New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States.
New Jersey was first inhabited by Native Americans for at least 2,800 years, with the Lenape being the dominant group by the time Europeans arrived in the early 17th century. Dutch and the Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements in the state. The English later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey—after the largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey—and granting it as a colony to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton.
New Jersey was the site of several important battles during the American Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, factories in the “Big Six” cities of Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, Jersey City, and Elizabeth helped drive the nation’s Industrial Revolution.