It was 1649. Louis XIV was establishing his absolute monarchy over France and Oliver Cromwell was soon to rule England. Rembrandt was painting his last great works and Shakespeare's plays were still captivating Europe not long after his death.

In the new world, a handful of Virginia Puritans landed at the mouth of the Severn River to establish Providence, the first settlement in Anne Arundel County. The settlement was renamed Anne Arundel Town in honor of Lady Anne of Arundell, wife of Cecil Calvert of Baltimore, Ireland. In 1695, it became the capital city of proprietary Maryland. The town was later named Annapolis in honor of Princess Anne, daughter of King James and heir to the English throne.

By the 18th century, Anne Arundel's great founding families had established themselves, and Annapolis had become a lively cultural and social center. George Washington loved the county; he played the horses at the race course near the present day Parole. Thomas Jefferson, too, strolled the picturesque streets near the Annapolis harbor. Downtown Annapolis is now a National Historic District. Some of its most famous Georgian mansions include the William Paca House, the Chase-Lloyd House, the Hammond-Harwood House and the Charles Carroll House.

The country's third oldest college - and one of the first public schools in America - was King William's School, now known as St. John's College. On the grounds of the school stood the 400 year old Liberty Tree, which was one of the last such trees in America named to commemorate their role as a legendary meeting place of the Sons of Liberty before the American Revolution. It was fatally injured in a hurricane in the late 1990s

Since 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy has been an important part of life in Annapolis. The school's 4,000 midshipmen live in Bancroft Hall, one of the largest dormitories in the world. One of the most interesting places to see at the Naval Academy is the crypt of John Paul Jones, located under the chapel. Jones was a naval hero during the Revolutionary War.

The southern part of Anne Arundel County was largely devoted to farming, tobacco plantations and fishing. Archaeologists are working to uncover the colonial port community of London Town. The William Brown House is the only remaining structure of this lost town. However, recent archaeological discoveries are revealing new information on the extent of the original settlement and the lifestyles of its residents.

Since the second World War, Anne Arundel County has become a prime location for research and development. The northern part of the county has three attractions related to the county's role in defense and high technology. The National Cryptologic Museum and the Ft. Meade Museum display decoding devices and weapons used during the two world wars. The Historical Electronics Museum in Linthicum features items representing the evolution of electronics.