Baltimore is situated in central Maryland state of United states .It is also known as Baltimore city to distinguish it from the surrounding Baltimore County. The city is named after Lord Baltimore in the Irish House of Lords, the founding proprietor of the Maryland Colony. Baltimore is a beautiful city,it had number of tourist interests such as Belair-Edision,Homeland,Fells Point,Woodbery,Stonewood,Charles Village, Carrollton Ridge,Station North etc . Baltimore is also known for its fantabulous architecture .One of the most wonderful piece of architecture in Baltimore city is I.M.Pei's World Trade Center (1977) .It is the tallest equilateral pentagonal building in the world at 405 feet (123.4 m) tall. it has many other important buildings in a variety of styles like Bank of America Building, Legg Mason Building ,William Donald Schaefer Building, Commerce Building,100 East Pratt Street,Tremont Plaza Hotel,Charles tower South Apartments etc. Future contributions to Baltimore’s skyline include plans for a 717 feet (218m) tall structure “10 Inner Harbor” .The building was recently approved by Baltimore’s design panel and will be completed around the year 2010.It will include luxury condominiums, a hotel,restaurants, and shopping centers. Through careful city planning and cooperation between public and private investors, Baltimore has entered the ranks of America's "comeback cities" in recent years. Its downtown business district has been transformed into a mecca of sparkling new hotels, retail centers, and office buildings. But Baltimore has not wholly exchanged its traditional working-class image for high-technology polish. In World Wars I and II, Baltimore was an important shipbuilding and supply-shipping center. During the 1960s and 70s, however, Baltimore decayed rapidly, losing population and commerce, largely to neighboring suburbs. Urban redevelopment in the late 1970s and 1980s included the construction of Harborplace (shops and restaurants) in the Inner Harbor area, the National Aquarium, shopping pavilions, hotels, a convention center, the Maryland Science Center, and the American Visionary Art Museum. Baltimore City has the second largest population in United States ,nearly 100000 people lives in Baltimore . Baltimore City is an independent city, not a part of any county For most governmental purposes under Maryland law, Baltimore City is treated as a "county"-level entity. The United States Census Bureau uses counties as the basic unit for presentation of statistical information in the United States, and treats Baltimore as a county equivalent for those purposes.Baltimore has been a Democratic stronghold for over 150 years, with Democrats dominating every level of government. On November 6, 2007, incumbent Democratic Mayor Sheila Dixon was elected Mayor. Dixon, as former City Council President, had assumed the office of Mayor on January 17, 2007 when former Mayor Martin O'Malley took office as the Governor of Maryland. Baltimore's fortuitous location on the northern Chesapeake Bay has been at the heart of its social and economic development. Farther inland than other eastern seaport, the city is convenient to landlocked areas. Water-related industry quickly developed around Baltimore harbor, and when tracks for the nation's first railroad were laid there in 1829, the thriving port city increased both its accessibility to other cities and its attractiveness to immigrants and investors.