The 23rd state admitted to the US was Maine on March 15, 1829. It is known as the "Pine Tree State". Maine has 3,478 miles of coastline. That is longer than the entire state of California. It also has over 32,000 miles of rivers and streams, with over 6,000 lakes. There are over 4,000 islands off the coast of Maine. With all of this water, it no wonder that Maine is famous for its lobster, lighthouses, and National Park of Acadia. Eastport, Maine is the eastern-most U.S. city, and the first state in the US to see daylight. The capital of Maine is Augusta. The state bird is the Black-Capped Chickadee, the state flower is the White Pine Cone and Tassel, and the state tree is the Eastern White Pine.
Looking at the indigenous history, Maine's native peoples lived for thousands of years freely before the Europeans arrived. They were known as the Abenaki, Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and the Penobscot. Together, they were called the Wabanaki, which meant "People of the Dawnland". They developed alliances with one another in order to trade beaver fur, woven cloth, copper pots, and firearms with European settlers in the late 1500's. In 1604, French explorer Samuel de Champlain claimed the coast of Maine as part of the French province of Acadia. However, British forces under Sir Samuel Argall fought back and destroyed a colony on Mount Desert Island in 1613. Sir Ferdinando Gorges settled Maine for the British, and after his death in 1647, the Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed its jurisdiction. During the King Philip's War of 1675, the Wabanaki were forced to either become enemies of the war or give up their firearms. The British either killed or kidnapped them to sell into slavery, so many Wabanaki groups chose to fight in the war with the French in order to get the English out of New England. The wars grew, and soon native people were forced to fight against one another through these European-led battles. With the disease that were brought over from Europe, the death from wars, and the challenges of living freely on the land as they always had, the Wabanaki were weakened and forced out. As part of Massachusetts, Maine developed various industries that brought in people to work and live, and in 1820, it was granted statehood. Some of the Wabanaki people can still be found in Maine today. Their history and impact on the land will always exist as the seed that will live on eternally.
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