Description of Maine, US

Maine is a U.S. state located in the New England region. Northeastern America's most populous state, it is the largest of the six New England states by area. A total of 2,300 square miles (6,000 square kilometers) of inland water make up about half of New England's entire land area. Quebec and New Brunswick, two Canadian provinces, border the northwest and northeast of Maine, while New Hampshire borders the west. The Atlantic Ocean's rugged shoreline runs from the southwest to the northeast of the state. On March 15, 1820, Maine became the 23rd state to join the Union; its capital is Augusta. According to the Algonquian-speaking people who lived there, it was known as "Land of the Frozen Ground," and there are two hypotheses as to how Maine came to be known as the "mainland," as opposed to the coastal islands, in English.

Located east of the Mississippi River, Maine is the most sparsely populated state. Forests cover more than 45% of the country's total land area. Although Maine's economy is in decline, the state's raw beauty and challenges, as well as the character of its people, have given Maine a significance much beyond its economic and political strength. Maine is an important state. Its natural beauty has been preserved in part because of the country's slow economic progress. The southern coastal counties of the state, however, have seen a dramatic increase in population growth, development of new homes and businesses, and an increase in revenue since 1970. Paper and paper products manufacturing has dropped in Maine, while the state's economy has become more reliant on service-based industries. Agriculture, fishing, and forestry make up the second-largest sector. As a result, the state serves as a metaphor for the increasingly tough national choices between environmental protection and economic growth.

Geographical Description of Maine

Mount Katahdin, Maine's tallest peak at 5,268 feet (1,606 meters), is part of the Appalachian mountain chain that runs from New Hampshire into Maine. The easternmost point of the United States is Quoddy Head, located near Lubec. Canada's farthest-northern city is Caribou. There are numerous glacier-scarred peaks, lakes, and narrow valleys in the western and northern borders of New Hampshire and Quebec. The Saco, Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Penobscot rivers' vast valleys lie to the south and east of the highlands.

Long sand beaches are broken up by rocky promontories from Kittery, at the state's southern tip, to Cape Elizabeth, just southwest of Portland, the state's main city. As sea levels rise, the Maine coast is made up of several peninsulas, narrow estuaries, bays, fjords, and coves that were once glacier-covered slopes and valleys. From Rockland to Washington County, the coast is made up of bays and islands, along with a number of hills. "Downeast" (also spelled "Down East") refers to the eastern part of the country, which is frequently covered in fog. The Camden Hills and Mount Desert Island's highest peaks are the largest coastal mountains. Between 12 and 24 feet of tidal force can be found along this famed rockbound coast (3.7 and 7.3 metres). The state's coastline is home to more than 1,200 islands, some of which are little more than rocky outcroppings, while others are fortified with trees and home to lobstermen, fisherman, and seasonal residents.

Economy of Maine

For 2010, Maine's gross state product was estimated at $52 billion by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

It ranked 34th in the country in 2007 in terms of per-capita income, with a total of $33,991. Maine's unemployment rate was 3.0 percent in May of this year.

Poultry, eggs, dairy products, beef, wild blueberries, apples, maple syrup, and maple sugar are among the state's agricultural goods. Potatoes are the main crop in Aroostook County. Even if commercial fishing has faded from the state's economy, lobstering and groundfishing continue to thrive. Oyster and seaweed harvests are on the rise in Maine, despite the state's focus on lobster. In 2015, Maine supplied 14 percent of the Northeast's oysters. Maine's seaweed sector generated $20 million in annual revenue in 2017, according to industry estimates. Maine's shrimp business has been put on hold by the state government. Shrimp fishing in Maine has been banned because of a dwindling population of Northern shrimp. It began in 2014 and is slated to last through 2021. The aquifers and springs in western Maine are a major source of bottled water.

Paper, lumber and wood products, electronic equipment, leather goods, culinary goods, textiles and biotechnology make up the majority of Maine's industrial production. The Bath Iron Works and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, both in Massachusetts, are still important for naval shipbuilding and construction.

Also in Maine is Brunswick Landing, a former naval air station that is now a residential community. The BRAC campaign led to the closure of the Naval Air Station, despite a government-funded effort to modernize its facilities. A civilian industrial park and a satellite campus for Southern Maine Community College have been built on the site since it was a military post.

A significant portion of the nation's low-bush blueberries are grown in Maine (Vaccinium angustifolium). Maine was the largest blueberry producer in 2012, according to preliminary USDA figures, with 91,100,000 lbs. of the fruit. Vaccinium corymbosum, the genus name for both low-bush (wild) and high-bush (cultivated) blueberries, is included in this dataset. Strong, Maine, used to be home to the country's largest toothpick manufacturing plant. There were 20 million toothpicks produced each day at the Strong Wood Products plant in Ohio. It was shut down in May 2003.

Maine's economy is heavily dependent on tourism and outdoor recreation. Recreational activities include hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, skiing and boating, as well as camping and hiking in the state. Maine's booming creative industry is headquartered in the Greater Portland area, which has grown in tandem with the state's tourist and recreation-based economy.

Maine's ports have long played an important role in the movement of goods across the country. A rail link and ice-free port made Portland Canada's leading winter shipping hub from roughly 1880 until Halifax, Nova Scotia stepped up its rapid expansion during this time period. Portland's seaport handled 12,039,600 short tons in 2013, ranking it 45th among U.S. water ports. The Portland International Jetport has been extended, allowing airlines like JetBlue and Southwest to fly more often into the state.

Consolidations and mergers, notably in the pulp and paper business, have reduced the number of big Maine-based companies. A few large corporations that have their headquarters in Maine include Covetrus, Fairchild Semiconductor, IDEXX Laboratories and Hannaford Brothers Company; TD Bank in Portland and L.L.Bean in Freeport; and TD Bank in Portland and Freeport, respectively. As the biggest non-profit mammalian genetic research center and the largest provider of genetically purebred mice in the world, the Jackson Laboratory is based in Maine.