In 1634, the first group of Marylanders sailed up the Bay of Chesopeack and began the settlement of a proprietary colony whose land claims would eventually lead to over three centuries of dispute. The physical boundaries of Maryland, both today and during colonial times present a peculiar shape, and each section contains its own fascinating history of bitter boundary disputes, lost claims, and geographic misinterpretations. Founded on land that previously belonged to Virginia, Maryland had territorial trouble from the beginning. Over the years, the settlement of Pennsylvania along with Dutch and Swedish claims to land on the Delaware Bay would create more dispute. As these colonies expanded, and more people began to settle land that was under questionable ownership, it became especially imperative that the lines be drawn. Most of Maryland's disputed boundaries were finally settled in the late 1700's. In colonial times, just as today, every scrap of land that could be claimed is one more scrap that could be settled, farmed, and most importantly to colonial proprietors, another scrap to be taxed.

George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, was a wealthy and powerful Englishman, and a friend of King Charles I. He, like most prominent figures in England at that time, was interested in the profitability of settlements in North America. After a failed colony in Newfoundland in the late 1620's, Calvert visited Virginia in 1629 looking for a warmer place to start a new colony. Samuel Matthews and William Claiborne, both prominent Virginians, hastily 'harried Calvert's 'Romishe' company out of Virginia...' Claiborne had established a successful trading post on Kent Island, in the Chesapeake Bay. When Lord Baltimore showed interest in land in the Northern Part of Virginia, which might possibly include is Kent Island, Claiborne quickly obtained a royal license to trade land '...where there is not already a patent graunted to others.' He figured that this measure would secure his trading post, no matter where Lord Baltimore might be given land.

After winning a 'deadly backstairs and official game with agents of Virginia' in England, Lord Baltimore died in April of 1632. The charter for Maryland was granted the following June to his son, Cecil Calvert, who had just become the second Lord Baltimore.

Maryland's charter contained details of where the boundaries were. It is this document that Lord Baltimore and his descendants would produce when the location of a boundary came into question.

'KNOW YEE therefore, that Wee...grant and confirme unto the said Cecilius, now Baron of Baltemore, ...all that part of a Peninsula...betweene the Ocean on the East, and the Bay of Chesopeack on the West, and divided fromt he otehr part therof, by a right line drawne from the Promontory or Cape of Land called Watkins Point...unto the maine Ocean on the East, and betweene that bound on the South, unto that part of the Delaware Bay on the North, which lieth under the fortieth degree of Northerly Latitude...passing from the foresaid Bay...in a right line by the degree aforesaid, unto the true meridian of the first fountaine of the River of Pattowmeck, and from thence trending toward the south unto the farther bank of the aforesaid river, and following the West and South side therof...'(Maryland Charter)

This description seemed simple enough. On the present Delmarva Peninsula, it included all of the land in between the 40 degree line and a line drawn east from Watkin's point. On the mainland, Maryland was bordered by the 40 degree line on the north and the Potomac River to the south. The western boundary was to be a meridian, or north and south line from the source of the Potomac River. (see figure 1) By looking at a present day map of Maryland, it is evident that the boundaries are not the same ones described by the charter. The Potomac river is the southern boundary, but the northern boundary is not located at 40 degrees of north latitude. Also, the State of Delaware lies on the peninsula which that charter claims for Maryland. The stories behind why the boundaries were changed present an interesting one.