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Chagas disease affects 8 to 10 million people living in endemic Latin American countries , with an additional 300 @,@ 000 – 400 @,@ 000 living in nonendemic countries , including Spain and the United States . An estimated 41 @,@ 200 new cases occur annually in endemic countries , and 14 @,@ 400 infants are born with congenital Chagas disease annually. in 2010 it resulted in approximately 10 @,@ 300 deaths up from 9 @,@ 300 in 1990 .
The disease is present in 18 countries on the American continents , ranging from the southern United States to northern Argentina . Chagas exists in two different ecological zones . In the Southern Cone region , the main vector lives in and around human homes . In Central America and Mexico , the main vector species lives both inside dwellings and in uninhabited areas . In both zones , Chagas occurs almost exclusively in rural areas , where triatomines breed and feed on the more than 150 species from 24 families of domestic and wild mammals , as well as humans , that are the natural reservoirs of T. cruzi .
Although Triatominae bugs feed on them , birds appear to be immune to infection and therefore are not considered to be a T. cruzi reservoir . Even when colonies of insects are eradicated from a house and surrounding domestic animal shelters , they can re @-@ emerge from plants or animals that are part of the ancient , sylvatic ( referring to wild animals ) infection cycle . This is especially likely in zones with mixed open savannah , with clumps of trees interspersed by human habitation .
The primary wildlife reservoirs for Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States include opossums , raccoons , armadillos , squirrels , woodrats , and mice . Opossums are particularly important as reservoirs , because the parasite can complete its life cycle in the anal glands of this animal without having to re @-@ enter the insect vector . Recorded prevalence of the disease in opossums in the U.S. ranges from 8 @.@ 3 % to 37 @.@ 5 % .
Studies on raccoons in the Southeast have yielded infection rates ranging from 47 % to as low as 15 @.@ 5 % . Armadillo prevalence studies have been described in Louisiana , and range from a low of 1 @.@ 1 % to 28 @.@ 8 % . Additionally , small rodents , including squirrels , mice , and rats , are important in the sylvatic transmission cycle because of their importance as bloodmeal sources for the insect vectors . A Texas study revealed 17 @.@ 3 % percent T. cruzi prevalence in 75 specimens representing four separate small rodent species .
Chronic Chagas disease remains a major health problem in many Latin American countries , despite the effectiveness of hygienic and preventive measures , such as eliminating the transmitting insects . However , several landmarks have been achieved in the fight against it in Latin America , including a reduction by 72 % of the incidence of human infection in children and young adults in the countries of the Southern Cone Initiative , and at least three countries ( Uruguay , in 1997 , and Chile , in 1999 , and Brazil in 2006 ) have been certified free of vectorial and transfusional transmission . In Argentina , vectorial transmission has been interrupted in 13 of the 19 endemic provinces , and major progress toward this goal has also been made in both Paraguay and Bolivia .
Screening of donated blood , blood components , and solid organ donors , as well as donors of cells , tissues , and cell and tissue products for T. cruzi is mandated in all Chagas @-@ endemic countries and has been implemented . Approximately 300 @,@ 000 infected people live in the United States , which is likely the result of immigration from Latin American countries , and there have been only 23 human cases of domestically acquired vector @-@ borne Chagas disease reported between 1955 and 2014 . With increased population movements , the possibility of transmission by blood transfusion became more substantial in the United States . Transfusion blood and tissue products are now actively screened in the U.S. , thus addressing and minimizing this risk .

