Maine
state of the United States of America
Maine ( MAYN) is a state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and northwest, and shares a maritime border with Nova Scotia. It is the only state to border only one other state (New Hampshire). Maine is the largest state in New England by total area, almost as large as the combined area of the remaining five states. Of the 50 U.S. states, it is the 12th-smallest by area, the 9th-least populous, the 13th-least densely populated, and the most rural. As of 2024, Maine's population stood at a Census-estimated 1,400,000, the state's highest-ever population estimate. Maine's capital is Augusta, while its most populous city is Portland.
The territory of Maine has been inhabited by Indigenous populations for about 12,000 years, after the glaciers retreated during the last ice age. At the time of European arrival, several Algonquian-speaking nations governed the area and these nations are now known as the Wabanaki Confederacy. The first European settlement in the area was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, founded by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Maine” is state of the United States of America. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Maine, state and United, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “state of the United States of America” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q724. VIAF identifies the subject as 148856639. The Library of Congress control number is n79005604. Authority coordinates are 45.500, -69.000. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024 and 1604.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Maine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.