缅因州小档案：
人口：约120万
面积：约86，026平方公里，排名第39位
州府：奥古斯塔Augusta
缅因州，本州州名，是法国古代一个省名。
1623年，开始殖民。1652年本州成为麻州之一部。1820年，脱离麻州，自成一州，列为美国第23州。
本州别名叫做“松林之州”Pine Tree State。本州箴言（或信条）：“我来领导”I Guide。本州气候寒冷，夏季夜间，尚须生火取暖。花木很少。以白松之果及缨cone and tassel of white pine。作为州花。
州府是奥古斯塔Augusta，位于本州西南部。商港是波特兰Portland，有大输油管，由港口直达加拿大蒙特利尔。缅因州州立大学，1856年创立。
本州特征有三：第一，它是美国大陆最孤立、最偏僻的一州。它位于美国的东北角，只有西南方与新罕布什尔州为邻。它的轮廓好像一块大木楔，向北方深深地塞进加拿大魁北克与新伯伦瑞克两省之间。因此，缅因州的港口，可作为加拿大东部地区的通过港。第二，它是新英格兰六州之中最大的一州。面积86026平方公里，在50州内，列第39位。第三，物产方面，它是美国主要产龙虾之州，产量约占美国总产量四分之三。马铃薯，产量约占美国总产量八分之一，列全国第二位，仅次于爱达荷州。林区约占本州总面积十分之八，主要木材为白松white pine。
本州主要富源是工业，其中以木材业、制纸业为最盛。农业方面饲养肉鸡及乳牛，种植马铃薯，并供应全美国作种子用的马铃薯。
本州旅游业甚盛。州内有湖2500个，河湖多至5千，森林小岛有1300个。鹿与熊很多，可以打猎。由于山清水秀，风景如画，成为游乐胜地。最著名的地区是阿加地亚公园Acadia National Park。这是国家公园，1916年建立。其中有湖、有山、有河、有林，更有冰蚀地形与大块的花冈岩山。
Introduction简介
Maineis a product of the Ice Age．The last glacier（冰河）was responsible for cutting what had been a relatively straight coastline into the hundreds of bays，inlets（入口）and picturesque（独特的）harbors we know today．The receding（后退）ice sheet formed the 2，000or so islands found off the Maine coast．
The region’s earliest inhabitants were descendants of Ice Age hunters．Little is known of these “Red Paint”people－so named because of the red clay（泥土）with which they lined the graves of their dead—except that they flourished and hunted in Maine long before the coming of the Micmac and Abnaki Indian nations．
Burial grounds for these earliest Maine dwellers（居住者，居民）are thought to date back to 3000B．C．Huge oyster shell（牡砺壳）heaps（堆）on the Damariscotta estuary（河口）testify to（证明，证实）the capacious（大的）appetites of Maine’s aborigines（土著）．
Of Maine’s two earliest Indian nations，the Micmacs of eastern Maine and New Brunswick were largely a warlike（好战的）people，while the more numerous Abnakis（or Wabanakis）were a peaceful nation，given to farming and fishing as a way of life．
Although dozens of（许多的）tribes once inhabited the land，only four tribes remain today．In addition to the Passamaquoddies and Penoscots，the Micmacs live in Aroostook County，with headquarters in Presque Isle and the Maliseets are based near Houlton at their 800acre tribal center．
Five hundred years before Columbus “discovered”America，Leif Ericson and a crew（一群）of 30Viking（海盗）sailors are believed to have explored the Maine coast in 1498and may have landed and tried to establish a settlement here．However，the first permanent English settlements were not established until more than a century later，in 1623．
In 1498，six years after Columbus landed in the West Indies，John Cabot，an Italian sailor in the employ of King Henry Vii of England，sailed into North American waters and may well have explored the Maine coast，although there is no concrete（具体的）evidence of it．hey claimed the area of Canada and Maine，calling it Acadia（阿卡迪亚（1604－1713年法国在北美东南沿海一带的殖民地），美国路易斯安娜州东南部的教区）．
A century after Cabot’s voyage a number of European ships briefly visited the area，some of them putting ashore（在岸上）to make repairs and process fish catches．
Two wealthy Englishmen，Ferdinando Gorges and John Popham，sent men to explore the Maine coast for England in 1605．Two years later，in 1607，the Plymouth［普利茅斯（英国港市）］Company from England established Popham Colony near the mouth of the Kennebec River，the same year of the settlement at Jamestown，Virginia．Because the Popham colony didn’t survive the harsh（凛冽）Maine winters，Jamestown enjoys the distinction of being regarded as America’s first permanent settlement．
A number of English settlements were established along the Maine coast in the 1620s，although the rugged climate，deprivations（剥夺）and Indian attacks wiped out many of them over the years．
As Maine entered the 18th century，only a half dozen settlements still survived．By then，Massachusetts had bought up most of the land claims in this wilderness territory，an arrangement which lasted until 1820when Maine separated from Massachusetts to become a separate state．
The question of Maine’s ownership was a matter of continuing dispute between England and France throughout the first half of the 18th century．
The period was also marked by a series of Indian raids on white settlements，forays（袭击）which had the active support of the French interested in seeing the English settlers driven from the land．
France and England fought for control of the New England area during the French and Indian Wars．With English victory，The Treaty of Paris ended all French claims to Maine and most of North America in 1763．One of the significant military developments of the French and Indian Wars was the capture（战利品）of the French fort at Louisburg，Nova Scotia，in 1745by a contingent（分遣队）of forces led by William Pepperell of Kittery．
After the Indian threat lessened in the mid－1700s，the population of Maine began to grow，encouraged by an open offer by Massachusetts of 100－acre lots free to anyone who would settle the northern province．
The population doubled from 12，000to 24，000between 1743and 1763．By the end of the century，the number of Maine settlers had grown to more than 150，000．
Resistance（抵抗）to the oppressive colonial tax policies of the British Parliament（国会，议会）began early in Maine．
In 1765a mob seized a quantity of tax stamps at Falmouth（now Portland），and attacks on customs（进口税，海关）agents in the province became common．A year after the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773，Maine staged its own version of that incident when a group of men burned a shipment of tea stored at York．
When open warfare finally erupted at Lexington and Concord，hundreds of Maine men actively joined the struggle for independence．The province saw plenty of action during the Revolution．
