Baltimore

**Baltimore** is the biggest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2020 it had about 585,708 people living there. It is not in any county, so it is called an independent city. It is next to the Chesapeake Bay and used to be an important port for trade by ships. There is still some shipping but the Inner Harbor is now mostly famous for shopping and restaurants, and also for the National Aquarium and other museums.

Baltimore is home to the Ravens (football) and Orioles (baseball), both professional sports teams. Its main newspaper is the *Baltimore Sun.* There is a place for horse races in the city called Pimlico. There are many colleges and universities in Baltimore, like Johns Hopkins University.

The city was made in 1729 and is named after the British Lord Baltimore who started the colony of Maryland. The mayor of the city as of 2020 is Brandon Scott. Many governors of Maryland were mayor of Baltimore first. One famous thing that happened in Baltimore was in the War of 1812, when the British attacked the city and Francis Scott Key wrote a song about it called "The Star-Spangled Banner". It is now the national anthem of the United States.

Some famous people from Baltimore are the Supreme Court judge Thurgood Marshall, the poet and writer Edgar Allen Poe (he lived in the city but was not born there), the baseball player Babe Ruth, the singer Billie Holiday, and the movie director John Waters.

## History 
In 1706, the colony of Maryland's General Assembly created the Port of Baltimore at Locust Point. It was built for tobacco trading. The Town of Baltimore was founded on July 30, 1729. It was named after Cecilius Calvert, the British Lord Baltimore. Calvert was the first Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. Baltimore grew quickly in the 1700s as a granary (place for storing cereals and grains) for the sugar plantations in the Caribbean.
.]]

Baltimore was important in the time leading up to the American Revolution. Leaders like Jonathan Plowman Jr. got the city to refuse to pay taxes to Britain. Merchants (people who buy and sell things) signed agreements to not trade with Britain. The Second Continental Congress met in the Henry Fite House from December 1776 to February 1777. This made Baltimore the capitol of the United States during this time. In 1796, after the war, the Town of Baltimore, nearby Jonestown, and an area called Fells Point were  as the City of Baltimore. (This means that these areas all merged and became the City of Baltimore.) The city was a part of Baltimore County until 1851. It then became an independent city.

During the War of 1812, the Battle of Baltimore happened in the city. The British attacked Baltimore on the night of September 13, 1814. This was right after they burned Washington D.C.. United States soldiers from Fort McHenry defended the Inner Harbor. Francis Scott Key watched the battle from a British ship in the harbor. He wrote the poem "The Star-Spangled Banner" about the attack. Later, "The Star-Spangled Banner" became the official National Anthem of the United States.

After the war, the number of people who lived in the city grew quickly. The National Road (now part of U.S. Route 40) and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) connected the city with big markets in the Midwest. This made Baltimore a very important shipping and manufacturing center. Baltimore was nicknamed "the Monumental City" by President John Quincy Adams in 1827. During an event, Adams gave a toast and said: "Baltimore: the Monumental City – [m]ay the days of her safety be as prosperous and happy, as the days of her dangers have been trying and triumphant." In 1835, the Baltimore bank riots happened. These were one of the worst riots of the antebellum South. (The *antebellum* period is the time right before the American Civil War.)

During the American Civil War, Maryland did not secede from the Union. (That is, Maryland stayed a part of the Union and did not join the Confederacy.) When Union soldiers marched through the city at the start of the war, some people attacked the soldiers. This started the Baltimore riot of 1861. Four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed. After the riot, Union soldiers occupied (stayed in) Baltimore. During the war, Maryland was governed directly by the federal government and the state government did not have any power. This was to keep the state from seceding (leaving the Union). After the war ended in April 1865, Maryland began governing itself again.

During the 1870s there was an economic depression called the "Panic of 1873." After the Panic, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company decided to pay its workers less. This caused the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. These strikes stopped train service in Cumberland in western Maryland. On July 20, 1877, the Maryland Governor, John Lee Carroll, ordered the Maryland Army National Guard to stop the strikes. People who supported the railroad workers attacked the national guard soldiers. Soldiers from the 6th Regiment fired their guns at the crowd. 10 people were killed, and 25 people were hurt. This started a riot. Trains were damaged and parts of Camden Station were burned. US Army soldiers came to Baltimore to protect the railroad and end the strike. The riot and strike ended on July 21–22, 1877.
 of 1904, a lot of the city was destroyed. This is a view of downtown looking west from Pratt and Gay Streets.]]
The Great Baltimore Fire started on February 7, 1904. It burned for 30 hours and destroyed 1,500 buildings. More than 70 blocks of downtown burned to the ground. The fire caused about $150 million of damage (US$  million in .)

