New Jersey
State in NE USA; nicknamed Garden State
Area:
20,200 sq km/7,797 sq mi
Capital:
Trenton
Towns and Cities:
Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth
Physical:
Hudson River; about 200 km/125 mi of Jersey Shore
Features:
The most densely populated state in the USA; the Jersey Shore has gambling
casinos, amusement piers, and the boardwalk (the first elevated wooden
walkway in USA, 1870) in Atlantic City, and the Victorian beach resort
of Cape May, the state's oldest resort; Delaware Water Gap National
Recreation Area; Palisades along west bank of the Hudson River; Morristown
national historic park, commemorating the winters of 1777 and 1779-80
spent there by George Washington and his army; Edison national historic
site, Menlo Park; Wharton State Forest, with Batsto state historic site,
a restoration of an early 19th-century ironworking and glassmaking community;
Walt Whitman House, Camden; Princeton Battle Monument; Princeton University
(1746), with the Institute for Advanced Study; Rutgers University; Educational
Testing Service; Bell Laboratories; Paterson (1791), the first planned
industrial community in the USA; Garden State Arts Center (1968) in
Monmouth County; the Meadowlands stadium; Statue of Liberty national
monument (shared with New York)
Industries:
Fruits and vegetables, fish and shellfish, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
soaps and cleansers, transport equipment, petroleum refining
Population:
(1995) 7,945,300
Famous people:
Stephen Crane, Thomas Edison, Allen Ginsberg, Thomas Paine, Paul Robeson,
Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Woodrow Wilson
History:
Colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch (New Netherlands); ceded
to England 1664; became a state 1787. It was one of the original
13 states. Wedged between the growing cities of Philadelphia and
New York, New Jersey saw much fighting during the Revolution and
became increasingly urban and industrial in the 19th century.
In the 20th century, much of the state remains a farming region
but also has experienced much air and water pollution as well
as the dumping of toxic wastes in landfills. It remains a favoured
site for development, however, and ranks near the top among states
in income per head of population; much urban renewal has occurred
in the industrial port cities along the Hudson since the 1970s.
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