During the 17th century, various towns called "Baltimore" were founded as commercial ports at various locations on the upper Chesapeake Bay. The present city dates from July 30, 1729, and is named after Lord Baltimore, who was the first Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. Baltimore grew swiftly in the mid- to late 18th century as the granary for sugar-producing colonies in the Caribbean. The profit from sugar encouraged the maximum possible cultivation of cane and the importation of food. The relatively shorter distance between Baltimore and the Caribbean colonies allowed swift transport and minimized the spoilage of flour.

One of Baltimore's greatest moments occurred during the War of 1812 with the British, who had declared Baltimore "A nest of Pirates." Baltimore's Fort McHenry came under attack by British forces near the harbor after the British had burned Washington, D.C.. Known today as the Battle of Baltimore, American forces won the decisive battles by repulsing a joint land and naval attack by the British forces. They fought to a stalemate at the Battle of North Point after killing the British commander General Ross. British reinforcements were not possible after the British Navy was repulsed by the defenders of the fort, and all forces then withdrew. It was the naval engagement that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem "The Star-Spangled Banner," the lyrics to the United States' national anthem. The battle was memorialized in the Battle Monument which is on the city seal.

Baltimore is also the site of the first architectural monument honoring George Washington, a 178-foot Doric column erected in 1829 and designed by Robert Mills, who later designed the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

Baltimore became an independent city in 1851, being detached from Baltimore County at that time.

Prior to the Civil War, Maryland was a southern slave state. During the Civil War, Maryland was officially part of the Union but kept slavery legal. Most people in Baltimore at the time were sympathetic to the Confederacy. Pro-Southern sentiment led to the Baltimore riot of 1861, when Union soldiers marched through the city. After the riot, Union troops occupied Baltimore, and Maryland came under direct federal administration — in part, to prevent the state from seceding — until the end of the war in April 1865. This was considered a necessary move by the Union to prevent Washington, D.C., from being completely surrounded by seceded Confederate territory. The case Ex parte Merryman, written by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, dealt with the habeas corpus rights of Marylanders jailed by the Abraham Lincoln Administration and strongly rebuked Lincoln for his actions.

The Great Baltimore Fire on February 7, 1904, destroyed over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours and forced most of the city to rebuild. Immediately afterward, Mayor Robert McLane was quoted in the Baltimore News as saying, "To suppose that the spirit of our people will not rise to the occasion is to suppose that our people are not genuine Americans. We shall make the fire of 1904 a landmark not of decline but of progress." He then refused assistance, stating "As head of this municipality, I cannot help but feel gratified by the sympathy and the offers of practical assistance which have been tendered to us. To them I have in general terms replied, 'Baltimore will take care of its own, thank you.'" (McLane committed suicide on May 30.) Two years later, on September 10, 1906, the Baltimore-American reported that the city had risen from the ashes and "One of the great disasters of modern time had been converted into a blessing."

Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, looking West from Pratt and Gay Streets. Same view in 1906, 2 years after the fireBaltimore is the location of the Baltimore World Trade Center, the world's tallest equilateral five-sided building (the five-sided JPMorganChase Tower in Houston, Texas is taller but has unequal sides).

Baltimore is also the location of Pimlico Race Course, the home of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. The Preakness has been run since 1873.

Baltimore's population peaked at 949,708 in the 1950 Census, which ranked it as the sixth-largest city in the country, behind Detroit, and ahead of Cleveland. For the next five decades, the city's population declined while its suburbs grew dramatically, bottoming out in 2000 at 636,251. In the 21st century, the city's population has stabilized and is once again rising, mostly due to revitalization efforts in many city neighborhoods.

In 1955 Flag House Courts, a public housing project made up of 3 12-story buildings, was built. The buildings were eventually demolished in 2001.

Baltimore has become a prime city for filming movies and television. Many movies, such as Hairspray, Ladder 49, Serial Mom, Eraser, Enemy of the State, Cry-baby, scenes from 12 Monkeys, True Lies, and the film Hardball, were filmed in Baltimore; in fact, many scenes from the 1972 cult classic film Pink Flamingos were shot in the city's Waverly and Hampden neighborhoods (the film was made by John Waters, a Baltimore native). Additionally, television shows such as NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street and HBO's The Wire have also been filmed in the city. Television series Roc and Hot L Baltimore were set in the city. See Filmed in Baltimore for additional movies and shows filmed or set in Baltimore.