The city grew bigger by annexing (absorbing) suburbs from nearby counties. The last suburb was added in 1918. The city added parts of Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County. In 1948, the state constitution was amended (changed). It now required a special vote by citizens before an area could be added to the city. This stopped the expansion (growth) of the city.

In 1950, the city was 23.8% black. By 1970, it was 46.4% black. After Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, the Baltimore riot of 1968 started. It lasted until April 12, 1968. The riot cost the city about $10&nbsp;million (US$  million in ). During the riot, 11,000 Maryland National Guard soldiers and US Army soldiers tried to protect the city. It is possible to see some effects of the riots today. Parts of North Avenue, Howard Street, Gay Street,  and Pennsylvania Avenue are barren, empty, and not taken care of.

During the 1970s, Baltimore's downtown area, called the "Inner Harbor," was run down and neglected. It was full of empty and  warehouses. The city began trying to redevelop the area. The Baltimore Convention Center was opened in 1979. Harborplace, a shopping and restaurant area, opened in 1980. The National Aquarium in Baltimore (Maryland's largest tourist destination) and the Baltimore Museum of Industry opened in 1981. In 1992, the Baltimore Orioles baseball team moved from Memorial Stadium to Oriole Park at Camden Yards near the harbor. Six years later the Baltimore Ravens football team moved into M&T Bank Stadium next to Camden Yards.

The National Register of Historic Places lists 280 historical properties in Baltimore city.

## Geography 
, looking east.]]
 of Baltimore.]]
Baltimore is in north-central Maryland. It is on the Patapsco River, close to where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. It is on the fall line between the Piedmont Plateau and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. (The *fall line* is a phrase in geology that means that this is a place where two different kinds of earth meet.) The fall line splits Baltimore into a "lower city" and "upper city."

At the harbor, the city is at sea level. The highest point is near Pimlico in the northwest. There the elevation is .

According to the 2020 census, the city has a total area of . This is  of land and  of water. The total area of Baltimore City is 12.1% water.

### Climate 
Baltimore is in the continental climate zone.

July is usually the hottest month of the year. The average temperature in July is . Summer is usually very humid. The highest temperature on record is  in 1936.

January is the coldest month of the year. Sometimes wind from the subtropics brings springlike weather during winter. At night, winds from the Arctic make temperatures drop into the teens (in Fahrenheit; less than -7 °C.) Some nights the temperature drops to the single digits (less than -12&nbsp;°C.) The coldest temperature on record is  from 1934.

## Cityscape
, seen from Federal Hill.]]

### Architecture 
, one of the world's largest aquariums.]]
Baltimore has architecture in every  from the last 200-plus years. Many famous architects have designed buildings in the city. Some of these architects are Benjamin Latrobe, George A. Frederick, John Russell Pope, Mies Van Der Rohe and I. M. Pei.

The city has some buildings that are thought to be important to the history of architecture. Baltimore Basilica (1806–1821) was designed by Benjamin Latrobe in the neoclassical style. It is the oldest Roman Catholic Cathedral in the United States. The Municipal Museum of Baltimore, often called the Peale Museum, was build in 1813 by Robert Cary Long, Sr. It was built for Rembrandt Peale and is the first building in the United States designed specifically to be a museum. The McKim Free School, built by Isaac McKim in 1822, shows the interest of early American architects in ancient Greek art.

The Phoenix Shot Tower (1828) was the tallest building in the United States until the Civil War. It is  tall. The tower was build without scaffolding. The Sun Iron Building (1851) was the first iron-front building. Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church (1870) has stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany. It has been called "one of the most significant buildings in this city, a treasure of art and architecture" by *Baltimore Magazine*. The 1845 Greek Revival style Lloyd Street Synagogue is one of the oldest synagogues in the United States.

