Wikijunior:North America/United States/New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania. Parts of New Jersey lie within the sprawling metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia. The capital of New Jersey is Trenton and the largest city is Newark. Other big cities in New Jersey include Jersey City, Paterson, and Elizabeth.

History
The Dutch and the Swedes founded the first settlements in the area during the 1600s. In 1664, the English took control of New Amsterdam (now New York City) and named the area in between the Hudson River and the Delaware River the Province of New Jersey. In 1674, New Jersey was split and governed as two separate provinces, East Jersey and West Jersey, until they were reunited in 1702. Many important battles were fought in the state during the American Revolution. New Jersey officially ratified the Constitution on December 18, 1787, making it the third state to do so.

Geography
New Jersey has a total area of 8,722.58 square miles (22,9591.38 kmw). It is bordered to the north and east by New York, on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania, and on the southwest by Delaware and Delaware Bay. The majority of the state lies within the sprawling metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia.

People
In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of New Jersey was 9,228,994. English is the most-spoken language (71.31%), followed by Spanish (14.59%), Chinese (1.23%), Italian (1.06%), Portuguese (1.06%), Tagalog (0.96%), and Korean (0.89%).

In 2010, 68.6% of people in New Jersey were White/Caucasian, 13.7% were Black, 8.3% were Asian, and 0.3% were Native American.

State Symbols

 * The state nickname is The Garden State
 * The state motto is "Liberty and Prosperity"
 * The state slogan is "Come See For Yourself"
 * The state bird is the eastern goldfinch
 * The state colors are buff and Jersey blue
 * The state cryptid is the Jersey Devil
 * The state dance is the square dance
 * The state dinosaur is the Hadrosaurus foulkii
 * The state dog is The Seeing Eye dog
 * The state fish is the brook trout
 * The state flower is the common meadow violet
 * The state fruit is the northern highbush blueberry
 * The state insect is the European honey bee
 * The state animal is the horse
 * The state reptile is the bog turtle
 * The state soil is Downer
 * The state ship is the A.J. Meerwald
 * The state shell is the knobbed whelk
 * The state trees are the northern red oak and the dogwood
 * The state vegetable is the Jersey tomato
 * The state microbe is Streptomyces griseus