New Jersey

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New Jersey
Flag of New Jersey.svg Seal of New Jersey.svg
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List of states
Capital: Trenton
State motto: Liberty and Prosperity
Surface: 22,588 km²
Residents: 8,944,469 (2016 estimated) (389 U / km²)
Member since: December 18, 1787
Time zone: UTC − 5
The highest point: 550 m (High Point)
Average Height: 75 m
Deepest point: 0 m Atlantic Ocean
Governor : Philip D. Murphy ( D )
Post  / Office /  ISO NJ / / US-NJ
Map of New Jersey
Map of New Jersey

New Jersey ([ njuːdʒɜːzi ] BE /  [ nuːdʒɝzi ] AE , German older also Neujersey ) (after Rhode Iceland , Delaware and Connecticut ) the fourth smallest state of the United States and also the one with the highest population density. New Jersey was named after the Channel Island of Jersey . The state is nicknamed The Garden State and belongs to the Central Atlantic States . Please click to listen!Play

geography

Area, location and overview information

View of the Atlantic Ocean. Sea Bright, New Jersey

New Jersey has a total area of ​​22,588 km², of which 3,377 km² is accounted for by water. The state borders New York to the north and northeast , where the Hudson River forms a natural boundary. To the west, New Jersey is completely separated from the states of Pennsylvania and Delaware by the Delaware River . In the south, in the Delaware Bay , and in the east, New Jersey has shares of the Atlantic .

The state is roughly the shape of the head and torso of a person whose head is bent slightly forward. Based on this picture, the head, i.e. the north of the country, is the region with the larger elevations in an otherwise flat country. Here in the Great Appalachian Valley (also Kittatinny Valley ), which differs from the US state of Alabama to the Hudson River extends, located on the border of the State New York of High Point , New Jersey's highest mountain, with 550 meters the average Land height by more than seven times.

The east of the country, the catchment area of ​​the Hudson and the largest US metropolis of New York City , is densely populated. The metropolitan area west of the Hudson already includes Newark , Jersey City , Paterson and Elizabeth , all four of the country's major cities.

To the south of it begins the Atlantic coastal plain , which is a popular holiday destination over a length of more than 200 km with its numerous seaside resorts. The coastal strip is relatively heavily populated, especially in the northern and then again in the southern part with its numerous medium-sized towns in a row. The largest cities along the coast are Long Branch in the north and Atlantic City in the south, which is important for tourism .

In the interior to the southern part, dense forests shape the image of the state. Well-known and popular travel destination in this region are the Pine Barrens , which are under conservation and to which the myth of the Jersey Devil is attached.

structure

population

Population development
Census Residents ± in%
1790 184.139 -
1800 211.149 14.7%
1810 245,562 16.3%
1820 277,575 13%
1830 320,823 15.6%
1840 373.306 16.4%
1850 489,555 31.1%
1860 672.035 37.3%
1870 906.096 34.8%
1880 1,131,116 24.8%
1890 1,444,933 27.7%
1900 1,883,669 30.4%
1910 2,537,167 34.7%
1920 3,155,900 24.4%
1930 4,041,334 28.1%
1940 4,160,165 2.9%
1950 4,835,329 16.2%
1960 6,066,782 25.5%
1970 7.168.164 18.2%
1980 7,364,823 2.7%
1990 7,730,188 5%
2000 8,414,347 8.9%
2010 8,791,894 4.5%
Before 1900

1900–1990 2000 2010

New Jersey population density map
Newark

The residents of New Jersey are colloquially called "New Jerseyans" or "New Jerseyites".

New Jersey has 8,682,661 inhabitants (as of 2008 estimate), of which 69.6% are white, 15.6% Latinos , 13.6% African-American , 7.5% Asian and 0.2% Hawaiian or from other Pacific islands.

In 2005 there were 1.9 million, i.e. H. 19.2% of all residents were born outside of the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau , New Jersey is the second richest state after Maryland .

Age and gender structure

The age structure of New Jersey is made up as follows:

  • up to 18 years: 2,089,653 (24.0%)
  • 18–64 years: 5,509,302 (63.1%)
  • 65 years and over: 1,125,605 (12.9%)

The median age is 38.2 years. 48.8% of the population are male and 51.2% are female.

ancestry

18.1% of the population are of Italian descent, making them the largest group. This is followed by the Irish (16.1%), German (15.7%), Polish (6.7%) and English (6.0%) groups.

