New Jersey - The US Explained

new jersey despite being the fourth smallest state in the union it is home to nearly nine million people while not having a single city whose city limits contain more than three hundred thousand people it is the most densely populated state in the us even more so than far smaller states like rhode island and delaware and with much of its land divided between two major urban areas it still manages to contain some very sparsely populated regions new jersey one of the most diverse states in the u.s is the third place i will cover in this 56-part series on every state territory and federal district in the united states hello and welcome to that is interesting i'm your host carter this is the us explained episode 3 new jersey new jersey is nicknamed the garden state the term is attributed to a man named abraham browning a farmer from the 1800s who described how at the time much of the produce from the mostly rural state was being used to feed the large population centers of pennsylvania and new york today despite the fact that new jersey is largely urbanized browning's observation still holds true in some ways the state is heavily influenced by the nearby population centers of philadelphia and new york and many new jerseyans live in suburbs of either city in addition agriculture is surprisingly still a decently large part of the state's economy and it is home to many gardens and farms new jersey is named after the island of jersey a crown dependency of britain that sits in the english channel off the coast of normandy in recognition for the fact that the island had backed the royal family in the english civil war this can sometimes get confusing because many americans referred to new jersey as just jersey even though there is another place with the name this holds true with areas within the state as well the state's coastline is referred to as the jersey shore not the new jersey shore and its second largest city is jersey city not new jersey city this is a bit of an anomaly in the u.s you never hear anyone casually dropping the word new when talking about new hampshire new mexico or new york the three other states with the word in their name like many other states in the u.s new jersey state flag is just their state code of arms they put it on a yellowish background which i guess makes it more memorable than some of the other state flags most of which picked a dark blue background but really if you aren't familiar with it already you won't look at the flag and just recognize it as new jerseys the state takes up just 8 722 square miles or 22 591 square kilometers which puts it all the way at number 47 out of the 50 states however with 8.8 million residents it is the 11th most populous state in the country home to more people than states like virginia washington or arizona this gives the state a population density of 1 218 people per square mile or 470 per square kilometer higher than any other state in the us and similar to that of rwanda or south korea in fact only 15 countries on earth have a higher population density than new jersey the state is located in the mid-atlantic region of the northeast u.s with the atlantic ocean sitting to its east to its west sits pennsylvania which lies across the delaware river pennsylvania's largest city in the fifth largest urban area in the country philadelphia sits directly across the delaware from new jersey with the skyscrapers of downtown philly visible from downtown camden one of the largest cities in south jersey further downstream the delaware river grows wider and the border with pennsylvania changes to the border with delaware the smaller city of wilmington sits across from new jersey as well and if you saw my video in delaware you'll know that there are actually two exclaves of the state that share a land border with new jersey created by mud dumped there from the bottom of the river that crossed into delaware's side of the state line the river widens into the delaware bay giving the state a marshy coastline to the south to the north and northeast it borders the state of new york the northern border with new york is just a diagonal line but the eastern border is created by the hudson river all the way to its mouth in new york harbor this puts new jersey directly across from four of the five boroughs of new york the bronx manhattan brooklyn and staten island just as with philadelphia this close proximity to the urban core of new york means that many suburbs of the us's largest city sit in new jersey in fact the eight most populous cities in new jersey all sit within the new york metropolitan area new jersey has its fair share of border irregularities with new york as well spurring from disputes when the two were colonies staten island belongs to new york despite sitting much closer to new jersey than any part of new york legend says this was because new york got someone to sail around it in less than 24 hours but that is largely believed to be a myth liberty island home to the statue of liberty is part of new york but the waters around it belong to new jersey making it an exclave the nearby ellis island was a major center of immigration into the united states with over 12 million immigrants arriving in the country through the island and lots of people think it's part of new york however most of it actually belongs to new jersey just like liberty island ellis island was part of new york but surrounded by waters that belonged to new jersey the difference was that the island was artificially increased several times over in size this led to a long-standing border dispute between the two states that wasn't settled until 1998 in the supreme court they decided that the original part of the island should belong to new york but that all the land that had been reclaimed 83 of ellis island belonged to new jersey this gives new york another exclave surrounded by new jersey and ellis island probably one of the strangest borders between any two states in the country if you want to learn more about the weird island borders between new jersey and new york cgp grey has a really interesting video that goes more in depth on them which i definitely recommend you check out if you haven't seen it already much of the state is heavily urbanized especially the northern part home to many suburbs and satellite cities of new york because new york is such a large city many of these satellites such as newark or nork jersey city patterson and elizabeth are major cities in their own right with jersey city and newark containing large skylines and downtowns that one would expect to find in a metro area's urban core not in a satellite city further from new york residential suburban areas continue into much of the state north jersey is not all urbanized though the appalachian or appalachian mountains actually cut through the northern part of the state as does the appalachian trail it's home to the delaware water gap where the delaware river abruptly turns and cuts through a mountain range while you might not think of new jersey as being particularly hilly or mountainous they