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New Jersey
state, United States
Alternate titles: Garden State
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FAST FACTS
Seal of New
New Jersey state bird
Capital:
Trenton
Population:
(2020) 9,288,994
Governor:
Phil Murphy (Democrat)
Date Of Admission:
December 18, 17872
U.S. Senators:
Cory A. Booker (Democrat) Robert Menendez (Democrat)
Above all, New Jersey is rife with contradiction and anomaly. Its people fiercely fight off attempts
of state government to end home rule by powerful municipal administrations. While the state has
produced some of the most able and respected U.S. governors, corruption has often played a part
in its local politics, and it has achieved notoriety as a major locus of organized crime.
New Jersey is called the Garden State because it became famous in the 18th century for the fertility
of its land. It is now also among the most urbanized and crowded of states. The urban density of its
northeast contrasts sharply, however, with the rugged hills of the northwest, the enormous
stretches of pine forest in the southeast (the Pine Barrens), and the rolling and lush horse country
in the south-central part of the state. New Jersey is an important industrial centre, but it has paid
the price in environmental pollution, in dirt and noise, and in congested roads and slums. In sum,
New Jersey is a curious amalgam of urban and rural, poor and wealthy, progressive
and conservative, parochial and cosmopolitan. Indeed, it is one of the most diverse states in the
union. Area 8,723 square miles (22,591 square km). Population (2020) 9,288,994.
Land
Relief
New Jersey comprises four distinct physical regions: the Ridge and Valley section of the northwest,
where the folded Appalachian Mountains slice across the state; the Highlands, a southern
extension of the ancient rocks of New England, which also trend across the state in a northeast-
southwest direction; the rolling central Piedmont, where many of the major cities and suburbs are
located; and the relatively level Atlantic Coastal Plain, which is divided into an inner and an outer
portion. The state’s highest elevation is High Point, at 1,803 feet (550 metres), located just south of
the New York border in Sussex county.
Drainage
Lakes and ponds cover about 300 square miles (780 square km) of the state’s surface. New Jersey’s
major river, which it shares with Pennsylvania, is the Delaware. The Hudson River separates the
state from New York. Other major rivers are the Passaic and the Hackensack, both in the
northeast, and the Raritan, which runs west to east and is generally regarded as the boundary
between North and Central Jersey. Lake Hopatcong, in Sussex and Morris counties, is the state’s
largest lake.
Climate
The northwest experiences relatively cold winters, with average January temperatures below 28 °F
(−2 °C). Relatively mild conditions prevail in the south, with average winter temperatures above
freezing. Summers are relatively hot throughout the state, with averages for July ranging from
about 70 °F (21 °C) in the northwest to above 76 °F (24 °C) in the southwest. Moist conditions
prevail, with seasonally well-distributed precipitation averaging from 44 inches to more than 52
inches (1,120 to 1,320 mm).
The marshy area west of The Palisades (the Hackensack Meadows, popularly called
the Meadowlands) and the Great Swamp of Morris county are relics of glacial lakes of the last Ice
Age. The former is dominated by grasses, the latter by trees. The Meadowlands are managed to
encourage wise land use and pollution abatement. The Great Swamp, one of several poorly drained
areas in the Passaic River basin, is a national wildlife refuge. Elsewhere, increasing suburban
development has encroached on wildlife habitats; bears and especially deer have become serious
pests. Raccoons and opossums are common, even in many suburbs, and other mammals, snakes,
and birds common to the northeastern United States (including migratory species) are also found
within the state.
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