New Jersey, NJ

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. The state is named after the island of Jersey in the English Channel.

It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania.

Parts of New Jersey lie within the metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia. Inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, the first European settlements in the area were established by the Swedes and Dutch in the early 1600s.

The State's name was taken from the largest of the English Channel Islands, Jersey. The English later seized control of the region, which was granted to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton as the colony of New Jersey. New Jersey was an important site during the American Revolutionary War; several decisive battles were fought there.

The winter quarters of the revolutionary army were established twice by George Washington in Morristown, which was called the military capital of the revolution. The New Jersey Journal, a newspaper published by Shepard Kollock, who established his press in Chatham during 1779, became a catalyst in the revolution.

News of events came directly to Kollock from Washington's headquarters in nearby Morristown, which he published to boost the morale of the troops and their families, and he conducted lively debates about the efforts for independence with those who opposed and supported the cause he championed.

Later, working-class cities such as Paterson and Trenton helped to drive the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century. New Jersey's position at the center of the BosWash megalopolis, between Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., fueled its rapid growth through the suburban boom of the 1950s and beyond.

Geography

New Jersey is bordered on the north and northeast by New York; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south and southwest by Delaware across Delaware Bay; and on the west by Pennsylvania across the Delaware River.

New Jersey can be thought of as five regions, based on natural geography and population. Northeastern New Jersey, the Gateway Region, lies within the New York metropolitan area, and some residents commute to the city to work.

Northwestern New Jersey, or the "Skylands", is, compared to the northeast, more wooded, rural, and mountainous, but still a popular place to live. The "Shore" along the Atlantic Coast in the southeast has its own residence and lifestyle characteristics owing to the ocean.

The southwest is within Metropolitan Philadelphia, and is included in the Delaware Valley. The fifth region is the Pine Barrens in the interior of the southern part and is covered rather extensively by mixed pine and oak forest, and as such has a much lower population density than much of the rest of the state.

New Jersey can also be broadly divided into three geographic regions: North Jersey, Central Jersey, and South Jersey. However, some people do not consider Central Jersey to exist at all, but still many believe it is a separate geographic and cultural area from the North and South.

The federal Office of Management and Budget divides New Jersey's counties into seven Metropolitan Statistical Areas, including sixteen counties in the New York City or Philadelphia metro areas.

Four counties have independent metro areas, and Warren County joins another Pennsylvania-based metro area. (See Metropolitan Statistical Areas of New Jersey for details.) It is also at the center of the Boston to Washington megalopolis. Additionally, the New Jersey Commerce, Economic Growth, & Tourism Commission divides the state into six distinct regions to facilitate the state's tourism industry.

The regions are: Gateway Region, encompassing Hudson County, Essex County, Union County, Middlesex County, Bergen County, and Passaic County.

Skylands Region, encompassing Sussex County, Morris County, Warren County, Hunterdon County, and Somerset County.

Shore Region, encompassing Monmouth County and Ocean County. Delaware River Region, encompassing Mercer County, Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County, and Salem County.

Greater Atlantic City Region, encompassing Atlantic County.

Southern Shore Region, encompassing Cumberland County and Cape May County. High Point, in Montague Township, Sussex County, is the highest elevation, at 1,803 feet (550 m).

The Palisades are a line of steep cliffs on the lower west side of the Hudson River. Major rivers include the Hudson, Delaware, Raritan, Passaic, Hackensack, Rahway, Musconetcong, Mullica, Rancocas, Manasquan, Maurice, and Toms rivers. Sandy Hook, along the eastern coast, is a popular recreational beach.

It is a barrier spit and an extension of the Barnegat Peninsula along the state's Atlantic Ocean coast.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "New Jersey".