= = History = =

The disease was named after the Brazilian physician and epidemiologist Carlos Chagas , who first described it in 1909 . The disease was not seen as a major public health problem in humans until the 1960s ( the outbreak of Chagas disease in Brazil in the 1920s went widely ignored ) . Dr Chagas discovered that the intestines of Triatomidae ( now Reduviidae : Triatominae ) harbored a flagellate protozoan , a new species of the Trypanosoma genus , and was able to demonstrate experimentally that it could be transmitted to marmoset monkeys that were bitten by the infected bug . Later studies showed squirrel monkeys were also vulnerable to infection .
Chagas named the pathogenic parasite as Trypanosoma cruzi and later that year as Schizotrypanum cruzi , both honoring Oswaldo Cruz , the noted Brazilian physician and epidemiologist who successfully fought epidemics of yellow fever , smallpox , and bubonic plague in Rio de Janeiro and other cities in the beginning of the 20th century . Chagas was also the first to unknowingly discover and illustrate the parasitic fungal genus Pneumocystis , later infamously linked to PCP ( Pneumocystis pneumonia in AIDS victims ) . Confusion between the two pathogens ' life @-@ cycles led him to briefly recognize his genus Schizotrypanum , but following the description of Pneumocystis by others as an independent genus , Chagas returned to the use of the name Trypanosoma cruzi .
In Argentina , the disease is known as mal de Chagas @-@ Mazza , in honor of Salvador Mazza , the Argentine physician who in 1926 began investigating the disease and over the years became the principal researcher of this disease in the country . Mazza produced the first scientific confirmation of the existence of Trypanosoma cruzi in Argentina in 1927 , eventually leading to support from local and European medical schools and Argentine government policy makers .
It has been hypothesized that Charles Darwin might have suffered from Chagas disease as a result of a bite of the so @-@ called great black bug of the Pampas ( vinchuca ) ( see Charles Darwin 's illness ) . The episode was reported by Darwin in his diaries of the Voyage of the Beagle as occurring in March 1835 to the east of the Andes near Mendoza . Darwin was young and generally in good health , though six months previously he had been ill for a month near Valparaiso , but in 1837 , almost a year after he returned to England , he began to suffer intermittently from a strange group of symptoms , becoming incapacitated for much of the rest of his life . Attempts to test Darwin 's remains at Westminster Abbey by using modern PCR techniques were met with a refusal by the Abbey 's curator .

= = Research = =

Several experimental treatments have shown promise in animal models . These include inhibitors of oxidosqualene cyclase and squalene synthase , cysteine protease inhibitors , dermaseptins collected from frogs in the genus Phyllomedusa ( P. oreades and P. distincta ) , the sesquiterpene lactone dehydroleucodine ( DhL ) , which affects the growth of cultured epimastigote @-@ phase Trypanosoma cruzi , inhibitors of purine uptake , and inhibitors of enzymes involved in trypanothione metabolism . Hopefully , new drug targets may be revealed following the sequencing of the T. cruzi genome .
Chagas disease has a serious economic impact on the United States and the world . The cost of treatment in the United States alone , where the disease is not indigenous , is estimated to be $ 900 million annually , which includes hospitalization and medical devices such as pacemakers . The global cost is estimated at $ 7 billion .
Megazol in a study seems more active against Chagas than benznidazole but has not been studied in humans . Fexinidazole , an old drug rediscovered for this purpose is being tested in phase 2 clinical trials . A Chagas vaccine ( TcVac3 ) has been found to be effective in mice with plans for studies in dogs . It is hoped that it will be commercially available by 2018 .


= Diamond stingray =

The diamond stingray ( Dasyatis dipterura ) is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae . It is found in the coastal waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean from southern California to northern Chile , and around the Galápagos and Hawaiian Islands . This bottom @-@ dweller generally inhabits sandy or muddy flats near rocky reefs and kelp forests , to a depth of 30 m ( 98 ft ) , though off Hawaii it may range considerably deeper . As its common name suggests , this species has an angular , diamond @-@ shaped pectoral fin disc that is plain brown or gray above , with rows of tubercles along the midline and on the " shoulders " . The long , whip @-@ like tail has both dorsal and ventral fin folds , which distinguish this ray from the closely similar longtail stingray ( D. longa ) . It typically grows to 1 m ( 3 @.@ 3 ft ) across .
When searching for food , diamond stingrays may form groups of up to hundreds of individuals . It is most active at night and preys mainly on burrowing invertebrates and small bony fishes , which are extracted from the bottom via suction or digging . This species is aplacental viviparous : once the embryos exhaust their yolk supply , they are nourished by histotroph ( " uterine milk " ) produced by the mother . Females bear 1 – 4 pups every summer in estuaries ; mating is followed by a ten @-@ month period of either sperm storage or arrested embryonic development , after which the embryos rapidly mature over 2 – 3 months . The slowest @-@ growing stingray known , this species is not resilient against fishing pressure . It is caught for food by artisanal fishers in Latin America , particularly in Mexico where it is one of the most economically important rays . This has led it to be assessed as Near Threatened in Mexico by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) , while the species as a whole is listed as Data Deficient . Though innocuous towards humans , the diamond stingray 's long , venomous tail spine is potentially dangerous .

