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The Spanish Giovanni da Verrazzano explores the Jersey Coast for the French.
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Henry Hudson discovers Newark Bay and establishes the Dutch colony of New Netherland.
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Many Swedish settlers began arriving.
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Swedish settlement led by Peter Minuet starting the New Sweden Colony.Delaware becomes part of New Netherland.
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Swedish fur traders began settling southern New Jersey in 1638, but were quickly forced out of the area by the Dutch.
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The Dutch West India Company sent Willem Kieft to lead New Netherlands. Kieft risked harming the fur trade by asking the Lenni-Lenape to pay taxes. They refused, and the two sides began to fight. A Lenni-Lennape took advantage of a colonist. This led Kieft to return with a bloody attack that killed dozens of villagers. A war followed, and hundreds of people in the Hudson River area died. New Netherlands almost got destroyed.
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The Dutch establish Bergen.
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The British take control of New Jersey from the Dutch.
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When the British took control of the colony they named it New Jersey for the Channel Island of Jersey in the British Channel honor of Sir George Carteret, to whom the Duke of York gave the territory.
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James, Duke of York, recieves New Jersey as a gift.
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The New Jersey Colony is divided into East Jersey and West Jersey.
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The first Quaker meetinghouse was built.
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East and West Jersey are combined into one Colony
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William Trent establishes Trent's Town.
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Only a few hundred Lenni-Lenape remained in New Jersey.
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The French and Indian War , due to disputes over land is won by Great Britain. France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba.
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As the Revolutionary War began in 1775, New Jersey’s loyalties were split; many fought for independence while others fought for Britain
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New Jersey claimed independence from Great Britain.
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United States Declaration of Independence.
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New Jersey ratifies the U.S Constitution and becomes a state.