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Downing College, Cambridge

Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of the new colleges and the newest of the old. Downing College was formed "for the encouragement of the study of Law and Medicine and of the cognate subjects of Moral and Natural Science", and has developed a reputation amongst Cambridge colleges for Law and Medicine.

Downing has been named one of the two most eco-friendly Cambridge colleges.

History
Upon the death of Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet in 1749, the wealth left by his grandfather, Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, who served both Cromwell and Charles II and built 10 Downing Street (a door formerly from Number 10 is in use in the college), was applied by his will. Under this will, as he had no direct issue (he was legally separated from his wife), the family fortune was left to his cousin, Sir Jacob Downing, 4th Baronet, and if he died without heir, to three cousins in succession. If they all died without issue, the estates were to be used to found a college at Cambridge called Downing.

Sir Jacob died in 1764, and as the other named heirs had also died, the college should have come into existence then, but Sir Jacob's widow, Margaret, refused to give up the estates and the various relatives who were Sir George's legal heirs had to take costly and prolonged action in the Court of Chancery to compel her to do so. She died in 1778 but her second husband and the son of her sister continued to resist the heirs-at-law's action until 1800 when the court decided in favour of Sir George's will and George III granted Downing a royal charter, marking the official foundation of the college.

Buildings

The architect William Wilkins was commissioned by the trustees of the Downing estate, who included the Master of Clare College and St John's College and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, to design the plan for the college. Wilkins, a disciple of the neo-classical architectural style, designed the first wholly campus-based college plan in the world based on a magnificent entrance on Downing Street reaching back to form the largest court in Cambridge, extending to Lensfield Road. But this was not to be.

The estate was much reduced by the suit in Chancery, and the grand plans failed. Much of the north side of what was then the Pembroke Leys was sold to the university and is now home to scientific buildings ("The Downing Site"). In fact, only limited East and West ranges were initially built, with the plans for a library and chapel on the south face of the college shelved.

The third side of the square was only completed in 1951 with the building of the college chapel. Where the fourth side would have been is now a large paddock (known simply as "The Paddock"), with many trees. Though not fully enclosed, the court formed before the Downing College is perhaps largest in Cambridge or Oxford (a title contested with Trinity College's Great Court). An urban legend amongst Cambridge students claims that Trinity pays an undisclosed sum to the college annually with the condition that it will never build the fourth side of the square, so that Trinity may maintain the distinction of having the largest enclosed court of all colleges of Cambridge.

The most recent building additions are the Howard Lodge accommodation, the Howard Building, and most recent of all the Howard Theatre which opened in 2010. These were sponsored by the Howard Foundation, and are located behind the main court around their own small garden. These facilities are used for conference and businesses gatherings outside the student term.

Heong Gallery
The Heong Gallery, opened in February 2016, is a modern and contemporary art gallery at Downing. It is named for Alwyn Heong, an alumnus of the college, who is a supporter of the visual arts. The conversion of a stables building by Caruso St John won a RIBA regional award.

Student life
Downing students remain prominent in the university world; in the past few years Cambridge Union Presidents, Blues captains, Law and Economic Society Presidents and more have hailed from the college. Downing has a particular reputation for law.

The Griffin has been the undergraduate student magazine for over 100 years.

Sport
The college fields teams in a range of sports including, men's football, men's and women's rugby, tennis and ultimate.

Downing College Boat Club is successful too, with the Women's first boat gaining Lents Headship of the river in 2004 and most recently in 2020, and the Mays Headship in the 2014 and 2015 May Bumps. The men's first boat has held the headship several times in the 1980s and 1990s (for example in 1994 to 1996) while gaining the Mays headship in 1996 and the Lents Headship in 2014, on each occasion recognising the tradition of "burning the boat" (using an old wooden 8 oared boat), while the rowers of the winning boat jump the flames. They both currently hold positions at or near the top in both University bumps races [Lents and Mays].

People associated with Downing
The college is renowned for its strong legal tradition, being built up by Clive Parry, his pupil and successor John Hopkins and Graham Virgo. Legal notables who have been honorary fellows of the college include the late Sir John Smith, the pre-eminent criminal lawyer of his generation; Lord Collins of Mapesbury, the first solicitor to be appointed to the Court of Appeal and House of Lords; and Sir Robert Jennings, former President of the International Court of Justice.

Notable alumni
• Peter Ackroyd, Biblical scholar

• Michael Apted, TV and film director and producer

• Mike Atherton, England cricket player

• Martin Baker, Master of Music, Westminster Cathedral

• Richard Baker, former CEO of Boots Group

• Richard Barbrook, lecturer at University of Westminster

• Michael Baxandall, art historian

• Farmida Bi, lawyer

• Quentin Blake, author and illustrator

• John Blofeld, Taoist and Buddhist author

• Sir Derek Bowett, international lawyer, former Whewell Professor of International Law

• Giles Brindley, physiologist

• Frank Buttle, priest and founder of two charities

• John Cardy, physicist

• J. C. D. Clark, historian

• John Cleese, actor and comedian of Monty Python fame

• Geoffrey Cox KC, barrister and Conservative MP

• Mark Cox, tennis player

• Lawrence Collins, judge

• Rob Crilly, journalist and author

• Louise Dean, author

• Terrance Dicks, author, TV writer, script editor, producer

• Sir Bernard Eder, High Court judge

• D. J. Enright, poet

• Arnold Goodman, lawyer

• Hari Singh Gour, lawyer and jurist

• John Leslie Green, VC

• Richard Gregory, experimental psychologist (neuropsychology, visual perception), author of Eye and Brain (1966)

• Nick Griffin, British National Party leader

• Andy Hamilton, comedian, director and critic

• Hildebrand Wolfe Harvey, marine biologist

• Hamish Henderson, Scots poet

• Philip Hobsbaum, poet

• David Holbrook, poet, author, critic

• Yong Pung How, second Chief Justice of Singapore

• Howard Jacobson, novelist

• Stan Kelly-Bootle, pioneer computer scientist

• Martin Kemp, art historian

• Clive King, author

• Ray Lankester, zoologist

• Sir Frank Lee, civil servant, Master of Corpus Christi College

• Sir Kim Lewison, Lord Justice of Appeal

• Godfrey Lienhardt, anthropologist

• Peter Lienhardt, social anthropologist

• David Lister, Origami historian

• Lord David Lloyd Jones, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

• Malcolm MacDonald, writer on music

• Sir Richard McCombe, Lord Justice of Appeal

• Bernard Mayes, journalist, professor and author

• Ed Mayo, economist

• Wilfrid Mellers, music critic and composer

• Karl Miller, literary editor, critic and writer

• Mark Moore, headmaster Clifton College

• George Mosse, historian

• Henry Naylor, comedian and playwright

• Michael Neubert, British politician

• Thandiwe Newton, actress

• Trevor Nunn, theatre and film director

• Iain Overton, investigative journalist

• Tim Parks, novelist, university professor, translator

• Kathryn Parsons, British tech entrepreneur, co-founder of Decoded

• Gordon Pask, cybernetician

• Stuart Peach, Air Chief Marshal and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