= = Taxonomy and phylogeny = =

In 1880 , the diamond stingray was described twice by three American ichthyologists : as Dasybatus dipterurus by David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert in Proceedings of the United States National Museum , and as Trygon brevis by Samuel Garman in Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology . Jordan and Gilbert 's account was published in May while Garman 's was published in October , making dipterurus ( feminine dipterura ) the correct name as it was published first . However , when Garman synonymized the two in 1913 he inappropriately gave precedence to brevis , leading to long @-@ standing confusion . Both Dasybatus and Trygon were later synonymized with the genus Dasyatis , but many authors still listed D. brevis in place of or in addition to D. dipterura . Garman also synonymized the Hawaiian stingray ( D. hawaiensis ) with D. dipterura in 1913 , which has since been followed by most authors but requires more study for confirmation .
The species syntypes were collected from San Diego Bay , California . The specific epithet dipterura is derived from the Latin di ( " two " ) , ptero ( " wing " ) , and ura ( " tail " ) , referring to the fin folds on both sides of its tail . Rat @-@ tailed stingray is a former common name for this species . Lisa Rosenberger 's 2001 phylogenetic analysis , based on morphology , determined the diamond stingray and the bluntnose stingray ( D. say ) of the western Atlantic Ocean to be sister species , that likely diverged before or with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama ( c . 3 Ma ) . In addition , the two were found to be the second @-@ most basal taxa in their genus , after the common stingray ( D. pastinaca ) .

= = Distribution and habitat = =

The diamond stingray is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from southern California to northern Chile , as well as around the Galápagos and Hawaiian Islands ; it is very abundant around Baja California and in the Gulf of California . At the northern and southern extremes of its range , it is generally only present during periods of suitably warm water brought about by El Niño . There is a record of this ray from off British Columbia , which is unconfirmed and would be highly anomalous as it is known to be a tropical and warm @-@ temperate species .
A bottom @-@ dwelling inhabitant of inshore waters , the diamond stingray favors sandy or muddy bottoms , often near rocky reefs or kelp forests . Off southern California , it usually occurs from the intertidal zone to a depth of 7 m ( 23 ft ) during the summer , shifting to depths of 13 – 18 m ( 43 – 59 ft ) during late fall and winter . For unknown reasons , it prefers to overwinter in kelp forests rather than sandy flats . Off Chile , the diamond stingray occurs at a similar depth of 3 – 30 m ( 10 – 100 ft ) . On the other hand , this species has been reported from as far down as 355 m ( 1 @,@ 165 ft ) off Hawaii , which if accurate would suggest that it utilizes a much greater range of depths than previously realized .

= = Description = =

The diamond stingray attains a disc width of 1 m ( 3 @.@ 3 ft ) or possibly 1 @.@ 2 m ( 3 @.@ 9 ft ) ; females grow larger than males . Its pectoral fin disc is rhomboid in shape , slightly wider than long , with angular outer corners and subtly convex margins . The snout is blunt @-@ angled and non @-@ projecting . The eyes are fairly large and immediately followed by the spiracles ( paired respiratory openings ) . The mouth is strongly curved , containing 21 – 37 upper tooth rows and 23 – 44 lower tooth rows ; the teeth are small and blunt , and arranged into flattened surfaces . Three or five papillae ( nipple @-@ like structures ) are found in a row across the floor of the mouth .
The whip @-@ like tail generally measures up to one and half times the length of the disc , and bears one ( more if replacements have grown in ) long , slender , serrated spine on the upper surface , closer to the base than the tip . Behind the spine , there are long dorsal and ventral fin folds that rise gradually , reaching a relatively high apex before sloping down abruptly . The presence of the upper fin fold separates this species from the similar longtail stingray ( D. longa ) , which shares most of its range . However , the tail is often damaged , in which case differentiating the two species in the field becomes all but impossible . Young rays have completely smooth skin , while adults develop a row of low tubercles along the midline of the back , flanked by two shorter rows on the " shoulders " . The tail also becomes covered in prickles . This species is a uniform olive to brown to gray above , darkening to black on the tail , and off @-@ white below .

