People first came to New Jersey 12,000 years in the past. It was home to the indigenous tribes of the Lenape, the Munsee, and the Unalachtigo. Of course, Europeans had to come and claim the land for their own and the first was Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzano, in the year 1524. Later, Dutch, Finnish, and Swedish colonists settled there and fought over land until England (of course) took control in 1664. It was one of the original 13 colonies, but as we know the colonists wanted independence. New Jersey, in fact, was home to the most Revolutionary War battles out of all the states. Surely you have heard of the famous time when George Washington crossed the Delaware. Well, that was none other than the Delaware River in Trenton, New Jersey. This was one of the first major victories and a turning point for the war. It was the 3rd state admitted to the union in 1787, but the first to sign the Bill of Rights. The state was named in honor of British colonist George Carteret, who had been governor of the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel. Its nickname, the Garden State, was donned in 1876 due to its large amounts of food being grown.