do exist in the north of the state around new york and pennsylvania the flatter rural parts of north jersey around the delaware river are still home to a decently large population featuring a mix of suburbs small towns and agricultural areas further south the capital city of trenton sits on a delaware across from pennsylvania one of just three states alongside alaska and nevada whose capital borders another state or country although in the other two cases the city's actual urban areas do not reach the border trenton which acts as a satellite city of philadelphia is part of a continuous string of cities and towns stretching to the new york suburbs following the new jersey turnpike in fact this urban corridor extends all the way from washington dc to boston and is known as the northeast megalopolis flat land an abundance of rivers and bays and a relative proximity to europe which led many europeans to settle there led the megalopolis to become an incredibly populated region home to 17 percent of all americans while taking up just 2 percent of the us's land new jersey's location within it contributes to its large population leading suburban areas between philly and new york to cover much of the state the coastline to the south of new york is also heavily populated with a string of continuous settlement extending from new york all the way to the town of toms river which sits about halfway between new york and atlantic city in fact most of the barrier islands of the jersey shore are heavily developed especially the area around atlantic city beach destinations for tourists from all over the mid-atlantic especially pennsylvania which sits nearby but has no coastline on the ocean however between the densely populated jersey shore and the philadelphia suburbs sits one of the emptiest places in the east coast the pine barrens the region takes up much of south jersey but has largely been free of both agriculture and development the reason for this is that the pine barrens consist of a large pine forest growing in a sandy soil this made agriculture very difficult leading many european settlers not to settle in the region although today it is home to one particular crop cranberries which grow in the numerous cranberry bogs located throughout the pine barrens they are a sparsely populated area within a densely populated state and today consist of numerous state forests and other protected areas the pine barrens were home to decent amounts of iron which led many industrial towns to pop up but the resource just wasn't as easy to access as in other parts of the country like pennsylvania this led many of the towns and the pine barrens to simply be abandoned and today there are numerous ghost towns dotting the region in addition legend says it is home to the jersey devil a creature of folklore which is supposedly a devil-like kangaroo with a goat head goat feet bat wings claws horns and a forked tail today the new jersey devils a pro hockey team based out of newark are named for the mythical creature the region around the delaware bay consists of agricultural areas that give way to marshes and wetlands while much of the jersey shore from the area south of new york to cape may is highly developed the coastline of the delaware bay consists of numerous protected areas and today remains a largely undeveloped wildlife sanctuary new jersey was originally inhabited by the lenape also known as the delaware who lived throughout the entirety of the state as well as in parts of nearby states like pennsylvania delaware new york and connecticut forced west by colonial expansion and disease most lenape live today in ontario wisconsin and oklahoma although some still reside in new jersey with the state recognizing two local lenape tribes that remain unrecognized by the federal government just as with delaware and pennsylvania early colonization of new jersey occurred in the area along the delaware river where sweden britain and the netherlands jockeyed for control of the important waterway sweden established the colony of new sweden along the delaware around what is today the greater philadelphia wilmington area and the dutch founded new netherland along the hudson river creating the capital city of new amsterdam on manhattan island just across the hudson from new jersey they soon conquered new sweden and took control of what is today new jersey which lay in between both colonies today dutch settlement of the region is especially visible in north jersey where many place names have dutch origin several rivers and waterways there for example are known as kills coming from the middle dutch word for channel new netherland however was soon taken by the british who divided the dutch colony into several new colonies owned by wealthy british aristocrats a little over a decade later britain had been golfed in civil war between those who supported the parliament versus those who supported the monarchy known as the english civil war the king charles the first was executed and his son charles ii exiled with a man named oliver cromwell seizing control of the country eventually charles ii took control of the country back from the cromwells the island of jersey had staunchly supported the royal family throughout the war so much that charles ii was actually declared king while on the island in recognition of jersey's support charles decided to name one of the colonies carved out of new netherland in its honor he gave the new colony of new jersey to two of his friends john berkeley and george carteret the dutch actually briefly regained control of it and it was later split into two colonies called east and west jersey which geographically seems like a strange way to divide it up rather than north and south however the two were reunited in 1702 new jersey played an important role in the american revolution was numerous important battles occurring there such as the battle of monmouth and the battle of trenton where george washington's troops famously crossed the delaware from pennsylvania in a sneak attack against german soldiers fighting for britain the city of princeton was also the capital of the us for a time at the very end of the war and later the capital city became trenton after the end of the war and the drafting of the us constitution new jersey followed its neighboring states of delaware and pennsylvania and became the third state to ratify the constitution doing so on december 18 1787 just 11 days after delaware ratified and six days after pennsylvania it would be nearly a month later before the next date georgia ratified in 1788 new jersey was slow to abolish slavery and was the last northern state to do so carrying out abolition very gradually because of this several black americans were still enslaved in new jersey during the civil war even though the appalling practice had technically been abolished there over a half century earlier the state which had mostly been agricultural began to become highly developed during the 1800s playing an important role in the industrial revolution and leading to growth in the state's population thomas edison the