New Jersey Geography, Population, Business and History

New Jersey, abbreviated NJ or NJ, is a state in the US located at the Atlantic coast, between the Delaware Bay and Delaware River in the west and the Atlantic Ocean and Hudson River to the east and is bordered to the north towards the state of New York. New Jersey has a total area of ​​22,590 km2 and has 9,005,644 residents (US Census, 2017). The capital is Trenton.

The state is also called The Garden State, the ‘ Garden State ‘, which aims at the large production of vegetables. The name is after the Channel Island of Jersey.

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Geography

Most of New Jersey belongs to the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which extends along the United States east coast from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico. The soil here consists of sand and clay, with large swamps near the coast. The coast itself forms a lagoon coast, closed by sandbanks.

The northwest part belongs to the Appalachians and is intersected by narrow, parallel slopes with a northeast – southwest direction; highest is the Kittatinny Mountains which in the High Point reaches 550 meters above sea level. The Delaware River, which forms the western boundary of neighboring Pennsylvania, breaks through the mountains in a narrow gorge (Delaware Water Gap) before it flows onto the coastal plain.

The climate is maritime temperate. About 40 per cent of the area is wooded, essentially deciduous, on sandy soil also pine (Pine Barrens).

Population

New Jersey was originally populated by the indigenous people of Delaware. European colonization began in the 1620s, reaching a peak between 1850 and 1930 with large groups of Italian, Russian and German immigrants. After World War II, many blacks moved from the southern states to New Jersey.

Since the late 1960s, population growth has been low. The population increased in the period 1990–2000 by 8.9 per cent (against the national average of 13.2 per cent), in the period 2000–2010 by 4.5 per cent (USA: 9.7 per cent). Of the population, 55.1 percent are considered white, 15 percent black, 10.1 percent Asian, and 20.4 percent Hispanic (US Census, 2017).

New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the United States and, along with California, the most urbanized, with 94.4 percent of the population living in cities. The settlement is, however, very unevenly distributed geographically, with 3 / 4 of the population live in the Northeast and belongs to the Greater New York. Here are the cities of Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Elizabeth. Another agglomeration which involves almost 1 / 5 of the population, extending along Delaware River from capital Trenton to Camden and belong Philadelphia region.

New Jersey sends two senators and 12 representatives to Congress.

Business

New Jersey is one of America’s most important industrial states. Thomas Edison established his inventor’s laboratory in Menlo Park in 1876. The industry includes large chemical factories, oil refineries, automotive, aerospace, food, textile and machine factories, manufacturing of electronics, machine tools, confectionery, rubber and leather goods. Most of the industry is located in the northeast and is linked to New York City. The other major industrial concentration is along the Delaware River, between Trenton to Camden, and is integrated into the Philadelphia region.

Agriculture is characterized by proximity to the major markets in the cities. In the south, vegetables, potatoes, fruits, raspberries and flowers are grown, in the north more milk, egg and cereal production is run.

Newark and Elizabeth are important port cities; the port facilities are managed as part of the Port of New York. Similarly, Camden’s port facilities are integrated into Philadelphia’s port.

Atlantic City is one of America’s leading bathing and congressional cities, and (from 1978) has the only legal gaming casinos on the US East Coast.

There are a number of institutions of higher education and research, including the State University (Rutgers University) with branches in New Brunswick (founded in 1766), Camden and Newark, and Princeton University (founded in 1746).

History

The first European settlement in New Jersey took place in 1623, when the Dutch settled on the Hudson River. Swedish (and Finnish) immigrants established a trading station at Delaware (New Sweden) in 1638. The Dutch took the Swedish colony in 1655, but lost everything to the English in 1664. The area was divided into the two colonies of Eastern and Western New Jersey in 1676., owned respectively by British nobleman Sir George Carteret and a group of breeders.

The division lasted until 1702, when New Jersey was merged into one colony under New York’s jurisdiction. In 1738 the area became a separate colony, and in 1787 became a separate state in the union. New Jersey was the third state to ratify the United States Constitution.

New Jersey Population 2019

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