The first people came to the area that is now New Jersey at least 12,000 years ago. Thousands of years later, Indian tribes lived on this land, including the Lenape, Mansi (or Minsi) and Unalahtigo. Around 1524, the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano became the first European to arrive in the region. Swedish, Finnish and Dutch colonists then built settlements and fought over land until England took control of the region in 1664. New Jersey became one of the 13 American colonies ruled by the British.
But ultimately the colonists living here wanted independence. This led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775. New Jersey saw more Revolutionary War battles than any other state. In 1776, George Washington crossed the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey, where he defeated British troops. The battle was a turning point in the war, as one of the first major military victories in the Revolutionary War. In 1787, New Jersey became the third state of the United States and the first to sign the Bill of Rights. The state was named after British colonist George Carteret, who was formerly Governor of Jersey, a British island in the English Channel between Britain and France. In 1876, New Jersey was nicknamed the Garden State because of the vast amount of food grown there at the time.
Geography of New Jersey
According to itypetravel.com, New Jersey is bordered by Pennsylvania and New York to the north, Pennsylvania to the west, Delaware and the Delaware Bay to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and Long Island (part of New York) to the east. It can be divided into four different geographic regions. The Atlantic Coastal Plain of low hills, pine forests, and salt marshes extends over three-fifths of the southern part of the state. This area includes the Barrier Islands with sandy beaches. Northeast of the Coastal Plain is the 20-mile-wide Piedmont where the Hudson, Passaic, Remapo, and Raritan rivers intersect. The region has rolling hills and narrow valleys and is where most of the state’s major cities are located. To the west is the New England uplands, also called the Highlands. This area has flat mountain ranges and many lakes. The Appalachian Ridge and Valley is a mountainous region in the northwest corner of New Jersey. It includes the Kittatinny Mountains and the Delaware Divide, an opening created when the Delaware River cut through the Appalachian Mountains millions of years ago.
Wildlife of New Jersey
Mammals in New Jersey include black bears, lynx bobcats, red foxes, raccoons, and mole-like Takaho poppy shrews. Red-bellied woodpeckers, tits, northern cardinals, and American goldfinches (the state bird) are common birds. The state is home to reptiles such as spotted turtles, five-lined skinks, and coastal plains milk snakes. Marbled salamanders, red-spotted newts, and New Jersey choir frogs are among its amphibians. Many of the state’s trees include the sugar maple, American chestnut, flowering dogwood, pine resin, and American elm. Black-eyed Susan, orange daylilies, Queen Anne’s lace, and violets (the state flower) are some of the wildflowers that grow here.
PRINCETON
Population: 14,200 thousand people (2010)
Time zone: UTC-5, summer UTC-4
Princeton is located in Mercer County, New Jersey. It is a way station on the route from New York to Philadelphia and Trenton ‘s northwestern neighbor. Air communication is carried out through the state airport Princeton (5 kilometers from the city) and the private international airport Trenton-Mercer (located 25 minutes from the city center, in the suburbs of Ewing). By train, you need to take the express northeast line from Philadelphia, or New York, with a transfer in Trenton to the Princeton shuttle. See New Jersey cities.
Before the arrival of the pioneers, these lands belonged to the Delaware Indian people. For the first time, the name Princeton or Princetown is found in the diaries of the colonist James Leonard, as a description of his vast estate. The city was founded before the start of the American Revolution for Independence. After the victory in 1777, Princeton held the first meeting of the new New Jersey state legislature within the framework of the Constitution.
Princeton University, founded in 1746 and a member of the prestigious Ivy League, brought world fame to the city. From 1950 to 1990, the university had at its disposal a private airport, Forrestal, 3 kilometers north of the main campus. And for the University rowing team in 1902, they even created an artificial Carnegie Lake by building a dam on the Millstone River.
From the date of the first meeting of the Continental Congress in the late 18th century to today’s scientific and social conferences, the Americans themselves call Princeton a meeting place for the best minds in the country.
The cultural heritage of Princeton is the richest architectural ensemble of the colonial style, borrowing all the best from European architecture, from the late Middle Ages to the classical baroque. Numerous historical districts of the city can be called open-air museums in themselves. Princeton holds the record for the most listings on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States. It is enough just to walk along Nassau Street or wander into the oldest part of the Kings Highway.
Princeton has given America many outstanding people. Among them are the 28th US President Woodrow Wilson, the genius Albert Einstein, the writer Thomas Mann and a long list of Nobel laureates, political figures, and cultural figures.
