Chesapeake Bay is a long, narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean that runs north from the coast of Virginia, and divides Maryland into two parts. It is 200 miles (320 kilometers) long and from 4 to 40 miles (6 to 64 kilometers) wide. The Indians called this bay the Great Salt Water.
The channel at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay is 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide. Seagoing ships can sail almost the entire length of the bay. The shore is cut by smaller bays and by the wide mouths of several rivers. Rivers emptying into the bay include the James, York, Rappahannock, Potomac, and Susquehanna. Important bay ports include Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. The U.S. Naval Academy is at Annapolis on the western shore.