= = Biology and ecology = =

The diamond stingray is most active at night , spending much of the day buried in sand with only its eyes protruding . When foraging for food , it may be solitary but more commonly forms groups numbering up to the hundreds . There is strong segregation by sex and age . This species feeds on crustaceans , molluscs , and other invertebrates , as well as small bony fishes ; its powerful jaws and molar @-@ like teeth allow it to crush hard @-@ shelled prey . It mainly targets burrowing organisms , but may also take prey exposed on the bottom . There is a record of a female 69 cm ( 27 in ) across , that had gorged herself on at least 30 small crabs . In the Bahía Magdalena lagoon complex , Baja California Sur , its most important source of food are pea crabs , followed by the razor clam Solyema valvulus , and then polychaete worms .
The typical hunting strategy of the diamond stingray is to cruise just above the sea floor , landing atop any prey encountered . It then quickly levers its body up @-@ and @-@ down with its disc , producing negative pressure to extract the prey from its burrow . This ray has also been known to excavate large pits by undulating its disc and spitting jets of water , so as to uncover buried prey . Diamond stingrays are frequently trailed by smaller fishes , including Mexican hogfish ( Bodianus diplotaenia ) , Galapagos porgies ( Calamus taurinus ) , greybar grunts ( Haemulon sexfasciatum ) , spinster wrasses ( Halichoeres nichols ) , and long @-@ spine porcupinefish ( Diodon holocanthus ) , which take advantage of the invertebrates stirred up by the ray 's activities . Known parasites of this species include the tapeworms Acanthobothrium bullardi , A. dasi , A. rajivi , and A. soberoni , Anthocephalum currani , Parachristianella tiygonis , and Pseudochristianello elegantissima , the flukes Anaporrhutum euzeti and Probolitrema mexicana , and the monogenean Listrocephalos kearni .
Like other stingrays , the diamond stingray is aplacental viviparous : the embryos are initially nourished by yolk , and later by histotroph ( " uterine milk " , rich in proteins and lipids ) produced by the mother . Only the left ovary and uterus are functional in adult females . Several bays along the Pacific coast of Baja California are known to serve as nurseries . Most of the life history information available on this species has come from Bahía Magdalena , where females bear one litter of 1 – 4 pups per year . Courtship and mating occurs in late summer from July to August , but due to a ten @-@ month period of either sperm storage or diapause ( wherein the embryo becomes dormant ) , embryonic development does not begin until the following year and is completed within 2 – 3 months . Birthing takes place in summer from July to September in shallow estuaries ; the newborns measure 18 – 23 cm ( 7 @.@ 1 – 9 @.@ 1 in ) across . During El Niño years , the higher temperatures appear to shift the timing of birth forward . The diamond stingray has the lowest growth rate of any stingray species yet studied . Males reach sexual maturity at around 43 – 47 cm ( 17 – 19 in ) across and 7 years of age , while females grow slower still , reaching maturity at around 57 – 66 cm ( 22 – 26 in ) across and 10 years of age . The maximum lifespan has been estimated at least 19 years for males and 28 years for females .

= = Human interactions = =

At least one fatality off southern California has resulted from the long , venomous tail spine of the diamond stingray . However , it is not aggressive and will usually flee given the opportunity . This ray is not found off the United States in sufficient numbers to be economically important . Elsewhere in its range , it is caught in substantial numbers for human consumption , both intentionally and as bycatch ; the pectoral fins or " wings " are sold fresh or filleted and salted . The International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) notes that the diamond stingray 's low reproductive productivity renders it susceptible to population depletion , but currently lacks enough biological and fishery data to assess it beyond Data Deficient overall , or in the U.S. , Central , and South American parts of its range .
In Mexico , the diamond stingray is one of the most important components of Pacific artisanal shark and ray fisheries , comprising around a tenth of the total annual catch . Its significance is likely underestimated , as Mexican fishery reports frequently suffer from misidentifications and a lack of species @-@ specific data . It is mainly caught during summer and fall , being the most common ray landed in Bahía Magdalena , and second most common ray landed off Sonora state . Demersal gillnets are the main fishing gear employed ; both adult and juvenile rays easily become entangled in the mesh by their tail spines , with juveniles known to have comprised most of the Bahía Magdalena catch in 1998 – 2000 . This species is also often caught incidentally in bottom trawls , on longlines , and in fish traps . In the future , habitat degradation from increasing numbers of shrimp farms may pose an additional threat to this species in the region . As a result of these pressures , the IUCN has assessed the diamond stingray as Near Threatened in Mexican waters . No management schemes have yet been enacted for this species .


