New Jersey

A colony divided in two for forty years, and afterwards a corridor between two cities it does not contain. The Dutch and Swedes had settlements here before England took the region in 1664, and the Duke of York granted it to two proprietors who then sold their halves separately, producing East Jersey, settled from New England and New York, and West Jersey, largely Quaker and connected to Philadelphia. They had separate governments until 1702 and separate capitals until 1790, which is why the state still has two distinct cultural halves and no dominant city of its own. Its position between New York and Philadelphia made it the most fought-over ground of the revolution - Washington crossed the Delaware to Trenton on Christmas night 1776, and Princeton, Monmouth and Morristown followed, giving the state its nickname as the crossroads of the Revolution. Industrialisation came early with Paterson's planned manufacturing district, promoted by Hamilton in 1791. Edison's laboratory at Menlo Park produced the phonograph and the practical light bulb. The state's permissive incorporation laws in the 1890s made it the original home of the American holding company. It is the most densely populated state. Its shore economy and its refineries sit within a few miles of each other. Trenton is the capital and Newark the largest city. Princeton University was founded in 1746. The state is bounded by water on all but a short stretch of its northern border. Its diners are a recognised regional institution. The Hindenburg burned at Lakehurst in 1937.

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