George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), was a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family, and resigned all his offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council. After declaring his Catholicism publicly, he was created Baron Baltimore in the Irish peerage. He took an interest in the British colonisation of the Americas, at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for English Catholics. He became the proprietor of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula of the island of Newfoundland. Discouraged by its cold climate and the sufferings of the settlers, he looked for a more suitable spot and sought a new royal charter to settle what would become the state of Maryland. Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed, leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecil. His second son Leonard was the first colonial governor of the Province of Maryland.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Calvert,_1st_Baron_Baltimore

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

775:

Forces of the Abbasid Caliphate won a decisive victory over rebelling Armenian princes in the Battle of Bagrevand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bagrevand

1644:

The Ming dynasty of China fell when the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty

1849:

After Lord Elgin, the Governor General of Canada, signed the Rebellion Losses Bill into law to compensate the residents of Lower Canada for losses incurred in Rebellions of 1837, protestors rioted and burned down the Parliament buildings in Montreal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_the_Parliament_Buildings_in_Montreal

1920:

At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I decided upon the League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference

1990:

Violeta Chamorro took office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman elected in her own right as a head of state in the Americas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

fishy: 1. Of, from, or similar to fish. 2. Suspicious; inspiring doubt. 3. (LGBT slang) Of drag queens: appearing feminine. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fishy

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading.   --Tertullian https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tertullian