• John Pendry, theoretical physicist

• John Penrose, politician

• E.O.E. Pereira, engineer

• Rubel Phillips, lawyer and politician from Mississippi

• Justin Pollard, historian, writer

• Victoria Prentis KC, Attorney General and Conservative MP

• Amol Rajan, former editor, The Independent journalist, broadcaster

• Brian Redhead, author, journalist, broadcaster

• Gordon Reece, journalist, TV producer, political strategist

• Derek Robinson, novelist, rugby official

• Graham Savage, Education Officer for London County Council, influential advocate for comprehensive schools

• William Schreiner, Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the South African War

• Francis Terry, classicist and architect

• Dorothy Trump, geneticist

• Leigh Turner, diplomat

• Tom Udall, United States Senator from New Mexico

• Rumi Verjee, businessman and philanthropist

• Annabel Vernon, world rowing champion

• Lord Wallace of Tankerness, lawyer and politician; former Deputy First Minister of Scotland

• Arthur Watts, international lawyer, diplomat and arbitrator

• Richard Weber, mathematician

• Philip William Wheeldon, Bishop of Whitby and Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman

• Caroline Wilson, diplomat

• Michael Winner, film director and producer, restaurant critic

title: Downing College, Cambridge


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Turku

Turku ( ; Åbo, ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately 0, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 0. It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the third most populous urban area in the country after Helsinki and Tampere.

Turku is Finland's oldest city. It is not known when Turku was granted city status. Pope Gregory IX first mentioned the town of Aboa in his Bulla in 1229, and this year is now used as the founding year of the city. Turku was the most important city in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden (today's Finland). After the Finnish War, Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire in 1809, and Turku became the capital of the Grand Duchy. However, Turku lost its status as capital only three years later in 1812, when Tsar Alexander I of Russia decided to move the capital to Helsinki. It was only after the last great fire in 1827 that most government institutions were moved to Helsinki along with the Royal Academy of Turku, founded in 1640, which later became the University of Helsinki, thus consolidating Helsinki's position as the new capital. Turku was Finland's most populous city until the late 1840s and remains the regional capital, an important business and cultural centre, and a port.

Due to its long history, Turku has been the site of many important events and, as a former capital, has had a major influence on Finnish history. Together with Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, Turku has been named European Capital of Culture for 2011. In 1996, the city of Turku was declared the "Christmas City" of Finland. Turku has also been officially declared the Food Capital of Finland, as it is home to some of Finland's oldest and highest quality restaurants, as well as a historically famous fish market held twice a year. Turku's canteen and café culture has often been compared to French food culture, which is why Turku is also known as the "Paris of Finland", hence the Swedish saying: "Varför Paris, vi har ju Åbo!" ("Why Paris, we have Turku!").

Turku is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages. The population consists of NaN Finnish speakers, NaN Swedish speakers, and NaN speakers of other languages, which is well above the national average.

Due to its location, the Port of Turku is an important commercial and passenger seaport, with over three million passengers travelling to Stockholm and Mariehamn each year.

Names and etymology
The Finnish name Turku originates from Sweden and Russia. The first information about the word tori dates back to the 16th century and was borrowed from Sweden (cf. torg, 'market'). In Sweden, the word is not original, but borrowed from an Old East Slavic word, tǔrgǔ, which in modern Russian means market place, haggling or trading. However, the old Russian word also passed directly into the Finnish language and took the form turku. Today the word is only used in idioms, but already in the Middle Ages the word gradually came to mean the town name Turku.

The Swedish name Åbo may be a simple combination of å ("river; creek; large stream") and bo ("dwelling"). There is however an old legal term called "" (meaning roughly "right to live at"), which gave citizens (called "åbo") the inheritable right to live at land owned by the crown (å meant at or on in old Swedish, now på).

In Finnish, the genitive of Turku is Turun, meaning "of Turku". The Finnish names of organizations and institutes of Turku often begin with this word, as in Turun yliopisto for the University of Turku.

History
Turku has a long history as Finland's largest city and occasionally as the administrative center of the country, but for the last two hundred years has been surpassed by Helsinki. The city's identity stems from its status as the oldest city in Finland and the country's first capital. Originally, the word "Finland" referred only to the area around Turku (hence the title, "Finland Proper" for the region).

Early history
Settlement in the Turku area is relatively recent, as the Southwestern Finland remained below sea level for an extended period due to the Ice Age. Due to tectonic uplift, the Turku region transformed from an outlying archipelago to a shoreline during 3000-2000 BCE. The area was densely populated during the Iron Age as it was the most important agricultural region in the region. Ancient cemeteries dating from 550 to 1150 have been discovered in the region. Some cemeteries were utilized during the initial migratory phase, while some were solely utilized during the Viking Age, and others were established in the 12th century. There are also remains of houses and villages and old forts from the late Iron Age.

According to legend, the English bishop Henry baptised the first Finns into Christianity in 1150. However, the first Christian graves date from the 10th and 11th centuries, and the first archaeological evidence of a church dates from the 12th century. In the 11th century, the Turku region began to develop as a port. The oldest known road, Hämeen härkätie, connected to region and the Old Castle of Lieto to Tavastia in the 9th century at the latest. Early literary sources such as Al-Idrisi's world map from 1154 mentions Turku.

Swedish era
According to the permission granted by Pope Gregory IX in 1229, the episcopal seat was moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen, which is located near the current center of Turku. There is nothing to suggest that the actual city of Turku still existed at this point; however, the city was not founded on uninhabited land, but there were fields and probably also a peasant village. Since no reliable document has survived about the year of the city's founding, it has also been speculated that the city was founded in the 1280s or 1290s by the joint initiative of the king, the bishop, and the Dominican Convent of Saint Olaf, which itself was founded in 1249.

Turku Cathedral was consecrated in 1300. During the Middle Ages, Turku was the seat of the Bishop of Turku (a title later upgraded to Archbishop of Turku), covering then the eastern half of the Kingdom of Sweden (most of the present-day Finland) until the 17th century. Even if Turku had no official capital status, it was for a long time the most important city in Finland as part of the trade and shipping of the Hanseatic League. In the 14th century, two-thirds of the city's burghers were German, but gradually the proportion of domestic burghers increased. In addition to the ecclesiastical authority, the only lawspeakers in Finland operated in Turku, and from the 15th century to the 16th century, the court exercising the country's highest judicial power, the Land Court of Turku, met in the city.

At the beginning of the 16th century, in connection with the disputes of the Kalmar Union, the Danes destroyed the city twice, in 1509 under the leadership of Admiral Otte Rud and in 1522 under the leadership of Admiral Søren Norby, until Erik Fleming's troops expelled the Danes from Finland in 1523. After the beginning of peace, Gustav Vasa, who had just become king, thoroughly got to know different parts of his kingdom, the center of the king's first visit to Finland being Turku Castle, where he lived during his visit. The new king also brought with him the religious reformation, and the first to preach the new doctrine was Petrus Särkilahti. Särkilahti's student Mikael Agricola, who is known as the "father of Finnish literary language", continued the religious reform first as the headmaster of the cathedral school and later as the Bishop of Turku. Duke John (later John III), the son of Gustav Vasa, received the title of Duke of Finland and ruled his territory from Turku Castle before becoming next king of Sweden after his brother, Eric XIV.