The Baltimore World Trade Center was built in 1977 by architect I.M. Pei. The building is in the shape of an equilateral pentagon (it has five equal sides.) It is the tallest building of this shape in the world.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is considered by many to be the most beautiful baseball park in Major League Baseball. It is designed to be "retro style". The park has inspired many other cities to build their own retro ballparks. Camden Yards and the National Aquarium have helped revive the Inner Harbor. The area used to be an industrial district of run-down and abandoned warehouses. Today it is a lively commercial district full of bars, restaurants, and stores.

### Tallest buildings
 is the tallest building in Baltimore.]]

### Neighborhoods
Baltimore is officially split into nine regions. These regions are based on geography. Each region is patrolled by their own Baltimore Police Department district. These regions are: Northern, Northwestern, Northeastern, Western, Central, Eastern, Southern, Southwestern, and Southeastern. Locals sometimes split the city into "East Baltimore" and "West Baltimore" along Charles Street. Other locals sometimes split the city into "North Baltimore" and "South Baltimore" along Baltimore Street.

The **Central district** includes Downtown Baltimore, Harborplace, The Camden Yards Sports Complex (Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium), the Convention Center, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It is the city's main commercial area. It also has many nightclubs, bars, restaurants, shopping centers, and other attractions. Many of the city's key businesses are in this area as well. The University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, University of Maryland Medical System, Maryland Institute College of Art, the Peabody Institute of music, the Lyric Opera House, The Walters Art Museum, and The Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall are also in the central district.

The **Northern District** is north of the Central district. Loyola University Maryland, The Johns Hopkins University and College of Notre Dame of Maryland are in this district. Some of the richer residential neighborhoods are also here. The neighborhood of Roland Park, the first planned suburban community in America, is one of these richer neighborhoods. The borders of the district are made by The Alameda on the east and Pimlico Road on the west.

The **Southern district** is the part of the city below the Inner Harbor and east of the B&O Railroad tracks. It is a mix of industrial and residential areas. It is also a mix of many demographics, cultures, and ethnicities. It is home to the ethnically diverse neighborhood of Locust Point, the historic neighborhood Federal Hill, and poor residential neighborhoods like Cherry Hill. There are two Port of Baltimore terminals in this district. The old Domino Sugar plant is also here. The district is bordered by the city line to the north and east; Sinclair Lane, Erdman Avenue, and Pulaski Highway on the south; and The Alameda on the west.

The **Eastern district** is mostly poor, African-American residential neighborhoods. There are entire blocks of abandoned buildings. The district is also dangerous and has a problem with drug trafficking. For this reason, the TV show *The Wire* was often filmed in this district. This area is also home to Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The district is bordered by Erdman Avenue, Sinclair Lane, and Orleans Street.

The **Southeastern district** is a mix of industrial and residential areas. Neighborhoods in this district usually have a mix of races and cultures. The district is bordered by Orleans Street, the Inner Harbor, the city line, and the Baltimore harbor.

The **Northwestern district** is mostly residential. It is also home to the Pimlico Race Course and Sinai Hospital. Until the 1960s, Baltimore's Jewish community was based in the Park Heights neighborhood. Since then, there has been "white flight" and the neighborhood today is almost all black. Northern Parkway is a dividing line in the district. North of the parkway, the neighborhoods are mostly white. Some of these are Mount Washington and Cheswolde. South of the parkway, the neighborhoods are mostly black. The borders of the district are made up by the county line on the north and west, Gwynns Falls Parkway on the south and Pimlico Road on the east.

The **Western district** is the home of Coppin State University, Mondawmin Mall, and Edmondson Village. These are important to the culture, economy and history of the city's African American community. This district used to be the home to many middle and upper class African Americans, but they have moved away since. Today, more than 45% of people living in some neighborhoods have income levels below the poverty line. Some of the crime from this district was used in the TV show *The Wire*. The district is west of downtown. Its borders are Gwynns Falls Parkway, Fremont Avenue, and Baltimore Street.

The **Southwestern district** is a mix of industrial parks and residential areas. St. Agnes Hospital is in this district. It has Baltimore County to the west, Baltimore Street to the north, and the downtown area to the east.

File:Woodberry07.JPG|Woodberry
File:Guilford.jpg|Charles Village
File:Station North Arts District Baltimore Chas St.jpg|Station North
File:Fells Point A.JPG|Fells Point
File:GoodwoodGardens.jpg|Roland Park

### Neighboring communities
The City of Baltimore is next to several communities. All of these are unincorporated census-designated places.

