Baltimore is an independent city located in the U.S. state of Maryland. When of 2005, the population is 636,251, up from either 628,670 within 2002 & a people of the Baltimore-Washington Metroplex as of 2000 is 7.Sextet million, higher from either 6.7 million within 1990. These are a big city inside Maryland, named fallowing a introduction owner of the Maryland Colony, Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. A city occurs as major a share of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and a major U.S. seaport.

Because there exists besides the Baltimore County surrounding (but not including) the city, these are every now and again known as Baltimore City whilst the clear distinction is desired.

History

When you took a 17th century, various towns called "Baltimore" were founded when commercial ports at various locations on the upper Chesapeake Bay. A present city dates from either July 30, 1729 and is named when Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore who was the number 1 Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. Baltimore grew fleetly in the mid-late 18th century as the garner for sugar producing colonies in the Caribbean. A benefit from either sugar encouraged a maximal conceivable cultivation of cane & a importation of food. A comparatively shorter few feet away between Baltimore & a Caribbean colonies allowed fleet transport and minimized the spoilage of flour.

One of Baltimore's greatest moments occurred in a period of the War of 1812 when Fort McHenry came under attack by British forces near a harbor after the British experienced burned Washington, D.C.. Known in todays world when a Battle of Baltimore, American forces won the decisive battles by repulsing a joint l& and naval attack per British forces. It fought to a stalemate at the Battle of North Point after killing the British commander General Ross. British reinforcements were non conceivable when a British Navy was repulsed per defenders of the fort, & tons forces so withdrew. It was a naval engagement that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," the lyrics to the United States national anthem. A battle was memorialized in the Battle Monument which is on the city seal.

Baltimore is too a places of the number one architectural monument honoring George Washington, the 178 foot doric column erected inside 1829 & designed by Robert Mills, who afterwards designed a Washington Monument in Washington D.C.

Baltimore became an independent city within 1851, being detached from either Baltimore County at that time.

When you took a Civil War, Maryland was officially part of the Union but kept slavery legal. Numbers of, inside case non virtually all, population in Baltimore at a instance were sympathetic to the Confederacy. Pro-Southern sentiment led to the Baltimore riot of 1861 when Union soldiers marched through the city. When a riot, Union troops occupied Baltimore & Maryland come under directly federal administration — in a share, to check a state from either seceding — until a prevent of the war within April 1865. A experience Ex parte Merryman, written by Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney, dealt with a habeus corpus rights of Marylanders jailed per Abraham Lincoln Administration.

A Great Baltimore Fire on February 7, 1904 destroyed over 1,500 buildings around Xxx hours & forced virtually all of the city to rebuild. Immediately later, City manager Robert McLane was quoted in the Baltimore News as locution, "To suppose that the spirit of our people will not rise to the occasion is to suppose that our people are not genuine Americans. We shall make the fire of 1904 a landmark not of decline but of progress." He so refused assistance, stating "As head of this municipality, I cannot help but feel gratified by the sympathy and the offers of practical assistance which have been tendered to us. To them I have in general terms replied, 'Baltimore will take care of its own, thank you.'" Both years late, in September 10, 1906, a Baltimore-U.s. reported that a city got risen from either the ashes & "One of the great disasters of modern time had been converted into a blessing."

Baltimore is the location of the Baltimore World Trade Center, the world's tallest equilateral 5-sided building (a five-sided JPMorganChase Tower in Houston, Texas is taller, but has unequal sides).

Baltimore is besides a location of Pimlico Race Course, the personal of the Preakness Stakes, the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. A Preakness has been rerun since 1873.

Baltimore's people peaked at 949,708 in the 1950 Census, which ranked it as a sixth-largest city in the united states, behind Detroit and ahead of Cleveland. For a next 5 decades, the city's people declined when its suburban area grew dramatically.

Around 1955 Flag House Courts, a housing task project manufactured higher of Three 12-story buildings, was built. A buildings were inside time demolished in 2001.

