Colonial history of New Jersey

The original people of the region of some 13,000 years left behind advanced hunting implements such as bows and arrows and evidence of an agricultural society.

Led by Printz, the settlement extended as far north as Fort Christina (on both sides of the Delaware River).

[5] He helped to improve the military and commercial status of the colony by constructing Fort Nya Elfsborg, which is now near Salem, on the east side of the Delaware River.

Insisting that John Cabot had been the first to discover North America, the English granted the land that now encompasses New Jersey, who ordered Colonel Richard Nicolls to take over the area.

[8] In September 1664, an English fleet under the command of Richard Nicolls sailed into what is now New York Harbor and under threat of attack, forced the provisional surrender of the colony by the Dutch.

The English received little resistance due to West India Company's decision not to garrison the colony.

Nicolls took the position of deputy-governor of New Amsterdam and the rest of New Netherland, guaranteeing colonists' property rights, laws of inheritance, and the enjoyment of religious freedom.

Although never fully enacted, a number of its elements subsequently became core features of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

[19] After the final transfer of power to the English, New Netherlanders and their descendants spread across East Jersey and established many of the towns and cities which exist today.

A meeting house built in 1672 was visited by George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, the same year.

The oldest continuously used school site in the state was established in 1664 at Bergen Square, in today's Jersey City.

In 1746, The College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) was founded in Elizabethtown by a group of Great Awakening "New Lighters" that included Jonathan Dickinson, Aaron Burr Sr. and Peter Van Brugh Livingston.

In 1766, Queens College (now Rutgers University) was founded in New Brunswick by Dutch Reformed ministers with a Royal Charter from George III.

C. A. Nothnagle Log House , built by Finnish or Swedish settlers in the New Sweden colony in modern-day Swedesboro, New Jersey between 1638 and 1643, is one of the oldest still standing log houses in the United States.
A map from c. 1639, Manhattan situated on the North Rivier , with numbered key showing settlements: 27. Farm of Van Vorst; 28. v (sic): 29. Farm of Evertsen; 30. Plantation at Lacher's Hook; 31. Plantation at Paulus Hook; 32. Plantation of Maerytensen on west bank of North River .
The relative location of the New Netherland and New Sweden colonies in modern-day New Jersey
New Jersey Tricentennial Flag, which was designed in 1964 to mark the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Province of New Jersey [ 10 ]
The original West and East New Jersey provinces, highlighted in yellow and green, respectively. The Keith Line is shown in red, and the Coxe and Barclay line is shown in orange.
Old Bergen Church in Jersey City
Church on the Green, a Dutch Reformed Church in Hackensack
Schraalenburgh North Church in Dumont
Seaville Meeting House in Seaville
Trenton Meeting House in Trenton