In the aftermath of the War against Sigismund, the city was the site of the Åbo Bloodbath. After that, the 17th century began as more peaceful period for Turku, when the focus was mainly on emphasizing Turku's position as the center of a wide area by establishing numerous new administrative and school institutions. In 1640, the first university in Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku, was founded in Turku by order of Queen Christina. This project was also supported by Count Per Brahe, the Governor General of Finland, and Isaacus Rothovius, the Bishop of Turku. Turku was also the meeting place for the States of Finland in 1676.

Russian era
After the Finnish War, Sweden ceded Finland to Imperial Russia at the Treaty of Fredrikshamn in 1809. There was no resistance of any kind in Turku when the Russians marched into the city in October 1809 in connection with the Finnish War. Despite the occupation, life in Turku continued peacefully. The Court of Appeal of Turku continued its session when the Russians arrived, and later in the spring Jacob Tengström, the Archbishop of Turku and Finland, and the teaching staff of the Turku Academy swore an oath of loyalty to their new ruler.

Turku became briefly the official capital, but soon lost the status to Helsinki, as Emperor Alexander I felt that Turku was too far from Russia and too aligned with Sweden to serve as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland. The change officially took place in 1812. The government offices that remained in Turku were finally moved to the new capital after the Great Fire of Turku, which destroyed a large portion of the city in 1827. After the fire, a new and safer city plan was drawn up by German architect Carl Ludvig Engel, who had also designed the new capital, Helsinki. The new city plan, based on a regular grid plan, was more spacious and fire-safe than before, and after the reconstruction, Turku was one of the most unified architecture in Europe. Turku remained the largest city in Finland for another twenty years.

In the middle of the 19th century, Turku was, after Helsinki, the most important craft city in Finland, but the Industrial Revolution with steam and electric machines was experienced in Turku only around 1900. The First World War provided a boost to the city's industry, as the export difficulties affected the wood industry, which Turku didn't have much of, and it was easy to get much-needed raw materials from neutral Sweden.

After independence
In 1918, a new university, the Åbo Akademi – the only Swedish-language university in Finland – was founded in Turku. Two years later, the Finnish-language University of Turku was founded alongside it. These two universities are the second and third to be founded in Finland, both by private donations.

In the 20th century, Turku was called "Finland's gateway to the West" by historians such as Jarmo Virmavirta. The city enjoyed good connections with other Western European countries and cities, especially since the 1940s with Stockholm across the Gulf of Bothnia. In the 1960s, Turku became the first Western city to sign a twinning agreement with Leningrad in the Soviet Union, leading to greater inter-cultural exchange and providing a new meaning to the city's 'gateway' function. After the fall of communism in Russia, many prominent Soviets came to Turku to study Western business practices, among them Vladimir Putin, then Leningrad's deputy mayor.

As for architecture in the city, both the body of architectural styles as well as the prevalent way of living have experienced significant changes in the 20th century. While having survived relatively intact throughout the years of war 1939–1945, the city faced increasing changes in the 1950s and 1960s due to rising demands for apartments, the eagerness to rebuild, and most of all the new development of infrastructure (especially increased automobile traffic). The wooden one- to two-story houses that were the dominant mode of building in the city were mostly demolished in the 1950s and 1960s to both enable more efficient building and to ease vehicle traffic. This resulted in the destruction of buildings that were, in later decades, seen as beautiful and worth saving. Some individual buildings remain controversial to this day when it comes to their demolition in the decades after the war. For example, the building of Hotel Phoenix that stood on corner of the Market Square was torn down to make way for a large, multistory apartment building in 1959. The building was significant both for its location and history: having stood on one of the most valuable lots in the city center since 1878, the building had, for example, served as the first main building of the University of Turku. Other buildings whose demolition was seen as scandalous, either already at the time of action or proved to be so in later years, include The Nobel House (subject of the very first photograph ever taken in Finland) and the building of Old Hotel Börs which was built in jugendstil in 1909 by Frithiof Strandell.

Geography
Situated at the mouth of the Aura River in the south-western corner of Finland, Turku covers an area of 245 km2 on both banks of the river. The eastern side, where Turku Cathedral is located, is the older and original centre. It is popularly known as täl pual jokke ("this side of the river"). The western side, where Turku Castle is located, is the newer part. It is called tois pual jokke ("the other side of the river"). In modern times, both banks of the Aura River are equally the centre of the city.

There are ten bridges over the Aura river in Turku. The oldest of the current bridges is Auransilta, which was constructed in 1904. The newest bridge is Kirjastosilta ('library bridge'), a pedestrian-only bridge built in 2013. The Föri, a small ferry that transports pedestrians and bicycles across the river without payment, is a well known feature of the city.

Administrative subdivisions
The city is divided into 78 districts and nine wards. These do not operate as units of local government. However, some social programmes are district-based, especially in the eastern part of the city, where unemployment is high in some areas. The largest populated districts are Varissuo and Runosmäki. By area, Kakskerta and Paattinen are the largest districts.

As many of the small neighbouring municipalities from the north and south of the city were annexed during the mid-20th century, Turku is today shaped like an elongated pear. The city centre and most of the suburban areas lie in the middle, separated from the less densely populated northern rural areas by the Turku bypass, that forms part of European route E18. Islands such as Ruissalo, Hirvensalo and Kakskerta, forming the southern part of the city, are also sparsely populated and mostly contain summer residences, with the exception of some districts in Hirvensalo which are currently growing into upper-middle-class suburbs.

Climate
Situated by the Baltic Sea and sheltered by the islands of the Archipelago Sea, Turku has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb). Like much of southern Finland, the city experiences warm summers, with temperatures ranging up to 30 °C (86 °F), and relatively cold winters with frequent snowfall. The warmest month of the year is July, with an average temperature of 17.5 °C, whereas the coldest month is February. The average year-round temperature is 5.5 °C. Winter usually starts in early December, and spring in late March.

Precipitation in Turku averages 720 mm a year. The rainiest month of the year is August, when the city receives on average 80 mm of rainfall. In April, the driest month of the year, the figure is only 32 mm. The average air pressure at sea level is 101.2 kPa, with little variance throughout the year.

Operational since 1955, the city's weather station is located at an altitude of 47 m at Turku Airport. The weather in the city itself is affected by the proximity of the sea, so the wintertime temperatures are often milder than those measured at the airport. The moderating impact of the sea helps oak maple and ash trees, which are quite rare elsewhere in Finland, to thrive by the areas along the shoreline and in the archipelago.

Population
The city of Turku has 0 inhabitants, making it the most populous municipality in Finland. The Turku metropolitan area has a population of 0, and the larger Turku sub-region has a population of 0. This is making it the third largest region in Finland after Helsinki and Tampere. Turku is home to 4% of Finland's population. 15.6 per cent of the population has a foreign background, which is almost twice as high as the national average. However, it is lower than in the major Finnish cities of Helsinki, Espoo or Vantaa.