inventor of the light bulb worked out of menlo park a neighborhood in raritan township a new jersey suburb of new york that later changed its name to edison and is now the state's fifth largest city another satellite city of new york paterson grew into a center of the american textile industry drawing immigrants from all over the world to work in the city's silk mills the morris canal and later the delaware and raritan canal cut across the northern part of the state allowing steel to travel from allentown in bethlehem important steel towns in pennsylvania to north jersey and new york city and help spur industrial development in the state railroads connecting new york to the western u.s typically started in new jersey the state's industrial importance remained during world war one and two when it became a center of shipbuilding and the construction of the jersey turnpike as well as several light rail lines made it easier for people to commute from the new jersey suburbs into new york and philadelphia today new jersey is home to numerous major cities the largest is known to lots of people outside the city as newark but many locals pronounce it nork the city is home to 285 000 people which may seem strange considering it is the most populous city in one of the us's most populous states the reason for this is simple newark and many other new jersey cities are suburbs of either new york or philadelphia which means that the city isn't considered to have suburbs itself and so its population is limited to that within its city limits it sits on the passaic river in newark bay just five miles from new york city with jersey city lying in between the two despite being a satellite city of new york newark has a large downtown and is one of several cities that the port of new york and new jersey the third busiest port in the u.s stretches between made possible by the vast network of channels rivers and waterways that cut through new york city and its new jersey suburbs major companies have u.s headquarters there like audible panasonic and prudential however newark faces issues with poverty and crime and has suffered from water contamination with the city's water supply having high levels of lead with 270 thousand people new jersey's second largest city is jersey city which lies on bergen neck a peninsula sitting between the newark bay and new york harbor as well as their respective tributaries the hackensack and hudson rivers wedged between new york city and newark downtown jersey city sits directly across the hudson from downtown manhattan and is home to a major skyline with most of new jersey's tallest buildings such as 99 hudson street in the goldman sachs tower sitting in jersey city in fact only 12 cities in the u.s have more skyscrapers than jersey city but not many people recognize its skyline because it tends to be overshadowed by its neighbor across the hudson it's also consistently ranked as one of the most diverse cities in the us which i'll talk more about later some other major cities in north jersey are paterson and elizabeth both of which also sit in the suburbs of new york they are the state's third and fourth largest cities respectively each with over 100 000 people patterson lies about 10 miles northwest of manhattan on the passaic river upstream of newark elizabeth sits just south of newark across the state line from staten island both cities were major industrial centers with paterson a center of silk production and elizabeth of sewing machines and cars today both are along with newark and jersey city some of the most diverse cities in the united states across the delaware from philadelphia are camden and cherry hill from what i can tell cherry hill is mostly suburban and residential and camden is as well but it also has more of a city center similarly to newark camden formerly had a very high crime rate that has since been in decline however the city has one of the highest levels of poverty in the united states with over half of camden's population living below the poverty line in recent years sitting on the delaware river across from downtown philadelphia camden is a major port city home to some of the busiest ports in the state also on the delaware 12 miles or 19 kilometers north of the philadelphia city limits sits new jersey's capital city of trenton while camden sits directly adjacent to downtown philadelphia trenton is more like a satellite city similar to wilmington delaware it developed on its own with its own city center but today its urban area overlaps with the philadelphia suburbs and many people commute between the cities interestingly a large number of people in trenton commute to new york city as well even though it lies on the other side of the state it is the state capitol and is home to a capitol building with a very small gold dome which is one of the oldest state capitol buildings in the u.s and sits just over a thousand feet away from pennsylvania unfortunately trenton is also well known for having issues with crime the final city i'll talk about is perhaps other than trenton the largest city in new jersey that isn't located within the suburbs of new york or philadelphia atlantic city is the jersey shore's major urban center while the actual city's population is under 40 000 people giving 54 cities new jersey a larger population than it its urban area home to 248 000 people is either the largest or second largest that is centered in the state of new jersey so not counting the new york or philly suburbs depending on whether you considered trenton a part of philadelphia's urban area similar to newark and jersey city atlantic city is home to a skyline that would make you think you're looking at a far larger city and it along with jersey city are home to most of new jersey's tallest buildings located on a barrier island on the jersey shore tourists flock to the city for its beaches and it is a major center of gambling one of the us's most prominent casino cities alongside las vegas and reno if you've ever played monopoly you'll recognize atlantic city's street names every street in the famous board game is named after a real street in atlantic city the most expensive street monopoly boardwalk is named for the atlantic city boardwalk which is the oldest boardwalk in the us and the longest in the world as i've mentioned new jersey is one of the most diverse states in the entire country black americans make up almost 14 percent of the state's population latinos nearly 18 percent and asian americans 8.3 percent home to part of ellis island new jersey has historically been a center of immigration and today many new jerseyans claim ancestry from countries like italy india peru the philippines china portugal ireland malaysia poland cuba korea and the dominican republic just to name a few the pew research center estimates that new jersey has the highest percentage of muslims in the united states with three percent of the population practicing islam compared to a national average of just one percent in addition many new jerseyans are jewish over six percent of the state's population compared to a