Question |
Answer |
Founder? |
Lord Baltimore George Calvert |
Date Founded? |
June 20, 1632 |
Type of colony? |
Proprietary; Proprietary colonies were any colonies granted to a person or group by the British crown that had full rights of self-government. |
Type of government? |
Maryland began with a proprietary government and the proprietor had to send the king two Indian arrows each year and one fifth of any mined gold and silver. The proprietor could not tax the colonists without their consent but had so much power that he could coin money, make war and peace, pardon criminals, establish courts, and grant titles of nobility. But the people soon forced the right to have a say in creating legislation as Maryland’s royal charter said that laws must be made by the proprietor and the freemen. In 1635, the Maryland General Assembly was created with two houses: one consisting of the freemen and the other with the governor and council. |
Relationship between colonists and Native Americans |
In the Maryland colony, relationships between Natives and colonists featured great amounts of cooperation and peace. Many tribes such as the Piscataway and Yaocomico taught the settlers their vast knowledge of survival skills, such as building wigwams with palisade fences, growing vegetables, using fish as fertilizer, and making diverse dishes. Furthermore, The Natives also taught the settlers the more practical skills of fishing, hunting, traveling the Maryland waterways with dugout canoes, and some primitive healing methods. The colonists also learned how to grow tobacco from the Natives, and soon this crop became the centerpiece of the Maryland economy. In return, the Natives became an integral component of Maryland’s fur trade, as their expert trapping skills allowed them to sell furs to the colonists in exchange for many modern household items. Soon, the Natives became very dependent on the colonists for clothing, weapons, tools, utensils, and protection from enemies, but when the Natives actually needed protection from enemy tribes, the colonists didn’t do anything. After a while, the Natives lost their knowledge of many survival skills and ancestral knowledge and their population was greatly reduced by European diseases. |
Views of slavery within colony |
In the beginnings of the colony, as tobacco became an integral part of the Maryland economy, the use of slaves greatly increased as Maryland soon became a plantation colony. By 1755, 40% of the Maryland consisted of slaves. This shows that the people of Maryland held slaveholder sympathies. |
Quick Facts |