= George Calvert , 1st Baron Baltimore =

George Calvert , 1st Baron Baltimore ( 1579 – 15 April 1632 ) was an English politician and colonizer . He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family . Rather than continue in politics , he resigned all of his political offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council and declared his Catholicism publicly . He was created Baron Baltimore in the Irish peerage upon his resignation . Baltimore Manor was located in County Longford , Ireland .
Calvert took an interest in the British colonization of the Americas , at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for English Catholics . He became the proprietor of Avalon , the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island of Newfoundland ( off the eastern coast of modern Canada ) . Discouraged by its cold and sometimes inhospitable climate and the sufferings of the settlers , Sir George looked for a more suitable spot further south and sought a new royal charter to settle the region , which would become the state of Maryland . Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed , leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecil , ( 1605 @-@ 1675 ) . His second son Leonard Calvert , ( 1606 @-@ 1647 ) , was the first colonial governor of the Province of Maryland . Historians have long recognized George Calvert as the founder of Maryland , in spirit if not in fact .

= = Family and early life = =

Little is known of the ancestry of the Yorkshire branch of the Calverts . At George Calvert 's knighting , it was claimed that his family originally came from Flanders ( a Dutch @-@ speaking area today across the English Channel in modern @-@ day Kingdom of Belgium ) . Calvert 's father , ( an earlier ) Leonard was a country gentleman who had achieved some prominence as a tenant of Lord Wharton , and was wealthy enough to marry a " gentlewoman " of a noble line , Alicia or Alice Crossland ( or sometimes spelled : " Crosland " ) . He established his family on the estate of the later @-@ built Kiplin Hall , near Catterick in Richmondshire , of Yorkshire . George Calvert was born at Kiplin in late 1579 ( birth month and day yet to be researched ) . His mother Alicia / Alice died on 28 November 1587 , when he was fifteen years old . His father then married Grace Crossland ( or sometimes spelled : " Crosland " ) , Alicia 's first cousin .
In 1569 , Sir Thomas Gargrave had described Richmondshire as a territory where all gentlemen were " evil in religion " , by which he meant predominately Roman Catholic ; it appears Leonard Calvert was no exception . During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , continuing the changes wrought in the previous century by her father , King Henry VIII making the Monarch , the supreme authority of the Christian Church in England , continuing the pace Protestant Reformation from the Continent of Europe , with the political , spiritual and temporal separation from the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope / Papacy in Rome , therefore the Royal Government exerted authority over the matters of religious faith , practices and the Church . Acts mandating compulsory religious uniformity were enacted by Parliament and enforced through penal laws . The Acts of Supremacy and the Uniformity Act of 1559 also included an oath of allegiance to the Queen ( Henrietta Maria , wife of Charles I ) and an implicit denial of the Pope 's ( then Pope Paul IV ) authority over the English Church . This oath was required of any common " subject " ( synamous for citizen ) , who wished to hold high office , attend university , or take advantage of opportunities controlled by the state ( king / kingdom ) .
The Calvert household suffered the intrusion of the Elizabethan @-@ era religious laws . From the year of George 's birth onwards , his father , Leonard Calvert was subjected to repeated harassment by the Yorkshire authorities , who in 1580 extracted a promise of conformity from him , compelling his attendance at the Church of England services . In 1592 , when George was twelve , the authorities denounced one of his tutors for teaching " from a popish primer " and instructed Leonard and Grace to send George and his brother Christopher to a Protestant tutor , and , if necessary , to present the children before the commission " once a month to see how they perfect in learning " . As a result , the boys were sent to a Protestant tutor called Mr. Fowberry at Bilton . The senior Calvert had to give a " bond of conformity " ; he was banned from employing any Catholic servants and forced to purchase an English Bible , which was to " ly open in his house for everyone to read " .
In 1593 , records show that Grace Calvert was committed to the custody of a " pursuivant " , an official responsible for identifying and persecuting Catholics , and in 1604 , she was described as the " wife of Leonard Calvert of Kipling , non @-@ communicant at Easter last " .
George Calvert went up to Trinity College , at Oxford University matriculating in 1593 / 94 , where he studied foreign languages and received a bachelor 's degree in 1597 . As the oath of allegiance was compulsory after the age of sixteen , he would almost certainly have pledged conformity while at Oxford . The same pattern of conformity , whether pretended or sincere , continued through Calvert 's early life . After Oxford , he moved to London in 1598 , where he studied municipal law at Lincoln 's Inn for three years .

