The Spaniards, led by Gómez, were the first Europeans to make landfall in what is now Maine, followed by the Frenchman Samuel de Champlain in 1605. The first European known to have explored the area in 1524 was Estêvão Gomes, a Portuguese navigator who sailed in the service of Spain in the 1520s. Contact with Europeans was not uncommon during the 1500s because the fur trade was lucrative and the Penobscot were willing to trade pelts for European goods. They practised some agriculture, but less than peoples in southern New England where the climate is milder, and subsisted on what they could hunt and gather. The Penobscot people have inhabited the area around present-day Bangor for at least 11,000 years and still occupy tribal land on the nearby Penobscot Indian Island Reservation. In 2015, local celebrities and business owners recorded the YouTube video 'How to Say Bangor', which was sung to the tune of ' We Are the World'. The name Bangor is said to have been taken from a Welsh tune. East Coast and Europe.īangor has a humid continental climate, with cold, snowy winters, and warm summers.įounded as Kendeskeag Plantation in 1791, Bangor was incorporated as a town in 1834.

Historically Bangor was an important stopover on the Great Circle Air Route between the U.S. Today, Bangor's economy is based on services and retail, healthcare, and education.īangor has a port of entry at Bangor International Airport, also home to the Bangor Air National Guard Base.

Evidence of this is still visible in the lumber barons' elaborate Greek Revival and Victorian mansions and the 31-foot-high (9.4 m) statue of Paul Bunyan. Lying on the Penobscot River, logs could be floated downstream from the Maine North Woods and processed at the city's water-powered sawmills, then shipped from Bangor's port to the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles (48 km) downstream, and from there to any port in the world. Modern Bangor was established in the mid-19th century with the lumber and shipbuilding industries. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's third-most populous city, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Bangor ( / ˈ b æ ŋ ɡ ɔːr/ BANG-gor) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States.

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