Maine

Introduction

Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River. More than four-fifths of its total land area is under forest cover. By most statistical measures Maine is an economically depressed state, yet the rugged beauty and challenge of its climate and landscape and the character of its people have given Maine an importance beyond its economic and political power. Limited economic growth has contributed to the preservation of much of its natural appearance. Since 1970, however, one-third of the state's southern coastal counties have recorded accelerating growth rates, increased residential and commercial construction, and increased revenues. Maine's economy has become increasingly dependent on services, while the traditional industry, the manufacture of paper and paper products, has declined. Fishing, forestry, mining, and agriculture comprise the second most important sector. The state thus epitomizes the increasingly difficult national choices between preservation of environmental quality and potential economic expansion.

Area 33,126 square miles (85,795 square km).

Pop. (2000) 1,274,923; (2005 est.) 1,321,505.

Land

Relief

The Appalachian mountain chain extends into Maine from New Hampshire, terminating in the north-central part of the state at Mount Katahdin—at 5,268 feet (1,606 metres) Maine's tallest peak. Quoddy Head, near Lubec, is the easternmost point in the country. Caribou is the country's northeasternmost city. The western and northwestern borders adjoining New Hampshire and Quebec have the most rugged terrain, with numerous glacier-scoured peaks, lakes, and narrow valleys. South and east of the mountain areas lie rolling hills and smaller mountains and the broad valleys of the Saco, Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Penobscot rivers.

From Kittery, at the southern tip of the state, to Cape Elizabeth, just southwest of the state's largest city, Portland, long sand beaches are interrupted intermittently by rocky promontories. From Cape Elizabeth to Rockland, the coastline of Maine is a series of peninsulas, narrow estuaries, bays, fjords, and coves—once glacier-covered mountains and valleys now partially submerged in the post-Ice Age rise in sea level. The coast from Rockland to Washington county consists of bays and islands, as well as interior hills. The eastern region is commonly referred to as “Downeast” (sometimes styled “Down East”), an area often shrouded in fog. The Camden Hills and the peaks of Mount Desert Island are the largest of the coastal mountains. The tides along this famous rockbound coast are among the strongest in the world, running between 12 and 24 feet (3.7 and 7.3 metres). Off the coast of the state lie about 1,200 islands, some no more than rocky ledges, others topped with trees and sheltering the homes of fishermen, lobstermen, and summer residents. All told, the coast of Maine—including the bays, inlets, and river estuaries—totals some 3,500 miles (5,600 km).

Drainage and soils

Most of Maine's river systems flow from north to south. Northern Maine is a dissected upland drained by north-flowing streams. The St. John River and its principal tributary, the Allagash, are the major exceptions, flowing north and then east along the northern border of Maine and turning south through New Brunswick, Can., to the Bay of Fundy. The state is dotted with 2,500 lakes and ponds, the largest of which is Moosehead Lake (116 square miles [300 square km]).

Soils in Maine are classified as ashy gray, acidic spodosols. In southwestern Maine, soils were formed primarily from granite; coastal, central, and eastern soils are composed of shale, sand, and limestone. The soils of Aroostook county, in the northeast, which are among the most productive in the state, are largely composed of Caribou loam, a rich soil ideal for growing potatoes.

Climate

Maine has three well-defined climatic zones: central, southern interior, and northern. Although all are classified as humid continental, small differences exist among regions. The southern and coastal regions are influenced by air masses from the south and west. North of the land dividing the St. John and Penobscot river basins, air masses moving down the St. Lawrence River basin tend to prevail. Mean annual temperatures range from 37 to 39 °F (3 to 4 °C) in the north and from 43 to 45 °F (6 to 7° C) in the southern interior and central regions. Mean temperatures are about 62 °F (17 °C) throughout the state during the summer and 20 °F ( 7 °C) during the winter. Clear days range from about 100 per year in the south to only 70 in the north, and annual precipitation averages 36 to 48 inches (910 to 1,220 mm). Snowfall averages more than 100 inches (2,500 mm) in the north and at higher elevations and less than 80 inches (2,000 mm) near the Atlantic.