The city's population density is 794.4 inhabitants per square kilometre. The median age in the city is 42.1, lower than the national average of 43.6.

Languages
The city of Turku is officially bilingual, with both Finnish and Swedish as official languages. , the majority of the population - 0 people or NaN% - spoke Finnish as their first language. There are 0 Swedish speakers in Turku, or NaN% of the population. As English and Swedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon. NaN of the population of Turku have a mother tongue other than Finnish or Swedish.

More than a hundred different languages are spoken as mother tongues in Turku, and citizens from more than 130 countries live in the city. The people of Turku also represent all major religions. The most commonly spoken foreign languages are Russian (1.8%), Arabic (1.7%), Albanian (1.2%), Kurdish (1.2%) and Somali (0.9%).

Immigration
, there were 31,589 people with a migrant background living in Turku, or 15.6% of the population. There were 28,002 residents who were born abroad, or 13.9% of the population. The number of foreign citizens in Turku was 19,062.

The relative share of immigrants in Turku's population is well above the national average. Moreover, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.

Most foreign-born citizens came from the former Soviet Union, Iraq, Estonia, Sweden, and the former Yugoslavia.

Religion
In 2023, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 56.3% of the population of Turku. Other religious groups accounted for 3.3% of the population. 40.4% of the population had no religious affiliation.

Economy
The Turku region boasts 22,000 enterprises, two universities and four polytechnics. The city has also business branches with local expertise in the maritime, life sciences, information technology, entertainment, biotechnology, and sustainable development industries. The city's economic hub revolves around the Port of Turku and other service-oriented sectors. The dockyard of Meyer Turku and the maritime business cluster reign as the leading industrial employer in the area. The city also boasts a high-tech centre in the Turku Science Park area, with a growing role in the information technology and biotechnology industries in recent decades.

The Turku region hosts the business service centre Potkuri and the start-up community SparkUp. In addition, the West Finland Film Commission works to promote favourable operating conditions for companies in the AV industry and for the production of films and TV series in the Turku region. Turku Future Technologies is a development centre and research and innovation network supported by eight Finnish universities. Smart Chemistry Park is a collaborative platform and network for the bio- and circular economy as well as the chemical industry in Raisio. Meanwhile, Blue Industry Park is a growing cluster for maritime and manufacturing industries.

At least the following major Finnish companies have their corporate headquarters in Turku: HKScan and Hesburger. Other major companies which have operations in Turku include Bayer, Fläkt Woods, Meyer Werft, Orion Corporation and Wärtsilä.

Culture
Cultural venues in Turku include several museums, theatres, cinemas, art galleries, and music. Turku offers a variety of cultural events. The most important one is the declaration of Christmas Peace on 24 December in the Old Great Square. The tradition is about 700 years old. Other notable events include the Medieval Market, the Music Festival, the Book Fair, the Film Day, the Animated Film Festival TAFF, the Jazz Festival, the Paavo Nurmi Games of athletics, the Ruisrock rock festival, the Down by the Laituri music festival and the New Performance Turku Biennale.

Turku was the European Capital of Culture in 2011, and the city council has approved numerous projects to boost the city's image in preparation for that status.

Medieval buildings
According to archaeological evidence, Turku started to get built in the late 13th Century. However, only a few of its medieval buildings have survived to the present day. The primary factor was the Great Fire in 1827, which decimated three quarters of the city. Turku Cathedral, constructed in the 13th century, is one of the oldest still-functioning buildings. It is also Finland's only medieval basilica church. Another surviving edifice from the medieval era is Turku Castle, which was established in the 1280s and underwent several expansions in the 15th century. Only the ruins remain of the bishop's church in Koroistenniemi, Koroinen, but the white cross serves as a reminder of the bishop's castle that existed centuries ago. Qwensel House, the oldest wooden house in Turku dating back to the 18th century, has been converted into a museum. No other medieval buildings have survived to the present day.

Museums
Most of Turku's museums are situated beside the Aura River. The Turku Art Museum is housed in a granite castle, with exhibits of both classical and contemporary art. Turku Cathedral and its museum, located on the banks of the Aura River, provide information about the history and artifacts of the church. Adjacent to the cathedral, Ett Hem, a 19th-century bourgeois residence, and the Sibelius Museum, which displays a collection of musical instruments, can be found. Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova presents a fusion of medieval ruins and modern art. On Vartiovuori, lies the Luostarinmäki Craftsman Museum, which represents a wooden housing locality dating back to the 18th century.

The Pharmacy Museum and Qwensel House hold the distinction of being Turku's earliest wooden abode, offering a glimpse into the bourgeois life of the 18th century and a 19th-century drugstore. The contemporary art museum, WAM, is named after Turku's sculptor, Wäinö Aaltonen. Additionally, the Biological Museum serves as a diorama museum covering Finnish wildlife and fauna. Forum Marinum is a maritime museum of exhibits and museum vessels, including the frigate Suomen Joutsen and the last commercial steam ship in Scandinavia MS Bore. Turku Castle is an attraction with over 700 years of history.

Theatres
There are half a dozen theatres situated in Turku, with the largest being the Turku City Theatre. Located in the city centre on the banks of the River Aura, it offers a varied programme of classical and contemporary drama. Other theatres in Turku include Linnateatteri, Åbo Svenska Teater, TEHDAS and Turun Nuori Teatteri, in addition to smaller establishments such as the puppet theatre, Aura of Puppets, and the summer theatres, Samppalinna and Vartiovuori.

Music
Turku is a music hub that provides a variety of musical experiences. The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra is the oldest ensemble in Finland, tracing its origins to the establishment of the Turun Soitannollinen Seura in 1790. The orchestra has a reputation for its classical repertoire and frequently conducts concerts throughout Finland.

Turku boasts a selection of music festivals, catering to diverse tastes and moods. The longest running rock festival in Finland, Ruisrock, is held on the island of Ruissalo. Aura Fest is a new city-based festival, set to debut in the summer of 2022. DBTL is another city festival, situated along the banks of the Aura River. Turku Jazz is an annual festival in July. August sees the Turku Music Festival, dedicated to classical music.

Association and city rivalry
The Finnish people associate Turku with its "old and historic" charm. Established in 1957, Turkuseura-Åbosamfundet ry is a bilingual, politically neutral historical society with 2,200 members. Its main focus is to cherish Turku's culture and dialect, and to preserve local history and traditions. The society strives to promote and enhance Turku's positive image.

Turku and Tampere are two cities in Finland that exhibit a cordial rivalry through humorous banter. Humorous topics include Tampere's traditional dish, mustamakkara, Turku's Aura River, and distinct regional accents. Both cities boast excellent culinary scenes, which attract food lovers. Since 1997, students from Tampere have annually visited Turku to participate in the custom of leaping on the market square. This lively event is thought to nudge the city towards the Baltic Sea and counteract post-glacial rebound.

Sports
Turku has two major football teams: FC Inter, playing in the top national league, Veikkausliiga, and TPS in Ykkönen, one level below. Both teams are based at Veritas Stadion in Kupittaa.