= = Marriage and family = =

In November 1604 , he married Anne Mynne in a Protestant , Church of England ceremony at St Peter 's , Cornhill , where his address was registered as St Martin in the Fields . His children , including his eldest son and heir , Cecil , who was born in the winter of 1605 – 06 , were all baptized as Christian Protestants . When Anne died on 8 August 1622 , she was buried at Calvert 's local Protestant parish church , St Martin in the Fields .
Calvert had a total of thirteen children : Cecil , who succeeded his father as the 2nd Baron Baltimore , Leonard , Anne , Mary , Dorothy , Elizabeth , Grace , Francis , George , Helen , Henry , John , and Philip .

= = Political success = =

Calvert named his son " Cecilius " ( 1605 @-@ 1675 ) for Sir Robert Cecil , first Earl of Salisbury , ( 1563 @-@ 1612 ) . Spymaster to Queen Elizabeth , whom Calvert had met during an extended trip to Europe between 1601 and 1603 , after which he became known as a specialist in foreign affairs . Calvert carried a packet for Cecilius from Paris , and so entered the service of the principal engineer on behalf of King James VI of Scotland 's succession to the English throne in 1603 , ( who then also assumed the title of King James I of England . )
King James rewarded Robert Cecil , whom he made a privy councillor and secretary of state , with the granting of the title of Earl of Salisbury in 1605 , and Lord High Treasurer in 1608 , making him the most powerful man at the royal court . As Cecil rose , Calvert rose with him . Calvert 's foreign languages , legal training , and discretion made him an invaluable aide to Robert Cecil , who , no lover of Catholics , seems to have accepted Calvert 's conformity as beyond question . Working at the center of court politics , Calvert exploited his influence by selling favors , an accepted practice for the times . Calvert accumulated a number of small offices , honors , and sinecures . In August 1605 , he attended the King at Oxford , and received an honorary master @-@ of @-@ arts degree in an elaborate ceremony at which the Duke of Lennox ( Ludovic Stewart ) , the earls of Oxford and Northumberland , and Cecilius received degrees . Given the prestige of the other graduates , Calvert 's was the last awarded , but his presence in such company signaled his growing stature .
In 1606 , the king made Calvert " clerk of the Crown " and " Assizes in Connaught " , County Clare , Ireland , his first royal appointment . In 1609 , James appointed him a " clerk of the Signet office " , a post which required the preparation of documents for the royal signature and brought Calvert into close contact with the king . Calvert also served in James 's First Parliament as a member for the borough of Bossiney , in the county of Cornwall , installed there by Cecil to support his policies . In 1610 , Calvert was appointed a " clerk of the Privy Council " . Each of these positions would have required an oath of allegiance .
With Robert Cecil 's support , George Calvert came into his own as an advisor and supporter of King James . In 1610 and 1611 , Calvert undertook missions to the continent on behalf of the King , visiting a number of embassies in Paris , Holland , and the Duchy of Cleves , and acting as an ambassador to the French Royal Court during the coronation of King Louis XIII , ( 1601 @-@ 1643 ) , in 1610 . A correspondent from France reported that Calvert gave " everyone great contentment with his discreet conversation . " In 1615 , James sent him to the continental Electorate of the Palatinate ( German ) , in the Holy Roman Empire , whose impoverished elector , Frederick V , Elector Palatine , ( 1596 @-@ 1632 ) , had married James 's daughter Elizabeth of Bohemia , ( 1596 @-@ 1662 ) , in 1613 . Calvert had to convey the King 's disapproval that Elizabeth , for lack of money , had given away expensive jewels to a gentlewoman leaving her employ . Elector Frederick 's decision in 1619 to accept the throne of Bohemia triggered a war with the powerful neighboring Habsburgs dynasty of Austria to the southwest in Vienna , which James attempted to end through a proposed alliance with the Kingdom of Spain .
In 1611 , James employed Calvert to research and transcribe his tract against the Dutch Protestant theologian Conrad Vorstius , ( 1569 @-@ 1622 ) . The following year , Cecil died , and Calvert acted as one of the four executors of his will . The king 's favourite , Sir Robert Carr , first Earl of Somerset , ( 1587 @-@ 1645 ) , Viscount Rochester , assumed the duties of secretary of state and recruited Calvert to assist with foreign policy , in particular the Latin and Spanish correspondence . Carr , soon raised to the earldom of Somerset , was not a success in the job , and fell from favour partly as a result of the murder of Thomas Overbury , ( 1581 @-@ 1613 ) , to which Carr 's wife , Frances , the former Countess of Essex and later Somerset , ( 1590 @-@ 1632 ) , pleaded guilty in 1615 . Carr 's place as James 's principal favorite was now taken by the handsome George Villiers , 1st Duke of Buckingham , ( 1592 @-@ 1628 ) , with whom James was said to have been infatuated .
In 1613 , the King commissioned Calvert to investigate Roman Catholic grievances in Ireland , along with Sir Humphrey Wynch , ( 1555 @-@ 1625 ) , Sir Charles Cornwallis , ( XXX ? -1629 ) and Sir Roger Wilbraham , ( 1553 @-@ 1616 ) . The commission spent almost four months in Ireland , and its final report , partly drafted by Calvert , concluded that religious conformity should be enforced more strictly in Ireland , Catholic schools be suppressed , and bad priests removed and punished . The King resolved not to reconvene the Parliament of Ireland until the Catholics " shall be better disciplined " . In 1616 , James endowed Calvert with the manor of Danby Wiske in Yorkshire , which brought him into contact with Sir Thomas Wentworth , 1st Earl of Strafford , ( 1593 @-@ 1641 ) , who became his closest friend and political ally . Calvert was now wealthy enough to buy the " Kiplin Hall " estate in his home parish . ( Today , the University of Maryland operates a research centre there , while the main building is a house museum owned by the Kiplin Hall Trust . ) in his home parish ; and in 1617 , his social status received a further boost when he was knighted , then becoming " Sir George Calvert " .
In 1619 , Calvert completed his rise to power when James appointed him as one of the two principal secretaries of state . This followed the dismissal of Sir Thomas Lake , ( 1567 @-@ 1630 ) , due to scandals , including his wife 's indiscretions with state secrets . Not emerging as a candidate until the end of the selection process , Calvert 's appointment surprised him and most observers . Assuming he owed his promotion to the king 's increasingly powerful favourite , George Villiers , ( 1592 @-@ 1628 ) , later first Duke of Buckingham ) , he sent him a great jewel as a token of thanks . Villiers returned the jewel , however , saying he had had nothing to do with the matter . Calvert 's personal fortune was secured when he was additionally appointed a " commissioner of the treasury " with a pension of £ 1 @,@ 000 pounds sterling and a subsidy on imported raw silk , which would later be converted to another £ 1 @,@ 000 pension .