Plant and animal life

Flora and fauna represent a combination of subarctic and Appalachian species. Forests include heavy stands of pine, spruce, and fir among the softwoods. Sugar maple, yellow birch, aspen, and paper birch dominate the extensive stands of hardwoods. Among the fauna are deer, moose, black bears, foxes, lynx, hares, raccoons, coyotes, porcupines, fishers, and bobcats. Songbirds, lake birds, seabirds, and many game species abound throughout the state. Among the many marine aquatic species are seals, whales, porpoises, lobsters, shrimp, clams, haddock, cod, mackerel, and Atlantic salmon, and there are also many freshwater game fishes.

People

Population composition

The original Downeast Yankees were English and Scotch-Irish Protestant immigrants who made the most substantial and persistent early European settlements in Maine. They set the style of dour and taciturn industry and dry wit that is characteristic of Maine legends and stories. Their descendants dominated the political and economic life of the state during most of its development, and they constitute its largest population group, particularly in the smaller communities and rural areas.

Contrary to popular impressions, however, Yankees are not the sole inhabitants of Maine. Two groups of French descent make up the second largest ethnic bloc in the state. The people of Acadia, originally from Brittany and Normandy, were driven out of Nova Scotia in 1763 by the British; many of them settled in the St. John valley—which now forms the northern border of Maine—while others made the long trip to Louisiana (where their descendants are called Cajuns). The later French Canadian migration from Quebec province began with the growth of the lumber and textile industries following the American Civil War. French is the primary language in much of the St. John valley, and it is the second language in Maine's industrial cities. Irish immigration to the state began in the 18th century, and the Irish and the French make up the bulk of Maine's Roman Catholic population (Roman Catholics now constituting about one-third of the state's population). French Huguenot and German settlements were established early near the coast. During the 1870s the state encouraged the building of a Swedish settlement in Aroostook county as part of a program for agricultural development and population growth.

Whites comprise virtually the entire total population. The remainder is made up of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians and Pacific Islanders. Most of the remaining few thousand members of the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy population of the area live on state reservations.

Settlement patterns

After a century of slow growth, Maine experienced an unprecedented increase of nearly a quarter of a million people in the late 20th century. To a large degree this growth was a result of immigration into particularly the coastal and southwestern portions of the state; however, Aroostook county actually lost nearly one-tenth of its population, which continues to decline.

Maine's population is not evenly distributed. Nearly three-fourths of the residents live in the southwestern fifth of the state, which has become known as the Maine Corridor. The northwestern and eastern-interior regions of the state contain less than 1 percent of Maine's population but make up two-fifths of its area.

About half of Maine's residents live in what are classified as urban centres, but there are only three cities with more than 25,000 people. Most of the urban centres lie within the Maine Corridor. Maine's largest urban areas are those of Portland–South Portland– Biddeford, Lewiston- Auburn, Bangor, and Augusta- Waterville. Portland is the centre of a metropolitan area spreading inland from and around Casco Bay. It is the commercial and transportation hub of the state, and its economy has a growing and diversified industrial base. Biddeford, south of Portland, is a former major textile centre. Once an important textile and shoe manufacturing centre, the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn form the second largest urban area in the state. Today the area depends on diversified manufacturing and is an important commercial hub that serves both the Androscoggin valley and eastern Oxford county. Bangor, an old lumbering town at the head of navigation on the Penobscot River, is the commercial focus of a large hinterland which includes northern and eastern Maine. Augusta, the state capital, lies at the head of navigation on the Kennebec River. State government is its principal source of employment, but the city is also an important trade centre for west-central Maine. Waterville, north of Augusta on the Kennebec, together with its neighbouring communities of Winslow and Fairfield, experienced reverses in the manufacturing sector in the late 20th century. The urban area is home to smaller and more-diverse industries and is, like Augusta, a regional trade centre.

Interior rural communities in Maine vary according to their economic history. Some consist of only a crossroads settlement with a general store, gas station, post office, and cluster of homes; others are focused around a mill site; a few are tourist centres, lumbering towns, or traditional New England settlements. The remaining true farming communities are found mostly in Aroostook county.

The coastal towns vary greatly. In the southwest most are commercial centres, reflecting the heavy tourist trade that characterizes the region. The mid-coast section is marked by a combination of fishing and other maritime activities, vacation and retirement homes, and resort centres. Downeast remains relatively undeveloped except for numerous active fishing villages.