Chesapeake Bay, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, c.200 mi (320 km) long, from 3 to 30 mi (4.8–48 km) wide, and 3,237 sq mi (8,384 sq km), separating the Delmarva Delmarva (dĕlmär`və), peninsula, c.
..... Click the link for more information. Peninsula from mainland Maryland. and Virginia. The drowned estuary of the Susquehanna River, formed in an ancient meteorite impact zone, the bay is fed by rivers including the Potomac, Rappahannock, Pocomoke, and James. It is entered from the Atlantic Ocean through a 12-mi-wide (19-km) gap between Capes Henry and Charles, Va.; the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, officially the Lucius J. Kellam, Jr. Bridge-Tunnel, 17.6 mi (28.2 km) long, across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, E Va., connecting Cape Charles with Norfolk, Va.
..... Click the link for more information. crosses its mouth, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge crosses the upper bay. Part of the Intracoastal Waterway, the bay is linked with the Delaware River and Bay by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, sea-level canal, 19 mi (31 km) long, 250 ft (76 m) wide, and 27 ft (8.2 m) deep, connecting the head of Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware River.
..... Click the link for more information. . Baltimore, Md., is the largest city and main port on the bay; the Norfolk–Hampton Roads region of Virginia is a key naval complex. The bay's famous fisheries (oysters, crabs, etc.) have declined as residential and commercial development around it have increased; various projects and interstate agreements seek to reverse this trend. A 35-million-year-old impact crater, c.50 mi (85 km) wide, underlies the lower bay. The English colonist John Smith Smith, John, c.1580–1631, English colonist in America, b. Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England. A merchant's apprentice until his father's death in 1596, he thereafter lived an adventurous life, traveling, fighting in wars against the Turks in Transylvania and
..... Click the link for more information. explored and charted Chesapeake Bay in 1608.

Chesapeake Bay

Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, eastern U.S. With its lower section in Virginia and its upper section in Maryland, it is 193 mi (311 km) long and 3–25 mi (5–40 km) wide and has an area of about 3,230 sq mi (8,365 sq km). It receives many rivers, including the Susquehanna, Patuxent, Potomac, and James. Jamestown, the area's first European settlement, was founded in 1607; a year later, Capt. John Smith explored and mapped the bay. The bay's waters had supported vast amounts of marine life, but by the 1970s development of the surrounding area led to alarming pollution of the bay; fishing dropped off sharply. Efforts have since been made to reverse the damage.