= = Secretary of State = =

In Parliament , a political crisis developed over the king 's policy of seeking a Spanish wife for Charles , Prince of Wales , as part of a proposed alliance with the Habsburgs . In the Parliament of 1621 , it fell to Calvert to advocate the " Spanish match " , as it came to be called , against the majority of Parliament , who feared an increase in Catholic influence on the state . As a result of his pro @-@ Spanish stance and defence of relaxations in the penal laws against Catholics , Calvert became estranged from many in the Commons , who were suspicious of his close familiarity with the Spanish ambassador 's court . Calvert also faced difficulties in his private life : his wife 's death on 8 August 1622 left him the single father of ten children , the oldest of whom , Cecil , was sixteen years old .
Although King James rewarded Calvert in 1623 for his loyalty by granting him a 2 @,@ 300 @-@ acre ( 9 @.@ 3 km2 ) estate in County Longford , in the central Ireland region of Leinster , where his seat was known as the " Manor of Baltimore " , Calvert was increasingly isolated from court circles as the Prince of Wales , ( heir to the Throne ) and the first Duke of Buckingham ( George Villiers ) wrested control of policy from the ageing James . Without consulting the diplomatically astute Calvert , the prince and the duke travelled to Spain to negotiate the Spanish marriage for themselves , with disastrous results . Instead of securing an alliance , the visit provoked a hostility between the two courts which quickly led to war . In a reversal of policy , Buckingham dismissed the treaties with Spain , summoned a war council , and sought a French marriage for the Welsh Prince .

