PEOPLE first CAME to New Jersey AROUND 12,000 YEARS AGO. MANY YEARS LATER, NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES LIKE LENAPE AND MUNSEE LIVED IN THE NORTH EAST. AROUND THE TIME 1524 ITALIAN EXPLORER GIOUANNDA VERRAZZANO WAS THE FIRST EUROPEAN TO ARRIVE IN THIS REGION.

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 AFTER SWEDISH, FINNISH AND DUTCH COLONISTS BUILT SETTLEMENTS AND FOUGHT OVER THE LAND UNTIL ENGLAND TOOK OVER THIS REGION IN 1661. BUT THE COLONIST LIVING THERE WANTED THEIR  INDEPENDENCE. NEW JERSEY WAS A PART OF THE ORIGINAL 13 COLONIES. NEW JERSEY WAS THE THIRD STATE TO SIGN THE BILL OF RIGHTS. ALSO NEW JERSEY BECAME A STATE IN DECEMBER 18,1787. IN 1790 TRENTON BECAME THE STATE CAPITAL OF NEW JERSEY. NEW JERSEY GOT ITS NAME BY A HONOR OF BRITISH COLONIST GEORGE CARTERE WHO WAS A GOVERNOR OF THE ISLE OF NEW JERSEY. NEW JERSEY NICKNAME IS THE GARDEN STATE.