In 1634, Leonard Calvert, 

 brother of Cecil Calvert — sec- 

 ond Lord Baltimore — landed on 

 St. Clement's Island. The set- 

 tlers soon established a colony 

 at St. Mary's where tobacco, as 

 a cash crop, flourished. 



The area was a haven for the colonists. The Indians, 

 Algonquin, Anacostan and Susquehannock, were mostly 

 friendly and willing to trade with the settlers. Religious 

 toleration was adopted and the land was ideal for farm- 

 ing. One voyager, upon his arrival, commented that the 

 land was "generally plain and even, and yet with small 

 hills and risings . . . with woods free of underbrush so 

 that a man might travel on horseback . . . and with soils 

 so very rich in very many places you shall have two 

 foote of black mould." 



During the time of Calvert's voyage to Maryland, the 

 chief economic form of European trade was called mer- 

 cantilism. By theory, mercantilism was employed in 

 order to gain a more favorable balance of trade through 

 greater exportation than importation, thus causing a 

 greater influx of gold. England, at the time, had an un- 

 favorable balance in tobacco trade with Spain. Because 

 of this. King Charles I sent Cecil Calvert to Maryland to 



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