The HC TPS is an ice hockey team that competes in the top level, SM-liiga, and has secured 11 national championships. They play their games at Gatorade Center in Artukainen.

The city also hosts the annual Paavo Nurmi Marathon, named after the legendary Turku-born runner Paavo Nurmi.

Turku is home to the Eagles Rugby Football Club, a division champion affiliated with Suomen Rugbyliitto, which trains and competes at Impivaara Jalkapallonhalli and Kuppitaanpuisto.

Turku Titans is a lacrosse club with a rich history, having scored three silver and one gold medals in Finland's national lacrosse league. The Titans' women's team has also achieved success. Furthermore, the city hosted the FIL U19 2012 World Lacrosse Championships.

Finnish tennis player Jarkko Nieminen, from the nearby county of Masku, is among the most accomplished players in Finland.

Government and politics
Being both a regional and provincial capital, Turku is an important administrative centre, hosting the seat of the Archbishop of Finland and a Court of Appeal. Minna Arve has been the mayor of Turku since 2017. Since August 2021 her role as the mayor has been an elected office instead of a hired position.

The city council of Turku has 67 seats. Following the 2021 municipal election, the council seats are allocated in the following way: National Coalition Party 16 seats, Social Democrats 13, Left Alliance 11, Green League 10, True Finns 9, Centre Party 3, Swedish People's Party 3, Movement Now 1, and Christian Democrats 1. The current chair of the city board is Sini Ruohonen from National Coalition Party.

Results of the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election in Turku:

 * National Coalition Party  20.5%
 * Social Democratic Party  17.1%
 * Left Alliance  16.8%
 * True Finns  15.7%
 * Green League  13.8%
 * Swedish People's Party  5.5%
 * Centre Party  4.7%
 * Movement Now  1.9%
 * Christian Democrats  1.6%

Transport
For a city of its size, Turku has a moderate public transport network of bus routes, which is comparable to the bus network of similar-sized Tampere. The bus network is managed and supervised by the Turku City Region's Public Transport Committee (FÖLI) (Turun kaupunkiseudun joukkoliikennelautakunta, kollektivtrafiknämnden för Åbo stadsregion), and is operated mainly by private companies. Bus traffic to and in the neighbouring municipalities of Kaarina, Lieto, Naantali, Raisio and Rusko are also handled by FÖLI. The bus rates are the same when traveling within these municipalities.

Rail traffic to and from Turku is handled by the Finnish national carrier, VR. The number of services has fallen and only the railways towards Tampere and Helsinki are now in use. The railway stations currently used for passenger traffic are the Turku Central railway station in Pohjola, and two smaller stations in Kupittaa and the Port of Turku.

There is no local rail traffic at the moment, as the city's popular tram services were discontinued in 1972, and the various local railway lines to neighbouring towns and municipalities were all abolished during the late 20th century. However, there are plans for a light rail system in the Turku region in the near future. According to the current estimate the tramway’s construction will start in 2026 and finish in 2031. The first route will be constructed between Turku Port−City Centre−Varissuo residential area. Route’s estimated length is 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) with 17 stops.

The first outdoor inclined elevator, the Funicular, is located in Turku. The elevator offers unimpeded access to Kakolanmäki hill where is no other public transport. The Funicular has two stations and travelling time between the stations is approximately one minute. It is possible to hop on and off at both stations and travelling is free of charge. The elevator’s rail is about 130 meters long and height difference between two stations about 30 meters.

The State of Finland has announced plans to support Espoo with 30% of full expenses on a new metro rail, the Regional Council of Southwest Finland is going to use this as a test case for a new light rail network in Turku.

The Turku Bus Station and the Turku Central railway station are currently located in different places. The City of Turku is planning to combine these two in a new greater station complex in the near future. This new travel center will consist of a hotel and several shopping estates. This center will connect all public transportation from commuter trains to long-distance buses.

Turku's most significant highways for traffic are Highway 1 leading to Helsinki; Highway 10 leading to Hämeenlinna; Highway 9 leading to Tampere, Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Joensuu; Highway 8 leading to Pori, Vaasa and Oulu; and the Turku Ring Road, which protrudes circumferentially from Turku.

Turku Airport is located 8 km to the north of the city centre, partly in the neighbouring municipality of Rusko. The airport is served by six passenger airlines, including airBaltic and SAS Scandinavian, and one cargo airline.

There are also daily ferry services from the Port of Turku to Sweden and Åland, operated by Silja Line and Viking Line. These are something of a Finnish cultural tradition (see ruotsinlaiva), and people often travel long distances across Finland to Turku just to take a cruise across the Gulf of Bothnia.

The Archipelago Sea boat traffic is handled by, among others, SS Ukkopekka, an old steamship that cruises on the route Turku-Naantali-Turku.

Turku is the only city in Finland to have three long-distance railway stations: Turku Central, Port of Turku, and Kupittaa.

Education

Turku has a longer educational history than any other Finnish city – the first school in the city, the Cathedral School, was founded along with Turku Cathedral in the late 13th century. The first university in Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku (now University of Helsinki), was established in the city in 1640. In 1820, the first school in Finland conforming to the Bell-Lancaster method was founded in Turku with the aim of making primary education more inclusive to the lower classes.

Turku is home to about 40 000 higher education students. There are two universities and several "polytechnics" in the town.

The Finnish University of Turku is the fourth largest university in Finland (22,300 students in 2022), as measured by student enrollment, and one of the oldest as well, having been founded in 1920. Approximately 9 % of all students are international students. Åbo Akademi, founded 1918 as the second university of Finland, is one of Finland's two Swedish-language universities. Turku School of Economics merged with The University of Turku in 2010, and Åbo handelshögskola, its Swedish counterpart, with Åbo Akademi 1980. The central hospital of Turku, Turku University Hospital, is affiliated with the university and it is used as a teaching hospital.

Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS) is the second largest polytechnic in Finland (12,000 students in 2022 ) after Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. TUAS consists of six campus buildings in Turku and one separate campus in town of Salo. Bachelors of Business Administration, Social Services and Health Care Nursing study at Salo IoT Campus. TUAS offers Bachelor and Master studies in over 70 fields of education.

Also Novia University of Applied Sciences and Diaconia University of Applied Sciences have campuses in the town.

Turku is one of only two cities in Finland to have an established international school (the other city being Helsinki). Turku International School, located in the eastern district of Varissuo, has been operating since 2003. By an agreement signed between the city of Turku and the University of Turku, Turun normaalikoulu takes care of the teaching in the international school.

Media
The most widely read newspaper of Turku, and the area around it, is the daily regional morning newspaper Turun Sanomat, with a readership of over 70% of the population every day. Åbo Underrättelser, a Swedish-language newspaper published in Turku, is the oldest newspaper in Finland, having been published since 1824. The free-of-charge Turkulainen newspaper was also among the most popular newspapers, together with the local edition of Metro International and the national evening tabloid Ilta-Sanomat. Turkulainen was founded in 1958 but the newspaper has been on publishing break since 2020. There are also a number of local newspapers such as Kulmakunta (for the eastern suburbs of Turku, including Varissuo and Lauste), and Rannikkoseutu (for the area around the neighbouring cities of Raisio and Naantali).