Baltimore has get the prime city for motion-picture photography film & television. Numerous moving picture like Hairspray, Ladder 49, scenes from 12 Monkeys and the film Hardball were filmed in Baltimore, in fact numerous scenes from either a 1972 cult classic film Pink Flamingos were shot in the city's Waverly and Hamden neighborhoods (the film was manufactured by John Waters, a Baltimore indigen). In addition, television program like NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street" and HBO's "The Wire" keep around likewise been filmed in the city.

Within recent years, efforts to redevelop the downtown vicinity stand led to a revivification of the Inner Harbor. Inside 1979 the Baltimore Convention Center was opened & was afterward renovated and expanded around 1996. Harborplace, a modern urban retail & eating house complex, was open on the waterfront inside 1980, followed by the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland's largest holidaymaker destination, around 1981. Within 1992, the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball moved from Memorial Bowl to Oriole Park at Camden Yards downtown, and half a dozen years late a Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League moved next door into a freshly renamed M&T Bank Stadium, formerly known as PSINet Stadium until PSINet went bankrupt.

In October 2, 1996, Baltimore became the number 1 city in the United States to adopt 311 as a non-emergency "hot line" telephone number, sequentially to reserve a have of 911 for genuine emergencies. A conception has been extremely successful, & many more Western municipalities stand since enforced a practice.

The 60-car trawithin derailment occurred in the tunnel in Baltimore on July 18, 2001. a derailment sparked a chemical fire that raged for sestet years & virtually close up the downtown vicinity until the heat driven a a lake main to rupture, largely extinguishing the fire however as well inducing important in flood in the streets above. 3 weeks late, manhole covers flew into a air when underground explosions along West Pratt Street followed due to residuary explosive chemical substance from either a fire left in the sewers.

Within 2003, a Baltimore Development Corporation announced that three hotel projects were existence reviewed. When of 2005, a 752-room, $305 milliin Hilton hotel design has received a 9-6 approval vote from either the Baltimore City Council on August 15th. Another approval vote is scheduled for quondam inside September 2005. The hotel is expected to exist as built touching a Baltimore Convention Center. A City of Baltimore hopes to keep close at h& it finished and opened by Spring 2008. (Watch Baltimore Convention Center Hotel Project for more details on a convention center hotel.)

Besides around 2003, Baltimore was affected by Hurricane Isabel from flooding following of tidal surge, affecting primarily the Fells Point community and a Inner Harbor and surrounding moo areas. Numbers of web pages were flooded including a sports center ESPN Zone, the Baltimore World Trade Center (which remained closed for approximately the year when you took cleanup efforts) & virtually all of the Inner Harbor. A water supply levels rose a select few Xx feet within areas, flooding underground parking garages & displacing hundreds to thousands of yard of trash & dust.

Law and government
Baltimore is an independent city; in more words, non a portion of any county. For virtually all governmental purposes under Maryland law, Baltimore City is treated as a "county"-level a cappella. What is more a United States Census Bureau uses counties as a basic unit for presentation of technical indicator reference in the United States, & treats Baltimore as a county same for people purposes.

Mayor
A todays Mayor of Baltimore is Martin O'Malley. The Democrat inside the town that has been Popular for the century & the half, O'Malley has maintained high approval ratings across each of his terms inside professional. For a fully listings of city manager that served the city, watch: List of Baltimore Mayors

Baltimore City Council
Grassroots pressure for reform, voiced when Question P, restructured a City Council around November of 2002, against a may of a City manager, the Council President, & the majority of the Council. The coalition of union & community groups, organized by ACORN, backed the effort.

A Baltimore City Council is today mass produced higher of Fourteen l1 member dominion & one elected at-heavy Council President. Sheila Dixon is the todays Council President. within November both, 2004, Dixon won re-election in the two-way contest; Joan Floyd, the Green Party candidate, was the lone rival; the Republicans did non field a candidate.

Federal Government
Baltimore City lessens inside area of trio Congressional Districts. Which are actually 2d Congressional District (Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, Democrat), 3rd Congressional District (Rep. Ben Cardin, Democrat), 7th Congressional District (Rep. Elijah Cummings, Democrat).