national average of just 2.2 percent only one other state neighboring new york has a higher proportion of jewish residents than new jersey on top of that new jersey is home to the largest hindu population in the entire country with followers of hinduism making up three percent of the state's residents in fact the largest hindu temple on earth is not located in south asia but in robbinsville new jersey the only one that could be considered to be larger is the famed angkor wat in cambodia but despite being created as a hindu temple it later became a buddhist house of worship the ethnic racial and religious diversity of new jersey has played a major role in the state throughout its history and continues to have an important influence in it today the state has a distinct regional divide unsurprisingly north jersey shares a lot of cultural similarities with new york city while south jersey has a lot in common with philadelphia much of south jersey for example joins pennsylvania in using the word hoagie to refer to the sandwich that most of the country calls a sub the pennsylvania convenience store wawa has many locations throughout the entire state but especially south jersey and philadelphia foods like the philly cheesesteak are very popular however one of the most interesting representations of new jersey's north-south cultural divide is a popular sandwich whose name new jerseyans cannot seem to agree on it's an egg meat and cheese sandwich but the name of the meat is called taylor ham in north jersey in pork roll in south jersey there is no agreement over it and it was probably one of the most common things you all mentioned when leaving me information about new jersey it is such a regional staple though that in 2018 a minor league baseball team in new jersey called the trend thunder briefly changed their name to the trenton pork rolls another regional anomaly is the debate over whether or not there is such a place as central jersey new jerseyans differ over whether or not there is a clear-cut regional divide between north and south jersey or if the difference between regions is more gradual leading to sort of a buffer zone in the middle estate with its own unique culture the north and south of the state also have differences in terms of accent and dialect unsurprisingly due to the influence of new york and philadelphia over each region finally the jersey shore acts as its own distinct region as well home to towns like atlantic city ocean city wildwood and cape may it is a heavily populated stretch of the state and draws vacationers every summer from across new jersey as well as neighboring new york and philadelphia the shore is estimated to get around 48 million tourists in a given year and the famous show jersey shore was set there it's also the birthplace of saltwater taffy politically new jersey is solidly liberal the cook partisan index gives new jersey a partisan voting index of d plus seven meaning that in a given year the democratic party tends to do about seven percent better than there than they did across the country as a whole today new jersey's governor both senators and 10 out of the 12 members of congress representing the state are democrats however the influence of the suburbs over new jersey make the state more moderate than neighboring new york and the state did elect chris christie governor twice tech is big in new jersey as its finance in the pharmaceutical industry tourism plays a large role with 111 million people visiting the state in 2018 and though agriculture isn't as dominant as in many midwestern states it grows some of the most cranberries and blueberries in the country shipping too dominates the modern economy of new jersey as the port of new york and new jersey is one of the busiest on earth on the topic of the state's economy new jersey has some pretty stark income inequality the state is home to more millionaires per capita than any other state in the country and many new jersey towns are among the wealthiest in the us yet it is also home to cities where over half the population lives below the poverty line and poverty is a major problem across much of the state some famous new jerseyans include bruce springsteen who is huge there danny devito walt whitman alice paul chris christie derek jeter woodrow wilson who was the state's governor before becoming president john travolta frank sinatra meryl streep shaquille o'neal paul rudd martha stewart stevie wonder grover cleveland who was born and died in new jersey but his political career was based out of new york buzz aldrin aaron burr peter dinklage queen latifah yogi berra jon stewart cory booker bruce willis thomas edison eddie murphy and albert einstein who was originally from germany but moved to the united states living much of his life in princeton there were definitely many people i missed i just named a few but from that you should be able to get an idea of new jersey's influence on american culture politics and society new jersey is also home to the king dakar the tallest roller coaster on earth as well as several famous universities such as rutgers and princeton i tried to be pretty thorough but i know there were definitely things i missed in this video as there was a lot to talk about i want to give a big thank you to everyone from new jersey who helped give me information for this video as of now nearly 170 of you left comments about things you'd like me to include in this video and many more of you sent me information in the discord as well i truly would not have been able to do this without all your help my next video in this series will be on georgia there will certainly be a lot to talk about and i've actually never been there so i'll need all the help i can get if you're from georgia please respond to my community post or my comment here or leave something in the discord server to let me know what you'd like to see included by your home state if you aren't already please check out my brother's youtube channel quinn the cameraman and subscribe he's got a very underrated channel where he makes videos on photography animation and graphics he's done some really cool projects such as redesigning the entire among us map in 3d so please head over to quinn the cameraman and subscribe i also want to thank everyone who has already joined my patreon through my patreon you can access different things such as behind the scenes videos an exclusive discord q a with me ad free content and shout outs in my videos i also really appreciate the well over 100 of you who have already joined my discord server if you haven't joined the discord server yet it's a great place to continue conversations about the topics discussed in these videos interact with fellow viewers and help provide information about upcoming states in this series i'll put links to both the patreon and the discord in the comments thank you for watching this video and i hope you learned something new subscribe for more content like this i cover the countries cities people and places of the world and beyond these videos will leave you saying that is interesting [Music] you

