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Place:Prince George's, Maryland, United States
redirected from Place:Prince George's County, Maryland
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Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County)[1][2] is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 967,201, making it the second-most populous county in Maryland, behind Montgomery County. The 2020 census counted an increase of nearly 104,000 in the previous ten years. Its county seat is Upper Marlboro. It is the largest and the most affluent African American-majority county in the United States, with five of its communities identified in a 2015 top ten list. Prince George's County is included in the Washington metropolitan area. The county also hosts many federal governmental facilities, such as Joint Base Andrews and the United States Census Bureau headquarters.
[edit] History
The Cretaceous Era brought dinosaurs to the area which left fossils now preserved in a park in Laurel. The site, which among other finds has yielded fossilized teeth from Astrodon and Priconodon species, has been called the most prolific in the eastern United States. In the mid to late Holocene era, the area was occupied by Paleo-Native Americans and then later, Native Americans. When the first European settlers arrived, what is now Prince George's County was inhabited by people of the Piscataway Indian Nation. Three branches of the tribe are still living today, two of which are headquartered in Prince George's County. [edit] 17th centuryPrince George's County was created by the English Council of Maryland in the Province of Maryland in April 1696[3] from portions of Charles and Calvert counties. The county was divided into six districts referred to as "Hundreds": Mattapany, Petuxant, Collington, Mount Calvert, Piscattoway and New Scotland. [edit] 18th centuryA portion was detached in 1748 to form Frederick County. Because Frederick County was subsequently divided to form the present Allegany, Garrett, Montgomery, and Washington counties, all of these counties in addition were derived from what had up to 1748 been Prince George's County. In 1791, portions of Prince George's County were ceded to form the new District of Columbia (along with portions of Montgomery County, Maryland and parts of Northern Virginia that were later returned to Virginia). [edit] 19th centuryDuring the War of 1812, the British marched through the county by way of Bladensburg to burn the White House. On their return, they kidnapped a prominent doctor, William Beanes. Lawyer Francis Scott Key was asked to negotiate for his release, which resulted in his writing "The Star-Spangled Banner". Prince George's County had the highest population of slaves within the state of Maryland. These enslaved Africans engaged in forced labor on tobacco farms and plantations throughout Prince George's County. During the Civil War, hundreds of enslaved Black men in Prince George's County were given freedom in exchange for joining the Union Army and fighting in Colored units against Confederate Forces. When Abraham Lincoln ordered the end of slavery in America, he did not free the slaves in Maryland because he was concerned that slave owning Maryland would revolt and Washington D.C. would then be surrounded by Confederate forces. However John Pendelton Kennedy, a Maryland politician who became an abolitionist after watching a speech by Frederick Douglass, led a referendum campaign to end slavery in the state. In 1864, the citizens of Maryland voted to end slavery. However the state was so divided that the referendum won by only 1,000 votes. Lincoln then ordered the Union Army to enforce the ban in Maryland and all enslaved people in the state were freed. After the Civil War, many African Americans attempted to become part of Maryland politics, but were met with violent repression after the fall of Reconstruction. In April 1865, John Wilkes Booth made his escape through Prince George's County while en route to Virginia after killing President Abraham Lincoln. [edit] 20th centuryThe proportion of African Americans declined during the first half of the 20th century, but was renewed to over 50% in the early 1990s when the county again became majority African American. The first African American County Executive was Wayne K. Curry, elected in 1994. On July 1, 1997, the Prince George's County section of the city of Takoma Park, which straddled the boundary between Prince George's and Montgomery counties, was transferred to Montgomery County. This was done after city residents voted in a referendum to be under the sole jurisdiction of Montgomery County, and subsequent approval by both counties and the Maryland General Assembly.[4] This was the first change in Montgomery/Prince George's County line boundaries since 1968, when the City of Laurel was unified in Prince George's County; additional legislation was proposed in 1990 for a technical correction, though may not have achieved enactment. [edit] 21st centuryThe county reached nearly one million residents.[5] It was recognized as the largest, mostly middle class and most wealthy Black majority county in the United States. The Latin American population grew to 20% of the total population. The county experienced a dramatic drop in crime, including record drops in violent crime, although in 2021 and 2022, violent crime increased by 30%. From 2021 to 2022 over 2,200 residents died of COVID-19, over 193,000 COVID infections were recorded and over 19,000 county residents were left with long-term post-COVID symptoms. [edit] Timeline
[edit] Population History
Note: Parts of Prince George's and Montgomery Counties were taken to form the District of Columbia in 1791. [edit] Research Tips[edit] External links
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