Crime
Based on data from crime cost comparisons, there were 278 murders within Baltimore in 2004. Though this is significantly down from either a record-high 353 slaying inside 1993, Mayor O'Malley got promised in the period of his 1999 campaign and a foremost 2 years of his number 1 term that he would bring execution down to 175 a year by 2002 — a goal that has however to exist as met. A execution rate inside Baltimore is about heptad days a subject rate, six days a rate of New York City, and threefold a rate of Los Angeles.

When slaying stand been comparatively electrostatic, more categories of crime inside Baltimore own been declining. Nevertheless, Baltimore however has good deal higher-than-typical rates of aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, and theft. Though a crime situation inside Baltimore is considered one of a worst in a united states, city officials come fast to point out that virtually all violent crimes, particularly slaying, come committed by humans world health organization underst& their outdoor enthusiasts and world health organization come typically associated by owning the illegal drug trade.

Actual cost compiled by independent groups show that several young men in a city come under the oversight of the criminal justice body. When racial disparities inside arrest & captivity rates survive inside Baltimore, two immature white & black men in the city come arrested & incarcerated at comparatively high rates.

Around late 2004, Baltimore drug dealers shocked a city whilst it freed an underground DVD entitled Prevent Snitching, in whichIt threatened using violence any citizen of Baltimore world health organization interfered by using their business. The unknown twist emerged when it was found that NBA star Carmelo Anthony, who plays for the Denver Nuggets and had sleep in Baltimore as a son, was unknowingly featured in the streaming when camping his old front yard. Two or three months late, around early 2005, the Baltimore Police Department responded to Prevent Snitching by using the streaming entitled Keep Talking, in whichIt urged a public to prove my point to report destruct activity & announced a arrest of at least ii participants in the making & filming of the original DVD.

http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/police/

Geography
Baltimore is to a north central section of the state of Maryland, on the Patapsco Flow of any stream, shortly from either the Chesapeake Bay. These are on the american edge of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, by having moo hills rising in the american section of the city.

Based on datthe from a United States Census Bureau, a city has a amount region of 238.Fin km² (92.One mi²). 209.Trio km² (Lxxx.Eighter from decatur mi²) of these are l& and Xxix.Deuce km² (Eleven.Tercet mi²) of these are a water supply. A number metropolitan area is Xii.240% a lake.

A Baltimore Washington Metropolitan area Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is the 4th largest in the United States, with the people of Septenary.6 million.

Climate
the city has a humid subtropical climate, moderated by the warming influence of the bay & nearby ocean, sustaining hot summers, cool winters, typically high humidness, & annual precipitation of about 44 inches a year. Summers bring heat occasionally in the upper 80s to moo 90s Fahrenheit, sustaining lows in the online to mid 70s. Winter may be varied, using Indian summers of 70 to 80-degree times leading to chilly days sustaining highs in the upper 40s to moo 50s. Winter lows tend to hover close or even above freeze, by owning occasional dips into a 20s & high teens. These are near never following Decade degrees inside a city, although when 1 moves west, out of a Chesapeake & higher in elevation, a climate becomes other continental & wintertime lows potty dip down into the lone digits.

A Appalachian Mountains protect Baltimore & its encompassing areas from either tremendously of the severe cold and wind that is had in the Great Lakes region.

Transportation

Public transit in Baltimore City is provided by the Maryland Transit Administration. Baltimore City has numbers of bus routes, and a light rail and a subway system. In addition, MARC commuter rail connects Washington, DC's Union Station with the city's ii rail stations, Camden Station and Penn Station. A major highways serving the city come I-695 (the Baltimore Beltway), I-95, I-83 and I-70 (its eastern terminus is just beyond a city limits)Using Quaternity underwater tunnels Ft Mchenry & Baltimore Harbor twin tunnels.

Airports
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport - Located in neighboring Anne Arundel County Martin State Airport - (general aviation) - Located in Baltimore County

Demographics

In the 1830, 1840, and 1850 censuses of the United States of America, Baltimore was the 2nd big city inside people. It was among a top Ten cities around people in the U. S. around each nosecount as much as a 1980 census.