Channel: That Is Interesting

Views: 267,491

Rating: 4.9414611 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: z6v4jsuU3uk

Length: 29min 49sec (1789 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 11 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/juicyturnip]

I was doubtful that this would be interesting, but clicked on it anyway. I'm half way in and now want to watch all his other videos. Subbed!

[u/sierraj1923]

This was great, he even called it Nork!

[u/righttotherock]

I moved to Florida about a year and a half ago... this video is really making me miss Jersey. He really gets into a lot of detail and it was a very interesting video. There were definitely some things that I wouldn't have guessed an outsider would know like the pronunciation of Newark. Tbh, i didn't even know i was pronouncing it wrong all this time!

​

Also obligatory Taylor Ham Gang All day!

[u/Rayit0]

I watched the video but I wish he talked a little bit more about central Jersey, I think it has it own unique culture between North and South Jersey.

[u/bravo_ragazzo]

Wet well done! I hope NJ high school teachers play this for the students once a year

[u/NJBarFly]

I thought he was going to go into more detail on the flag. From Wikipedia, "buff color is due indirectly to George Washington, who had ordered on September 14, 1779, that the uniform coats of the New Jersey Continental Line be dark (Jersey) blue, with buff facings. Buff-colored facings had until then been reserved only for his own uniform and those of other Continental generals and their aides. Then, on February 14, 1780 the Continental War Officers in Philadelphia directed that the uniform coat facings of all regiments were to be the same as the background color of the regiments' state flag."

[u/Emily_Postal]

I love our diversity.

[u/alwayz]

He even did Taylor Ham! This is pretty legit.

[u/therankin]

This is a really cool share, thanks.