The first Finnish newspaper Tidningar Utgifne Af et Sällskap i Åbo, in Swedish, was started in Turku in 1771, as well as the first Finnish-language newspaper Suomenkieliset Tieto-Sanomat which was started in 1775.

The newspaper Turun Sanomat also operated a regional television station, called Turku-TV, but station stopped operating in 2012. The Finnish national broadcaster Yleisradio screens local news, daily from Monday to Friday, for the Southwest Finland (including the regions of Southwest Finland and Satakunta) residents. All Finnish national TV channels are viewable and national radio channels audible in the Turku area. In addition, a number of local radio stations, e.g. Auran Aallot, Radio Sata and Radio Robin Hood are operational. Local public service radio stations are Yle Turun Radio broadcasting in Finnish (the regional version of Yle Radio Suomi) and Yle Vega Åboland broadcasting in Swedish (the regional version of Yle Vega).

Notable people

 * Rauno Aaltonen, rally driver
 * Fredrika Bremer (1801–1865), writer and feminist reformer, born at Tuorla Manor in Piikkiö Parish.
 * Teemu Brunila, singer, songwriter, musician and producer
 * Antti Buri, racing driver
 * Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen, electronic music producer known as Darude, author of the hit song "Sandstorm"
 * Karl Ebb, athlete and racing driver
 * Alex Federley, political cartoonist and illustrator
 * Marcus Forss, football player, member of Finland's UEFA Euro 2020 squad
 * Johan Gadolin, chemist, physicist and mineralogist
 * Kasper Hämäläinen, football player
 * Janne Henriksson, football goalkeeper
 * Utti Hietala, bodybuilder
 * Vera Hjelt, Member of Parliament and social reformer
 * Lukáš Hrádecký, football goalkeeper, member of Finland's UEFA Euro 2020 squad
 * Tuuli Hypén, cartoonist
 * Kaapo Kakko, hockey player
 * Katja Kallio (born 1968), novelist, journalist, columnist and screenwriter
 * Joni Kauko, football player, member of Finland's UEFA Euro 2020 squad
 * Miikka Kiprusoff, former professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks during his NHL career
 * Mauno Koivisto, 9th president of Finland
 * Saku and Mikko Koivu, ice hockey playing brothers playing respectively in Montréal and Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild as an alternate captain and captain
 * Christina Krook (1742–1806), educator
 * Joalin Loukamaa, a member of global pop group Now United
 * Agnes Lundell (1878–1936), Finland's first female lawyer
 * Erik Johan Löfgren, portrait painter
 * Baron C. G. E. Mannerheim, military leader and statesman
 * Marjatta Metsovaara, textile artist
 * Niklas Moisander, former captain of Finland national football team
 * Michael Monroe, rock musician, the vocalist of Hanoi Rocks
 * Paavo Nurmi, The Flying Finn, 9 time Olympic Champion in long-distance running
 * Joni Ortio, professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for HC Vityaz of the KHL
 * Elli Pikkujämsä, defender for KIF Örebro DFF and the Finland women's national football team
 * Taru Rinne, motorcycle racer
 * Rasmus Ristolainen, hockey player currently with the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL
 * Johannes Rojola, developer of the video game My Summer Car
 * Seppo Ruohonen (1946–2020), opera singer
 * Jiri "Linkzr" Masalin, Professional Overwatch player for the team Houston Outlaws and two time player for Finland in the Overwatch World Cup
 * Joona "Fragi" Laine, former professional Overwatch player for the Philadelphia Fusion, and briefly for the Guangzhou Charge
 * Aleksi "Zuppeh" Kunti, former professional Overwatch player for the Florida Mayhem and team Gigantti
 * Joonas "Zappis" Alakurti, retired professional Overwatch player for the Florida Mayhem and team Gigantti
 * Jarno Saarinen, 1972 Grand Prix motorcycle racing world champion
 * Matti Salminen, bass singer
 * Henri Sigfridsson, classical pianist
 * Tabe Slioor, socialite, reporter and photojournalist
 * Herman Spöring Jr., explorer and botanist
 * Niilo Sevänen, vocalist and bass guitarist of Insomnium
 * Elsa Sylvestersson, ballet dancer and choreographer
 * Jere Uronen, football player, member of Finland's UEFA Euro 2020 squad
 * Jonne Valtonen, composer
 * Tony Vidgren, ice hockey player

Twin towns – sister cities
Turku is twinned with:

 * Aarhus, Denmark (1946)
 * 🇳🇴 Bergen, Norway (1946)
 * 🇸🇰 Bratislava, Slovakia (1976)
 * 🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany (1967)
 * 🇷🇴 Constanța, Romania (1958)
 * 🇮🇹 Florence, Italy (1992)
 * 🇵🇱 Gdańsk, Poland (1958)
 * 🇸🇪 Gothenburg, Sweden (1946)
 * 🇺🇦 Kharkiv, Ukraine (2022)
 * 🇩🇪 Rostock, Germany (1958)

 * 🇭🇺 Szeged, Hungary (1971)
 * 🇪🇪 Tartu, Estonia (2008)
 * 🇧🇬 Varna, Bulgaria (1963)

In March 2022, Turku suspended the agreement with Saint Petersburg, Russia (twinning since 1953 ) due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Co-operation agreements
Turku has co-operation agreements with:
 * 🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia
 * 🇨🇳 Tianjin, China

Other medieval cities and towns of Finland

 * Naantali
 * Porvoo
 * Rauma
 * Ulvila
 * Vyborg (now in Russia)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Turku


text:
Calvert County, Maryland

Calvert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of the English Colony of Maryland. Calvert County is included in the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. It occupies the Calvert Peninsula, which is bordered on the east by Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River. Calvert County is part of the Southern Maryland region. The county has one of the highest median household incomes in the United States. It is one of the older counties in Maryland, after St. Mary's, Kent County and Anne Arundel counties.

Early history
In 1608, Captain John Smith was the first European to sail past Calvert County while exploring the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. On his map, he accurately represented the Patuxent River as well as several Native-American villages. The area was described as wooded and had been occupied by the Patuxent people who were overall peaceful to the early Europeans. Their diet was composed of fish from the river and corn cultivated in man-made clearings with a supplement of game from the forests. These clearings were very desirable and conflict occurred when the settlers attempted to seize these areas from the Native Americans. Leonard Calvert, the first Governor of the Maryland, organized troops of armed men in 1639 to protect the settlers.

The first written mention of European settlers on the northern shore of the Patuxent River is found in the records of the Maryland Assembly in 1642. A Henry Bishop "stood up in the Assembly and exhibited himself as a Burgess of St. Leonard's and pleaded that it be acknowledged as a Hundred" near St. Leonard's Creek. This shows that European settlement along the river and its tributaries had been taking place for several years already.

By 1646, the colonists had spread all along the Patuxent River and up the Bay side of Calvert County. Most of the transportation of goods and people took place on the water as the land was occupied by dense forests. Large creeks were navigated by sailing boats and plantations used their wharves to ship good. Ferry services were setup across the river and the bay with rates fixed by law.