In recent years, efforts to redevelop the downtown area have led to a revitalization of the Inner Harbor. In 1979 the Baltimore Convention Center was opened and was subsequently renovated and expanded in 1996. Harborplace, a modern urban retail and restaurant complex, was opened on the waterfront in 1980, followed by the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland's largest tourist destination, in 1981. In 1992, the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball moved from Memorial Stadium to Oriole Park at Camden Yards downtown, and six years later the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League moved next door into PSInet Stadium (later renamed M&T Bank Stadium following PSInet's bankruptcy).

On October 2, 1996, Baltimore became the first city in the United States to adopt 311 as a non-emergency "hot line" telephone number, in order to reserve the use of 911 for genuine emergencies. The concept has been highly successful, and numerous other American municipalities have since implemented the practice.

A 60-car train derailment occurred in a tunnel in Baltimore on July 18, 2001. The derailment sparked a chemical fire that raged for six days and virtually shut down the downtown area until the heat caused a water main to rupture, largely extinguishing the fire but also causing significant flooding in the streets above. Three weeks later, manhole covers flew into the air as underground explosions along West Pratt Street followed due to residual explosive chemicals from the fire left in the sewers.

In 2003, the Baltimore Development Corporation announced that three hotel projects were being reviewed. As of 2005, the 752-room, $305 million Hilton hotel project has received a 9-6 approval vote from the Baltimore City Council on August 15th. The second approval vote was scheduled for sometime in September 2005. The hotel is expected to be built near the Baltimore Convention Center. The City of Baltimore hopes to have it finished and opened by Spring 2008. (See Baltimore Convention Center Hotel Project for more details regarding the convention center hotel.)

Also in 2003, Baltimore was affected by Hurricane Isabel from flooding as a result of tidal surge, affecting primarily the Fells Point community and the Inner Harbor and surrounding low areas. Many places were flooded, including the sports center ESPN Zone, the Baltimore World Trade Center (which remained closed for approximately a month during cleanup efforts), and most of the Inner Harbor. Water levels rose some 20 feet in areas, flooding underground parking garages and displacing thousands of cubic yards of trash and debris.

In the early part of the 21st Century, Baltimore is undergoing a major building spree in the downtown area, specifically in the Inner Harbor East district. Earning the nickname "Crane City, USA," its skyline will extend further outward and upward in the next few decades. ARC Wheeler, a Philadelphia-based developer has been approved to build a new hotel/condominium complex that will be the city's new tallest building, dubbed "10 Inner Harbor", at 59 stories and 717ft tall.

According to crime statistics there were 269 murders in Baltimore in 2005. Though this is significantly lower than the record-high 353 murders in 1993, the murder rate in Baltimore is nearly seven times the national rate, six times the rate of New York City, and three times the rate of Los Angeles.

While murders have been relatively static, other categories of crime in Baltimore have been declining. The rate of forcible rapes has fallen below the national average in recent years. However, Baltimore still has much higher-than-average rates of aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, and theft. Though the crime situation in Baltimore is considered one of the worst in the nation, city officials are quick to point out that most violent crimes, particularly murders, are committed by people who know their victims and who are often associated with the illegal drug trade.

Statistics compiled by independent groups indicate that many young men in the city are under the supervision of the criminal justice system. While racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates exist in Baltimore, both young white and black men in the city are arrested and incarcerated at relatively high rates.

In an infamous case, community activist Angela Dawson and her family were murdered by firebomb in their Baltimore home on October 16, 2002, in retaliation for Dawson's reporting of criminal activity.

In late 2004, Baltimore drug dealers shocked the city when they released an underground DVD titled Stop Snitching, in which they threatened with violence any citizen of Baltimore who interfered with their business. A strange twist emerged after it was discovered that NBA star Carmelo Anthony, who plays for the Denver Nuggets and had lived in Baltimore as a boy, was featured in the video while visiting his old neighborhood. A few months later, in early 2005, the Baltimore Police Department responded to Stop Snitching with a video titled Keep Talking, in which they urged the public to continue to report illicit activity and announced the arrest of at least two participants in the making and filming of the original DVD.

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