[4]

Geography

See also: List of counties in Maine and List of Maine rivers

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 also has the distinction of being the only state to border just one other state (New Hampshire to the west). The municipalities of Eastport and Lubec are, respectively, the easternmost city and town in the 48 contiguous states. Maine's Moosehead Lake is the largest lake in New England (Lake Champlain being partially in New York). Mount Katahdin is both the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which extends 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 also 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 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 most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River. It is called the Pine Tree State; ninety percent of its land is forested. In the forested areas of the interior there is much uninhabited land, some of which does not have formal political organization into local units. 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 (255 km²).

Maine is equally well known for its ocean scenery, with almost 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of shoreline[2]. 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. Jagged rocks and cliffs and thousands of bays and inlets add to the rugged beauty of Maine's coast. Just inland, by contrast, are lakes, rivers, forests, and mountains. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to the sea has been aptly summed up by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden, Maine in "Renascence":

"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"

More prosaic 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. 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 strong enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of former land features.

Millions of people have enjoyed this coastal scenery at Maine's Acadia National Park, the only national park in New England.

Areas under the protection and management of the National Park Service include:

• 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

Climate

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 below 0 °F (-18 °C) in the far north.

Maine, on occasion, is affected by hurricanes and tropical storms although by the time they reach the state, many have become extratropical and few hurricanes have made landfall in Maine. 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 less than 2 a year, mostly occurring in the southern part of the state.^[5]

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
[3]

History

Main article: History of Maine

The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples including the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscots. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party that included Samuel de Champlain, the noted explorer. The French named the entire area, including the portion that later became the State of Maine, Acadia. English colonists sponsored by the Plymouth Company settled in 1607. 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.

The province within its current boundaries became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. Maine was much fought over by the French and English during the 17th and early 18th centuries. After the defeat of the French 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. 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. (Indeed, in 1839 Governor Fairfield declared war on England over a boundary dispute between New Brunswick and northern Maine^{[citation needed]}. Known as the Aroostook War, this is the only time a state has declared war on a foreign power^{[citation needed]}. The dispute was settled, however, before any blood was shed.)

Because it was physically separated from the rest of Massachusetts and was growing in population at a rapid rate, Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820 through the Missouri Compromise. This compromise allowed admitting both Maine and Missouri (in 1821) into the union while keeping a balance between slave and free states. Maine's original capital was Portland until 1832, when it was moved to Augusta.

Demographics

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%
Est. 2006	1,321,574		3.7%

As of 2005, Maine has an estimated population of 1,321,505, 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)