Creation of Charles County
The county was originally named Charles County (much larger and unrelated to the present-day Charles County) in 1650 when Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore established it with Robert Brooke as its "Commander". It was named after Charles I of England. At the time, the new county included the current area of Calvert County as well as the southern and western shores of the Patuxent River up to its headwaters. The county seat was called Calverton (sometimes called Battle Town) and was located on the north shore at the mouth of Battle Creek until 1725. In 1658, the county was renamed Calvert County. It also included all of Prince George's County and parts of Montgomery County.

Puritans coming from Virginia had settled in Anne Arundel County and overflowed into Calvert County. All new settlers in Maryland were required to take an oath of allegiance to Lord Baltimore per the "Conditions of Plantation". This was a major point of tension between the Puritan settlers and Lord Baltimore. The civil war was ongoing in Britain where the Puritans had gained control. Oliver Cromwell dismissed Parliament there and assumed the role of Lord Protector. In 1652, he sent a force of 750 men to subdue the plantations of the Chesapeake Bay under the new government. Virginia and Maryland surrendered to the Puritans and Robert Brooke cooperated with the Puritans.

On July 3, 1654, Lord Baltimore abolished Charles County and removed all authority from Brooke. He re-established the county as Calvert County with the same territory. However, the Puritan Assembly was in power and changed the name to Patuxent County on October 20, 1654, after the Patuxent River and to remove any connection with the Calvert family. The county kept this name under the Puritan regime until 1658 when the name of Calvert County was restored.

According to the local "Trail of Souls Project", in 1860 there were 4,609 enslaved people, 1,841 free people of color for a total county population of 10,000 people.

Once made up primarily of farms and tobacco fields, the county's agriculture transformed in the mid-1990s. The prices for tobacco were declining. The State of Maryland instituted the Tobacco Buyout program which offered farmers to transition to different crops and away from tobacco. 195 contracts were signed between Calvert county farmers and property owners and The Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission. The funds were used for infrastructure and equipment upgrades. Today the county produces fruits, vegetables, meat as well as other crops.

The county has become a fast-growing exurban neighbor of Washington. Many home prices have nearly quadrupled in the past decade, with many four-bedroom homes in the northern half of the county averaging over $1,000,000. The popular weekend resort towns of Solomons, Chesapeake Beach, and North Beach are notable.

The county has numerous properties on the National Register of Historic Places.

County government
Calvert County is governed by a Board composed of five elected County Commissioners, the traditional form of county government in the State of Maryland. They meet in Prince Frederick, the county seat.

Emergency services
Until 2018, Calvert County was the only county in Maryland that still had a 100% all-volunteer Fire, Rescue, and EMS service. However, on January 20, 2018, the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners approved a phased-in approach of hiring paramedics, starting in fiscal year 2019.

National Politics

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In the early 19th Century, in the contests between the Hamiltonian Federalist and Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican parties of the First Party System, it backed the Federalists four out of seven times, only going for the Democratic-Republicans in their greatest landslides of 1804 and 1816 as well as the 1820 election in which President James Monroe ran effectively unopposed.

In the 1824 election which began the second party system, the people of Calvert County voted for John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, who would go on to help found the Democratic Party before the 1828 election. Up until the Civil War, Calvert County voted only for the candidates of the Whig Party, the Democrat's primary opposition. After that party's dissolution in the early 1850s, it supported the Nativist Know-Nothing party in 1856 and the largely Whiggish Constitutional Union party in 1860.

In the Civil War election of 1864, Calvert swung sharply along with the rest of southern Maryland to give over 90% of the vote to Democratic challenger George McClellan, and again to the Democratic standard-bearer Horatio Seymour four years later. The brief Democratic era was likely due to strong Confederate sympathy in Southern Maryland.

In Presidential elections, Calvert County has historically and at present leaned strongly towards the Republican Party. It was won by that party in every election from 1884 to 1936 – with the sequence broken in 1940 due to local support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's efforts at helping Britain in World War II – and in modern times no Democratic presidential nominee has won Calvert County since Jimmy Carter did so in 1976.

Since then, Calvert County has remained mostly aligned with the Republican Party. It briefly turned in favor of the Democrats in the dealigned 1960s and 70s, after which it became a Republican stronghold in the 1980s. In modern elections, it leans Republican though Democrats have gained votes. President Joe Biden came only 5% from winning the county in 2020, the closest any Democrat has come since Jimmy Carter carried it in 1976.

It is part of the 5th Congressional District, along with much of Southern Maryland. The current representative is Democratic former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 345 sqmi, of which 213 sqmi is land and 132 sqmi (38%) is water. It is the smallest county in Maryland by land area and third-smallest by total area. The county also includes five islands: Solomons Island, Broomes Island, Buzzard Island, Hog Island, and Molly's Leg.

The county's coast along the Chesapeake Bay is a long, relatively smooth bight, a feature that is unique in the Chesapeake Bay.

Geology
A geological formation spanning across Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware is named after the county: the Calvert Formation. It is visible within the Calvert Cliffs State Park where it is exposed in cliffs. Located on the western shore of the county, Calvert Cliffs are famous for their fossil deposits and are a popular collecting location of marine vertebrates, shark teeth, birds as well as fresh water and marine turtles and tortoises. Some crocodile teeth have also been found which indicates that they may have been nesting in the sands at the time the formation was created.

The county landscape is composed of three platforms: the Talbot Terrace, the Wicomico Terrace, and the Sunderland Terrace (also known as the Ridge). These terraces correspond to three periods where the water level rose and later fell, leaving sand deposits. The oldest was created during the Miocene Age when the entire county peninsula found itself underwater. Marine deposits, clay, and mud containing sea shells and fossils were left behind leading to what we see at Calvert Cliffs today after the sea receded and the waves started erroring the deposit. These three terraces are visible in various parts of the county and are most obvious on the Bay side of the county where they rise to a height of 100 feet.

Climate
Calvert County lies in the humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa) in the Köppen climate classification, with hot, humid summers and mild to chilly winters with plentiful precipitation year-round. In the Trewartha climate classification the county is classified as oceanic (Do) except in the extreme south which is Cf. Its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay has a moderating effect on temperatures compared with locales further inland. Average monthly temperatures in Prince Frederick range from 35.9 °F in January to 77.9 °F in July.

Adjacent counties

 * Anne Arundel County (north)
 * Prince George's County (northwest)
 * Charles County (west)
 * Dorchester County (east)
 * Talbot County (northeast)
 * St. Mary's County (south)

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 74,563 people, 25,447 households, and 20,154 families residing in the county. The population density was 346 /mi2. There were 27,576 housing units at an average density of 128 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 83.93% White, 13.11% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 0.88% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 1.27% from two or more races. 1.52% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 15.5% were of Irish, 15.0% German, 12.0% English, 11.5% United States or American and 7.1% Italian ancestry.

