George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore in the Irish House of Lords, fresh from his failure further north with Newfoundland's Avalon colony, had in 1629 applied to King Charles for a new royal charter for what is to become the Province of Maryland.

Calvert's interest in creating a colony derived from his Catholicism and his desire for the creation of a haven for Catholics in the new world.

In addition, he was familiar with the fortunes that had been made in tobacco in Virginia, and hoped to recoup some of the financial losses he had sustained in his earlier colonial venture in Newfoundland.

George Calvert dies in April 1632, but a charter for "Maryland Colony" (in Latin, "Terra Maria") is granted to his son, Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore, on June 20, 1632.

The new colony is named in honor of Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of Charles.

The specific name given in the charter is phrased "Terra Mariae, anglice, Maryland".

The English name is preferred over the Latin due in part to the undesired association of "Mariae" with the Spanish Jesuit Juan de Mariana.

Leonard, Cæcilius' younger brother, is put in charge of the expedition because Cæcilius does not want to go.