*Arbutus
*Baltimore Highlands
*Brooklyn Park
*Catonsville
*Dundalk
*Glen Burnie
*Lansdowne

*Lochearn
*Overlea
*Parkville
*Pikesville
*Rosedale
*Towson
*Woodlawn

## Culture
, built in 1911.]]
Baltimore is sometimes called the "city of neighborhoods." This name comes from the fact that it has 72 official historic districts (areas). People of one ethnic group mainly live in each one of these areas. Some of the most important today are downtown. These are the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, and Little Italy. The Inner Harbor has lots of hotels, shops, and museums. Many tourists visit the Inner Harbor. Fells Point used to be a place where sailors went for entertainment. Today it has been rebuilt and cleaned up. This is the neighborhood in the movie *Sleepless in Seattle*. Little Italy is where the Italian-American people live and work. Nancy Pelosi grew up in this neighborhood. She used to be Speaker of the House in Congress.

Another important neighborhood is Mount Vernon. This neighborhood is the center of culture and art in Baltimore. There are many important monuments and museums there. One important monument is the Washington Monument. This monument was built in the 1800s in a plaza. It is older than the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C..

Every year there is an art festival called Artscape. The festival is in the Bolton Hill neighborhood. This is very close to the Maryland Institute College of Art. Artscape is called the "largest free arts festival in America." Another art festival that happens in Baltmore is the Maryland Film Festival. It happens every year in May. At the Film Festival, movies are shown at the Charles Theatre. (The Charles Theatre is an old cinema.)

One of Baltimore's nicknames is "Charm City." Some advertisers wanted to make the city's reputation better. They started using the name in 1975.

### Language 
People in Baltimore speak English. They have a very unique accent and way of speaking (dialect). For example, they pronounce "Baltimore" as "Balamer" or "Balmer." The Baltimore dialect is sometimes called "Baltimorese." It is a kind of Mid-Atlantic English. People from Baltimore will often call each other "Hon."

There are movies that parody (make fun of) the way people from Baltimore talk. A lot of these movies are made by John Waters. He is a movie maker from Baltimore. Most of Waters's movies were made in Baltimore. *Pink Flamingos* and *Hairspray* are some of these movies. Waters also wrote the musical version of *Hairspray.*
### Important people
Many very famous and important people were born or raised in Baltimore. Some of these are:

* Spiro Agnew (1918-1996), the 39th Vice President of the United States
* Tori Amos (1963-, grew up in Baltimore), a singer, songwriter, and pianist
* Carmelo Anthony (1985-, grew up in Baltimore), a professional basketball player for the New York Knicks
* John Astin (1930-), actor who played Gomez Addams on *The Addams Family* television series
* Eubie Blake (1883-1983), pianist and composer of ragtime and jazz
* Cab Calloway (1907–1994), jazz singer and bandleader, raised in Baltimore
* Samuel Chase (1741–1811), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and US Supreme Court judge
* Tom Clancy (1947-2013), author of *The Hunt for Red October*
* Kevin Clash (1960-), puppeteer best known for Elmo on *Sesame Street*
* Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), abolitionist, public figure, orator (speaker), editor and author
* Kevin Durant (1988-), NBA basketball player for Oklahoma City Thunder
* Philip Glass (1937-), minimalist composer
* Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961), detective, writer of *Maltese Falcon*, born in Maryland and worked as a detective in Baltimore
* David Hasselhoff (1952-), actor
* Billie Holiday (1915–1959), jazz singer
* Stacy Keibler (1979-), actress, former professional wrestler
* Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993), first African American US Supreme Court Justice
* Jim McKay (1921–2008), television sports journalist
* Ogden Nash (1902–1971), poet
* Edward Norton, (1969-), actor in *Fight Club*, *The Italian Job*, and *The Incredible Hulk*
* Nancy Pelosi (1940-), U.S. Representative from California & former Speaker of the House of the US House of Representatives
* Michael Phelps (1985-), Olympic swimmer, multiple world-record holder, winner of more gold medals (18) and total medals (22) than any other Olympian
* Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), poet, short story writer, editor and critic
* Parker Posey (1968-), actress, known for *Dazed and Confused*, *Waiting for Guffman*, *Scream 3*, and *Best in Show*
* John Rawls (1921–2002), political philosopher
* Cal Ripken, Jr. (1960-), former shortstop and third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
* Axl Rotten (1971-), professional wrestler
* Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth) (1895–1948), professional baseball player for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Boston Braves, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
* Pat Sajak (1946-), host of '**Wheel of Fortune**'
* Dwight Schultz (1947-), actor on *The A-Team* (H.M. Murdock) and *Star Trek: The Next Generation* (Lt. Reginald Barclay)
* Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), author *The Jungle* and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
* John Waters (1946-), filmmaker
* George Whipple (1878–1976), winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize in Medicine
* Montel Williams (1956-), television talk-show host
* Frank Zappa (1940–1993), singer, guitarist, composer and satirist

