New Jersey is a state of many firsts, including the first baseball game, brewery and steam locomotive in Hoboken; the first boardwalk in Atlantic City; and the first copper mine, drive-in theater, ferry service, national park and seashore resort. Home to Cape May, Liberty State Park, Atlantic City and many resorts, beaches and attractions, New Jersey is known for tourism, as well.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, New Jersey has a total land area of more than 7,000 square miles. Divided into six regions, New Jersey consists of Skylands and Gateway in the northern third of the state, the Delaware River and Shore areas in the central region and Atlantic City and the South Shore in the south. New Jersey boasts 127 miles of shoreline, and its interior contains more than 800 lakes and ponds and 100 rivers and creeks, totaling nearly 700 square miles of water.
The first settlers in the area now known as New Jersey, the Delaware Indians, lived in the region more than 10,000 years ago and numbered from 8,000 to 20,000. Giovanni de Verrazano was the first colonist to explore the area in 1524. In 1609, Henry Hudson claimed the area for the Netherlands as "New Netherlands." New Jersey became a state in 1787, making it the third state to enter the Union.
The population of New Jersey as of 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is 8.7 million, or 2.8 percent of the national population. New Jersey's population increased by 3.5 percent from 2000 to 2009. As of 2008, residents of New Jersey who are 65 years or older make up 13 percent; persons under 18 years old comprise 24 percent; and children under five years make up 6 percent. A majority of the New Jersey population, as of 2008, is Caucasian (76 percent), while Hispanic, Black and Asian persons comprised 16, 15 and 8 percent, respectively.
As of 2002, the state of New Jersey manufactured and shipped more than $96 million of goods, nearly 2.5 percent of the total shipped for that year in the United States. According to the official website for the State of New Jersey, the "Garden State" consists of 9,800 farms, ranking it second in the production of blueberries, third in cranberries and fourth in bell peppers, peaches and lettuce. The state is also a major player in the electronics and chemical industries, with large-scale production beginning at the turn of the 20th century.
New Jersey is home to more than 48 state parks and recreation areas, according to the State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Only one park, Liberty State Park, is situated in an urban area. More than 17 million people visit the state's parks every year. In 2007, the State started work on an urban park project in Trenton: the New Jersey Capital Park. New Jersey also has four national recreation centers, 11 state forests and 24 historic sites.
