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The Maine Highlands is now a term used in the Maine tourism industry for a centrally located region that constitutes a large portion of the state of Maine. The Highlands are constituted by Piscataquis and Penobscot counties. Formerly known as the Penquis region, the Maine Highlands name was adopted in the late 1990s to better describe the area as a tourism region.

From the late 1800s through the early 1900s the term was used to refer to the portion of the Appalachian Mountain range located within Maine.<ref>Google Book Search Beta. Google Book Search Beta. Retrieved on 2006-05-04., showing page 122 of Bevan, G. Phillips (1882). A Handbook of the Industries of the British Isles and the United States.</ref> In the late 1700s and early 1800s, this was one of the areas of disputed boundary between the United States and Canada.<ref>Google Book Search Beta. Google Book Search Beta. Retrieved on 2006-05-04., showing page 176 of Winsor, Justin (1884). Narrative and Critical History of America.</ref> The lack of a clear boundary in this area and further east in Maine, led to the Aroostook War, which was the only war ever declared by a U.S. state on a foreign country.<ref>Aroostook War. Global Security.org. Retrieved on 2006-05-04.</ref> This use as a shorthand for that portion of the international boundary located in the mountains continued through at least 1916.<ref>Google Book Search Beta. Google Book Search Beta. Retrieved on 2006-05-04., showing page 33 of United States Congress (1916). Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.</ref>

See also: Geology of the Appalachians

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