## Economy 
Baltimore used to be mostly industrial. There was a lot of steel processing, shipping, car manufacturing, and transportation. Deindustrialization happened, and Baltimore lost a lot of jobs that paid a lot of money and did not need a lot of training or skill. Today, most of the jobs in Baltimore are service economy jobs. These jobs do not pay very much. 90% of jobs are service jobs today.

In July 2012, the unemployment rate was 11%. Also in 2012, the steel mill (factory) at Sparrow's Point closed. This will mean more people will lose their jobs. 25% of people who live in Baltimore, and 37% of all children living in Baltimore, live in poverty.

Johns Hopkins Hospital is in Baltimore. Some big companies from Baltimore are Under Armour, Cordish Company, and Royal Farms. There is a big sugar refinery in Baltimore. It is owned by American Sugar Refining.

## Transportation
 provides service to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and the Baltimore area.]]
There are eight Interstate Highways in Baltimore. These are:
* I-70
* I-83 (the Jones Falls Expressway)
* I-95 (the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway)
* I-395
* I-695 (the Baltimore Beltway)
* I-795 (the Northwest Expressway)
* I-895 (the Harbor Tunnel Thruway)
* I-97
Some of these highways do not connect to each other. I-70 stops at a parking lot just inside of the city. This is because of "freeway revolts" that happened in Baltimore. The interstate highways were supposed to go through downtown Baltimore, but the people in the city did not want this to happen. Barbara Mikulski, now a United States Senator, started the "freeway revolts" to keep the highways from being built in downtown.

Today there are some highways numbered U.S. highways and state routes that run through downtown. These are US 1, US 40 National Road, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. There are also some tunnels underneath the Baltimore harbor. I-95 runs through the Fort McHenry Tunnel. I-895 runs through the Harbor Tunnel.

Baltimore has a beltway. A beltway is a highway that circles around a city. The Baltimore Beltway is I-695. It crosses over the Chesapeake Bay on the Francis Scott Key Bridge. This bridge is just south of the Inner Harbor.

Baltimore is an important train stop. Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor stop in Baltimore. Penn Station is one of the busiest train stations in the country. In 2008 it was the 8th busiest train station in the United States. That year, more than 1 million people took a train to or from Penn Station. Another important train station is at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Many Amtrak trains stop at the BWI Rail Station. The Amtrak trains that stop in Baltimore are: *Acela Express*, *Palmetto*, *Carolinian*, *Silver Star*, *Silver Meteor*, *Vermonter*, *Crescent*, and *Northeast Regional*. The MARC commuter rail service also has trains that stop in Baltimore. The MARC trains run from Camden Station and Penn Station in Baltimore to Union Station in Washington, D.C..

## Education
### Colleges and universities
Baltimore has many colleges and universities. These are both public (run by the government) and private. Some of them are:

#### Private
]]
*Baltimore International College (BIC)
*The Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
*Loyola University Maryland (LUM)
*Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
*Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDM)
*Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University
*Sojourner-Douglass College

#### Public
*Baltimore City Community College (BCCC)
*Coppin State University (CSU)
*Morgan State University (MSU)
*University of Baltimore (UB)
*University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB, formerly UMAB)

### Primary and secondary schools
Baltimore City Public School System runs Baltimore's public schools. Some of these schools are well known. Carver Vocational-Technical High School was the first vocational high school for African-Americans in Maryland. Lake Clifton Eastern High School is the biggest school campus in Baltimore City. Frederick Douglass High School is the second-oldest African-American high school in the United States. Baltimore City College is the third oldest public high school in the country. Western High School is the oldest public all-girls school in the nation. Baltimore City College and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute are football rivals. This is the second-oldest high school football rivalry in the country.