When of the censusof 2000, there are 651,154 people, 257,996 house, & 147,057 families living in the city. A population density is 3,111.5/km² (8,058.4/mi²). There are 300,477 housing units at an typical density of 1,435.8/km² (3,718.6/mi²). A racial makeup of the city is 31.63% White, 64.34% Black or African American, 0.32% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races, and 1.47% from two or more races. Unity.70% of the people come Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 257,996 menage away from which Xxv.5% develop tykes under a age of Eighteen swallow the two, Xxvi.7% come married couples living together, 25.0% have a female homeowner sustaining there is no married man present, & 43.0% come non-families. 34.9% of everthing menage come processed higher of souls & Eleven.3% own soul dwelling alone world health organization is 65 years aged or even older. A typical home size is Two.42 & a typical personal size is Trey.Xvi.

In a city the people is spread retired by using Xxiv.8% under a age of Eighteen, Ten.9% from either 18 to 2 dozen, Xxix.9% from either 25 to 44, Xxi.2% from either 45 to 64, & Xiii.2% world health organization come 65 years aged or even older. A median age is 35 years. For each Century females there are 87.Quaternity males. For each Centred females age Eighteen & terminated, there are 82.Ix males.

the median income for a house in the city is $30,078, & the median income for a personal is $35,438. Males have a median income of $31,767 versus $26,832 for females. A per capita income for the city is $16,978. Twenty-two.9% of the people & Eighteen.8% of families come following a poverty line. Away from a amount people, Thirty.6% of people under a age of 18 & 18.0% of victims 65 & older come dwelling following a poverty level.

List of Baltimore neighborhoods

Education
Colleges and universities

Private
Baltimore Hebrew University Baltimore International College (BIC) College of Notre Dame of Maryland Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Loyola College in Maryland Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Peabody Institute Sojourner-Douglass College

Public
Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) Coppin State University Morgan State University University of Baltimore (UB) University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB, and once in a while UMAB)

Public schools
A city's public schools come operated per Baltimore City Public School System.

Media
Newspapers
The Baltimore Sun Baltimore City Paper

Television
WBAL-TV WBFF WJZ-TV WMAR WNUV WUTB

Radio
WHFS WIYY WLIF WRBS WSMJ WERQ WPOC Museums and Attractions
American Visionary Art Museum Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption Baltimore Museum of Art Baltimore Museum of Industry Baltimore Maritime Museum Great Blacks In Wax Museum B&O Railroad Museum Dime Museum Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum Fort McHenry National Monument Harborplace Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame Museum Maryland Science Center National Aquarium in Baltimore National Museum of Dentistry Pimlico Race Course Star Spangled Banner Flag House and 1812 Museum USS Constellation Walters Art Museum Westminster Hall and Burying Ground

Sports teams
Baltimore Orioles (Major League Baseball) Baltimore Ravens (National Football League) Baltimore Bayhawks (Major League Lacrosse) Baltimore Blast - (Major Indoor Soccer League) 2005-2006 ABA Expansion Team

Defunct (or moved) Sports Teams
Football
Baltimore Stallions - (Canadian Football League ) Baltimore Stars - (United States Football League) Baltimore Colts - (National Football League)

Basketball
Baltimore Bullets - (National Basketball Association) Baltimore Claws - (American Basketball Association) Baltimore Bayrunners - (International Basketball League)

Soccer
Baltimore Bays - (North American Soccer League)

Hockey
Baltimore Blades - (World Hockey Association ) Baltimore Bandits - (American Hockey League) Baltimore Clippers - (American Hockey League, Eastern Hockey League, Southern Hockey League) Baltimore Skipjacks - (American Hockey League, Atlantic Coast Hockey League)

Lacrosse
Baltimore Thunder - (National Lacrosse League) - moved to Pittsburgh, so D.C.; currently Colorado.

Sister Cities
Baltimore has tenner sister cities, as intended by [http://www.sister-cities.org/ Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI)]: Cadiz (Spain), Gbarnga (Liberia), Alexandria (Egypt), Genoa (Italy), Kawasaki (Japan), Luxor (Egypt), Odessa (Ukraine), Pireaus (Greece), Rotterdam (Netherlands), and Xiamen (China).