= = Resignation and conversion to Catholicism = =

As the chief parliamentary spokesman for an abandoned policy , Calvert no longer served a useful purpose to the English Royal Court , and by February 1624 his duties had been restricted to placating the Spanish ambassador . The degree of his disfavour was shown when he was reprimanded for supposedly delaying diplomatic letters . Calvert bowed to the inevitable . On the pretext of ill health , he began negotiations for the sale of his position , finally resigning the secretariat in February 1625 .
No disgrace was attached to Calvert 's departure from office : the King , to whom he had always remained personally loyal , confirmed his place on the Privy Council and appointed him " Baron Baltimore " , in County Longford in Leinster of central Ireland . Immediately after Calvert resigned , he converted to Roman Catholicism .
The connection between Calvert 's resignation and his conversion to Roman Catholicism was a complex one . George Cottington , a former employee of Calvert , suggested in 1628 that Calvert 's conversion had been in progress a long time before it was made public . George Abbot , ( 1562 @-@ 1633 ) , the reigning Archbishop of Canterbury , ( and ecclesiastical head of the independent Church of England ) , reported that political opposition to Calvert , combined with his loss of office , had " made him discontented and , as the saying is , " Desperatio facit monachum " , so hee apparently did turne papist , which hee now professeth , this being the third time that he hath bene to blame that way [ sic ] " . Godfrey Goodman , the Bishop of Gloucester , later claimed Calvert had been a secret Catholic all along ( " infinitely addicted to the Catholic faith " ) , which explained his support for lenient policies towards Catholics and for the Spanish match .
However , no one had questioned Calvert 's conformity at the time , and if he had indeed been secretly Catholic , he had hidden it well . It seems more likely Calvert converted in late 1624 . At the time , Simon Stock , a Discalced Carmelite priest reported to the Congregation Propaganda Fide in Rome on November 15 that he had converted two Privy Councillors to Catholicism , one of whom historians are certain was Calvert . Calvert , who had probably met Stock at the Spanish embassy in London , later worked with the priest on a plan for a Catholic mission in his new first Newfoundland colony ( off modern Canada ) .
When King James I ( and VI of Scotland ) died in March 1625 , his successor King Charles I maintained Calvert 's barony but not his previous place on the Privy Council . Calvert then turned his attention to his Irish estates and his overseas investments . He was not entirely forgotten at court . After Buckingham 's dabblings in wars against Spain and France had ended in failure , he recalled Baltimore to court , and for a while may have considered employing him in the peace negotiations with Spain . Though nothing came of Baltimore 's recall , he renewed his rights over the silk @-@ import duties , which had lapsed with the death of James I , and secured Charles ' blessing for his venture in the " New Found Land " .

= = Colony of Avalon ( Newfoundland ) = =

Calvert had long maintained an interest in the exploration and settlement of the New World , beginning with his investment of twenty @-@ five pounds in the second Virginia Company in 1609 , and a few months later a more substantial sum in the East India Company , which he increased in 1614 . In 1620 , Calvert purchased a tract of land in Newfoundland from Sir William Vaughan , ( 1575 @-@ 1641 ) , a Welsh writer and colonial investor , who had earlier failed to establish a colony on the large sub @-@ Arctic island off the eastern coast of North America . He named the area of the peninsula as Avalon , after the legendary spot where Christianity was supposedly introduced to Roman Britain in ancient times . The plantation lay on what is now called the Avalon Peninsula and included the fishing station at " Ferryland " . Calvert almost certainly had a fishery project in mind at this stage .
Calvert dispatched Captain Edward Wynne and a group of Welsh colonists to Ferryland , where they landed in August 1621 , and set about constructing a settlement . Wynne sent positive reports concerning the potential for local fisheries and for the production of salt , hemp , flax , tar , iron , timber and hops . Wynne also praised the climate , declaring , " It is better and not so cold as England " and predicted that the colony would become self @-@ sufficient after one year . Others corroborated Wynne 's reports : for example , Captain Daniel Powell , who delivered a further party of settlers to Ferryland , wrote : " The land on which our Governor Calvert and / or Wynne planted is so good and commodious , that for the quantity , I think there is no better in many parts of England " ; but he added ominously that Ferryland was " the coldest harbour in the land " . Wynne and his men began work on various building projects , including a substantial house and the shoring up of the harbour . To protect them against marauding French warships , a recent hazard in the area , since the recent founding of New France in the interior ( modern Lower Canada of the 18th and 19th Centuries , Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada ) along the St. Lawrence River , Calvert employed the pirate John Nutt .
The settlement appeared to be progressing so well that in January 1623 , Calvert obtained a concession from King James for the whole of Newfoundland , though the grant was soon reduced to cover only the southeastern Avalon peninsula , owing to competing claims from other English colonists . The final Charter constituted the province as a " county palatinate " , officially titled the " Province of Avalon " , under Calvert 's personal rule .

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