## Media
Baltimore Stations

WBFF FOX

WMPB PBS

Baltimore's main newspaper is *The Baltimore Sun.* In 1986, the newspaper was sold to the Times Mirror Company. This company was bought by the Tribune Company in 2000. Today, *The Sun* is still a Tribune newspaper.

Baltimore had two newspapers until 1986. (It was very common for US cities to have two newspapers.) The other main newspaper was the *Baltimore News-American*. The *News-American* went out of business in 1986.

*The Baltimore Examiner* was started in 2006 to compete with *The Sun.* It was owned and run by a company that also published newspapers like *The San Francisco Examiner* and *The Washington Examiner*. *The Examiner* was a free newspaper that was paid for by advertising. (*The Sun* is not free.) *The Examiner* was not able to make money, and it stopped being published on February 15, 2009.

According to Nielsen Market Research, Baltimore had the 26th-largest television market in 2008-2009. It was the 27th-largest market for 2009-2010. Arbitron listed Baltimore as the 22nd-largest radio market in Fall 2010.

## Sports teams
]]

### Baseball 
Baltimore has a long baseball history. The first team to play for Baltimore were the 19th century Baltimore Orioles (1882-1899). This was one of the most successful early baseball teams. The team had many hall of famers play for them. The great Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore in 1895. He played for the minor league Baltimore Orioles team. This team existed from 1903 to 1914 and from 1916 to 1953.

Today, Baltimore's Major League Baseball team is the Baltimore Orioles. They play in the American League. The Orioles came to Baltimore in 1954. Before that, the team had been in St. Louis, Missouri, where they were called the St. Louis Browns. The Orioles went to the World Series in 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1979 and 1983. They won the World Series three times: in 1966, 1960, and 1983. 

In 1995, Cal Ripken, Jr. broke the record for the most games played in a row. The old record was set by Lou Gehrig, and was 2,130 games. Ripken was added to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was also named "Sportsman of the Year" by *Sports Illustrated* magazine. There are six Orioles players and two managers in the hall of fame.

### Football
Baltimore's first football team were the Baltimore Colts. The team came to Baltimore in 1953. Before then, they had played in Dallas, Texas as the Dallas Texans. The Colts played for Baltimore until 1984. In 1984, the team moved to Indianapolis and took the name. Today the team still plays as the Indianapolis Colts.

In 1996, the Cleveland Browns came to Baltimore. They were renamed the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won a Super Bowl championship in 2000 and again in 2012. They also won three American Football Conference (AFC) North division championships in 2003, 2006, and 2011. In addition, the played in three AFC Championship Games in 2000, 2009, and 2011.

### Other teams and events
Baltimore has an indoor soccer team, the Baltimore Blast. They play for the Major Indoor Soccer League at the 1st Mariner Arena. The team joined the League in 2001. The Blast have won 5 league championships: 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

The Baltimore Blues are a semi-professional rugby league football club. They will compete in the USA Rugby League in 2012. Other professional or semi-professional Baltimore teams include Crystal Palace Baltimore, an outdoor soccer franchise of
USL Second Division. The Charm City Roller Girls are a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association since 2005.

The Preakness Stakes are held every May at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The Preakness is the "second jewel" in the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

Car races are held on the streets of downtown every year in September. The Baltimore Grand Prix runs through the Inner Harbor. It started in 2011. The American Le Mans Series, IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, and other races are a part of it.

## Politics 
Baltimore is very politically liberal. The mayor of Baltimore is a Democrat. 84.7% of the voters in 2016 voted for the Democrat Hillary Clinton, and 87.2% of the voters in 2012 voted for the Democrat Barack Obama. The last time a Republican running for president won more votes than the Democratic candidate in Baltimore was 1956. Even in 1984, when Ronald Reagan won 49 states in his reelction campaign, only 28.2% of the voters in Baltimore voted for him.

## Sister cities
Baltimore has eleven sister cities. These were picked by Sister Cities International.

*  Alexandria, Egypt (1995)
*  Ashkelon, Israel (2005)
*  Bremerhaven, Germany (2007)
*  Gbarnga, Liberia (1973)
*  Genoa, Italy (1985)
*  Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan (1978)

*  Luxor, Egypt (1982)
*  Odesa, Ukraine (1974)
*  Piraeus, Greece (1982)
*  Rotterdam, Netherlands (1985)
*  Xiamen, Fujian, China (1985)

## References