There were 25,447 households, out of which 41.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.80% were married couples living together, 9.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.80% were non-families. 16.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.60% under the age of 18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 31.70% from 25 to 44, 23.40% from 45 to 64, and 8.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $65,945, and the median income for a family was $71,545 (these figures had risen to $88,989 and $100,229 respectively as of a 2007 estimate ). Males had a median income of $48,664 versus $32,265 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,410. About 3.10% of families and 4.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.10% of those under age 18 and 5.70% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 88,737 people, 30,873 households, and 23,732 families residing in the county. The population density was 416.3 PD/sqmi. There were 33,780 housing units at an average density of 158.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 81.4% white, 13.4% black or African American, 1.4% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.7% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.7% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 19.6% were German, 17.6% were Irish, 13.9% were English, 8.4% were Italian, and 7.4% were American.

Of the 30,873 households, 40.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.6% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 23.1% were non-families, and 18.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.23. The median age was 40.1 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $90,838 and the median income for a family was $102,638. Males had a median income of $66,909 versus $49,337 for females. The per capita income for the county was $36,323. About 2.8% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.3% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.

According to the 2010 Census the racial and ethnic make-up of the Calvert County Population was 79.65% Non-Hispanic whites, 13.44% blacks, 0.37% Native Americans, 1.42% Asians, 0.05% Pacific Islanders, 0.12% Non-Hispanics reporting some other race, 2.40% Non-Hispanics reporting multiple races and 2.75% Hispanic.

Economy
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant is located on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay at Lusby, as is the Cove Point LNG Terminal.

The Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is located in Solomons.

A branch of the United States Naval Research Laboratory is located at Chesapeake Beach.

The Patuxent River Naval Air Station is located immediately to the south of Calvert County, in St. Mary's County.

Top employers
According to the county's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the county are:

Education
Calvert County is served by Calvert County Public Schools. The county's education system consists of 13 elementary schools, six middle schools, four high schools, a vocational education center, and a variety of other facilities. There is also one private K-12 school, The Calverton School.

Transportation
The main artery serving Calvert County is Maryland Route 4 (which begins in Washington, D.C. as Pennsylvania Avenue before crossing into Prince George's County, Maryland and Anne Arundel County, Maryland). Route 4 in Calvert County begins at the very northern tip of the county at Lyons Creek, approximately 3 miles north of Dunkirk. At Sunderland, Route 4 meets Maryland Route 2 (traveling south as a two-lane road from Annapolis) and the two roads merge as Maryland Route 2–4. Route 2-4 continues south through Prince Frederick, St. Leonard and Lusby. At Solomons, Routes 2 and 4 split again, with Route 2 heading towards downtown Solomons and Route 4 crossing the Patuxent River at the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge into St. Mary's County.

Route 2-4 is designated Solomons Island Road throughout much of the county, with the section south of Prince Frederick being recently renamed Louis Goldstein Highway in memory of Louis L. Goldstein, the former comptroller of Maryland and Calvert County resident.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Route 2-4 underwent an extensive expansion project, with the formerly two-lane road becoming a four-lane dual highway. Certain portions of the highway were re-aligned, with the former roadway becoming Maryland Route 765. The final portion of the dualized Route 2-4 between St. Leonard and Solomons was completed in 1988. In 2009, a portion of Route 2–4 in Prince Frederick was expanded to three lanes, along with sidewalks added.

Other major roadways in Calvert County include:
 * Maryland Route 231, which travels west from Prince Frederick to the Patuxent River, ultimately crossing the river at the Benedict Bridge into Charles County.
 * Maryland Route 260, which starts at an overpass interchange at the Calvert-Anne Arundel border and travels southeast to Chesapeake Beach. A portion of Route 260 is a four-lane dual highway.

Towns

 * Chesapeake Beach
 * North Beach

Census-designated places
The Census Bureau recognizes the following census-designated places in the county:

 * Broomes Island
 * Calvert Beach
 * Chesapeake Ranch Estates
 * Drum Point
 * Dunkirk
 * Huntingtown
 * Long Beach
 * Lusby
 * Owings
 * Prince Frederick (county seat)
 * St. Leonard
 * Solomons

Dunkirk, Huntingtown, Lusby, Owings, Prince Frederick, St. Leonard and Solomons have all been designated by Calvert County government as being "town centers". The "town center" designation means while these communities may not have incorporated central governments, they do have specified boundaries surrounding the central business and residential areas for zoning purposes. The reason behind the "town center" designation is to cluster new development within established areas with existing infrastructure, thus discouraging urban sprawl. The implementation of the "town center" concept in Calvert County over the past two decades has for the most part been successful in preserving rural and agricultural areas outside the designated "town centers", and stands as a key example of the smart growth planning strategy.

Unincorporated communities

 * Adelina
 * Barstow
 * Bowens
 * Chaneyville
 * Dares Beach
 * Dowell
 * Johnstown
 * Lower Marlboro
 * Mutual
 * Parran
 * Pleasant Valley
 * Port Republic
 * Scientists Cliffs
 * Stoakley
 * Sunderland
 * Wallville
 * Wilson

Notable people

 * Louisa Adams, First Lady of the United States, wife of President John Quincy Adams
 * Charles Ball, an enslaved man famous for his epic journey to freedom, his service in the War of 1812 and his autobiography
 * Harriet Elizabeth Brown, Calvert County school teacher, catalyst in education in Maryland and throughout the US for equal pay
 * Judith Catchpole, an indentured servant who in 1656 was tried and acquitted of murdering her unborn child by one of the earliest all-female juries in the United States
 * Brett Cecil, professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals
 * Cupid Childs, professional baseball player
 * Tom Clancy, author
 * Bernie Fowler, former Maryland State Senator and Patuxent River advocate
 * Jon Franklin, two-time Pulitzer winner and author
 * Louis L. Goldstein, former Comptroller of Maryland
 * Earl F. Hance, Calvert County Commissioner and Secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture
 * Doug Hill, WJLA-TV weatherman
 * Al Hunt, Bloomberg News executive editor
 * Thomas Johnson, first elected governor of Maryland, Continental Congress delegate, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
 * Joseph Kent, U.S. senator, governor of Maryland
 * Cliff Kincaid, investigative journalist with Accuracy in Media and American Survival, Inc.
 * Robert McClain, pro football player for the Atlanta Falcons
 * Thomas V. Miller, Jr., Maryland Senate president
 * J. C. Price, football coach
 * Augustus Rhodes Sollers, congressman
 * Arthur Storer, first astronomer in the American colonies, original namesake for Halley's Comet
 * Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the United States, presided over the Dred Scott decision
 * Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States, wife of President Zachary Taylor
 * Robert Ulanowicz, theoretical ecologist
 * Wax, rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and comedian
 * Michael Willis, actor
 * Judy Woodruff, news anchor and journalist

In popular culture
Calvert County has been the setting for several movies and television programs. The opening scene of the 1993 Clint Eastwood movie In the Line of Fire was filmed at Flag Harbor Marina in St. Leonard. More recently, the Calvert County Sheriff's Department has been featured on several reality television programs, including Speeders on the truTV network, MTV's Busted, and was featured weekly on A&E's Live PD.

title: Calvert County, Maryland