Biggest cities

New Brunswick (New Jersey) Vineland (New Jersey) Bayonne (New Jersey) East Orange Union City (New Jersey) Passaic Camden (New Jersey) Clifton (New Jersey) Trenton (New Jersey) Elizabeth (New Jersey) Paterson (New Jersey) Jersey City Newark (New Jersey)

history

George Washington crosses the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War.

The area of ​​New Jersey was originally the settlement area of ​​the Lenni Lenape (Munsee) and other, smaller tribes such as the Hackensack, Haverstraw, Navasink, Raritan and Wappinger . Today's New Jersey was then colonized by Europeans from 1609 first in the form of Dutch settlements and formed initially with the modern state of New York , the Dutch colony Neuniederland . The resident Indian tribes had allied themselves after a massacre in Pavonia by Governor Willem Kieft in the Wappinger War (1643-1645) against New Netherlands and its supporters ( Mahican , Mohawk and English settlers). This war was one of the bloodiest and cruelest wars of extermination against the Indians. Together with their allies, the Wappingers had more than 1,600 tribesmen killed. In August 1644, a peace treaty was signed in Fort Orange, in which the defeated Wappinger and Metoac tribes were obliged to pay an annual tribute in the form of wampum to the Mahican. The Mahican and Mohawk suffered no losses of their own, and the Fort Orange Treaty enabled them to control the wampum trade in western Long Islands and the lower Hudson. When the government in the Netherlands learned of Kieft's policy and the massacres, he was finally replaced in 1647 and they appointed Petrus Stuyvesant as his successor . The Nieuw Nederlands years were numbered, however, as the Dutch colony was taken over by England in 1664 without a fight. In honor of the Duke of York, their future king, the British named their new colony New York .

In what is now New Jersey, two proprietary lordships (owned by the Lord Proprietors ) were formed, East Jersey and West Jersey . In 1702 East and West Jersey were united into a crown colony and Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon was appointed first governor of the Province of New Jersey . During the American Revolutionary War , New Jersey was the scene of around 100 battles, including Trenton in 1776, Princeton in 1777 and Monmouth in 1778. As early as 1776, New Jersey's first constitution was passed, which guaranteed all residents above a certain level of ownership the right to vote . This meant that white and black men and widows could vote, but not married women, as they were not allowed to own property. New Jersey signed on July 4, 1776 Richard Stockton , John Witherspoon , Francis Hopkinson , John Hart and Abraham Clark , 1776, the United States Declaration of Independence .

New Jersey was the seat of the first United States government to emerge from the Continental Congress for a short time , Princeton in 1783 and Trenton in 1784 . As one of the 13 original states, New Jersey joined the Union as the third state in 1787. In 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state to gradually abolish slavery . In 1844 the second constitution was ratified; the current constitution of the country dates from 1947.

Thomas Edison in his research laboratory in East Orange, New Jersey

After the Civil War , which largely passed New Jersey by, the Industrial Revolution took hold in the country. Until then, New Jersey was largely rural. However, agriculture was never very productive due to poor soil conditions. Personalities such as Thomas Edison , who worked for Menlo Park for a long time , contributed significantly to the industrial growth. The growth of the up-and-coming metropolises of New York and Philadelphia also had a positive effect on New Jersey from around 1870. Both cities were (and are) located in neighboring states, but both are directly on the state border, so that their economic and demographic growth also radiated to New Jersey. Today, almost half of the New York metropolitan area is in New Jersey, which also means that the most important population center of the country is located there, i.e. in the northeast.

Tourist Attractions

Part of the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in winter

politics

Development towards the supremacy of the Democrats

Like Connecticut, New Jersey, formerly a swing state , has become a democratically dominated state in recent years .

