New Jersey Facts
Located in the northeastern U.S., New Jersey has 130 miles of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. The state is also home to the iconic Statue of Liberty State Park, which are situated across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. Along the Jersey Shore, there are many notable resort towns, such as Asbury Park, which has Victorian architecture and is known for its famous boardwalk. There are also several golf courses, including a number of courses at Seaside Heights.
The first settlements were in Delaware, where Native Americans lived about 10,000 years ago. These people were mostly Lenni-Lenapes and referred to the area as Scheyichbi. The name translates to ‘land of the shell money.’ The state’s first European explorer was Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. This explorer then charted the region and discovered the SS Morro Castle, which stranded near Asbury Park.
The first people in New Jersey arrived over 12,000 years ago, and their presence continued until thousands of years later. This land was inhabited by Lenni-Lenape tribes who practiced maize agriculture. The Lenape society was organized into matrilinear clans known as phratries. They had three distinct groups of clans, including the Lenape. In the early seventeenth century, the Dutch made contact with the area and claimed it for their Dutch colony.
The Governor of New Jersey has a variety of roles. The governor is the highest-ranking executive official in the state until 2010, and he is responsible for appointing many government officials. Until recently, the acting governor also served as the president of the New Jersey State Senate, and directed half of the legislative and executive processes. In 2002, Richard Codey was the acting governor twice, serving in the interim as Governor for short periods of time and then long-term in 2004.
New Jersey is an ethnically and religiously diverse state. More than 56 percent of children under the age of one live in minority households, which means their parents are non-Hispanic white. Other racial and religious differences include the state’s largest population of Cubans and Peruvians outside of Florida. It also has the second-largest Italian population in the United States. The state’s most important city is Philadelphia.
The state of New Jersey is the second-largest state in the U.S. by population, after New York. The state has numerous popular resort areas along its 127-mile-long Atlantic coast. Casinos are legal in Atlantic City, while the Delaware Water Gap is located in Camden. Hurricane Sandy devastated the New Jersey coast in late October 2012, killing 34 people and causing more than $38 billion in damage. There are many places to visit in the Garden State and the Garden of the States.
Despite being an important economic and political powerhouse, New Jersey also has a diverse population. The state’s population is more than 68 percent white and only 13.7% black, and just 2.7% Hispanics. The state’s economy has also experienced a steady decline. A recent study has shown that the average income per capita is only $5,400. Although this is still a small amount, a large percentage of residents live in New Jersey, and the state’s economy is a strong driver of its success.