Presidential election results
year Democrats republican
2020 57.3% 2,608,335 41.4% 1,883,274
2016 55.0% 2,148,278 41.0% 1,601,933
2012 58.3% 2,126,610 40.5% 1,478,749
2008 57.1% 2,215,422 41.6% 1,613,207
2004 52.9% 1,911,430 46.2% 1,670,003
2000 56.1% 1,788,850 40.3% 1,284,173
1996 53.7% 1,652,329 35.9% 1,103,078
1992 43.0% 1,436,206 40.6% 1,356,865
1988 42.6% 1,320,352 56.2% 1,743,192
1984 39.2% 1,261,323 60.1% 1,933,630
1980 38.6% 1,147,364 52.0% 1,546,557
1976 47.9% 1,444,653 50.1% 1,509,688
1972 36.8% 1,102,211 61.6% 1,845,502
1968 44.0% 1,264,206 46.1% 1,325,467

At the state level, Republican Chris Christie was elected new governor in 2009 and was confirmed in office in 2013 with a clear majority. The main focus of the Democrats are clearly the large industrial cities of Newark and Jersey City in the New York area, as one of their classic target groups, the middle and lower class workers and ethnic minorities, are very strongly represented here. New Jersey has 14 electoral votes in presidential elections.

The state is currently represented in the US Senate by Democrats Bob Menendez and Cory Booker . The latter won the by-election for the mandate of the late Frank Lautenberg against the Republican Steve Lonegan.

The United States House of Representatives has one Republican and eleven Democrats from New Jersey in the 116th Congress .

In December 2007, a democratic majority in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature ( Senate and House of Representatives ) decided to abolish the death penalty .

Governors

congress

Members of the 117th Congress

House of Representatives
Surname Member since Party affiliation
Donald W. Norcross 2014 democrat
Jefferson "Jeff" H. Van Drew 2019 republican
Andrew "Andi" N. Kim 2019 democrat
Christopher Henry "Chris" Smith 1981 republican
Joshua S. "Josh" Gottheimer 2017 democrat
Frank Joseph Pallone Jr. 1988 democrat
Tomasz "Tom" P. Malinowski 2019 democrat
Albio B. Sires 2006 democrat
William James Pascrell Jr. 1997 democrat
Donald Milford Payne Jr. 2012 democrat
Rebecca Michelle "Mikie" Sherrill 2019 democrat
Bonnie M. Watson Coleman 2015 democrat
senate
Surname Member since Party affiliation
Robert "Bob" Menendez 2006 democrat
Cory Anthony Booker 2013 democrat

Economy and Infrastructure

Economic structure

New Jersey is one of the leading industrial nations in the United States. New Jersey's economic output was USD 581 billion in 2016, making it the eighth-highest economic output of any state in the United States and accounting for 3.15% of the total American economy. Counted as a separate country, New Jersey's economic output would be roughly the same as that of Argentina . The real gross domestic product per capita (English per capita real GDP) was 64,970 US dollars in 2016 (national average of the 50 US states: 57,118 US dollars; national ranking: 8th).

Of importance are among others:

  • Electronics industry
  • Clothing industry
  • Steel production
  • Shipbuilding and mechanical engineering.

Agriculture is highly developed. At the dunes occupied Nehrungsküste tourism is an important economic factor. New Jersey is a research leader in the United States ( Princeton et al.).

The unemployment rate was 5.1% in November 2017 (national average: 4.1%).

traffic

Road traffic

New Jersey has a dense network of freeways , interstate highways, and other expressways, some of which are toll roads. As early as the late 1920s, the Route 1 Extension and the Pulaski Skyway, two of the first intersection-free expressways in the United States, were built. The New Jersey Turnpike , which was built at the beginning of the 1950s and is subject to charges, is particularly well-known and has up to 14 regular lanes in some sections.

air traffic

Newark Liberty International Airport is an international commercial airport in Newark and was the first major airport in the immediate vicinity of New York City.

education

The main state university is Rutgers University . The best-known private universities are Princeton University and Fairleigh Dickinson University . Other colleges are included in the list of universities in New Jersey .

literature

  • Marc Mappen, Maxine N. Lurie (Ed.): Encyclopedia of New Jersey. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 2004, ISBN 978-0-8135-3325-4 .

Web links

Wiktionary: New Jersey  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikivoyage: New Jersey  Travel Guide
Commons : New Jersey  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

Coordinates: 40 ° 0 ′  N , 74 ° 30 ′  W