Province of New Jersey

The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became New Jersey, a state of the United States in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland, but came under English rule after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664, becoming a proprietary colony. The English then renamed the province after the Bailiwick of Jersey in the English Channel. The Dutch Republic reasserted control for a brief period in 1673–1674. After that it consisted of two political divisions, East Jersey and West Jersey, until they were united as a royal colony in 1702. The original boundaries of the province were slightly larger than the current state, extending into a part of the present state of New York, until the border was finalized in 1773.
The Province of New Jersey was originally settled in the 1610s as part of the colony of New Netherland. The surrender of Fort Amsterdam in September 1664 gave control over the entire Mid-Atlantic region to the English as part the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The English justified the seizure by claiming that John Cabot , an Italian under the sponsorship of the English King Henry VII, had been the first to discover the place, though it was probably to assert control over the profitable North Atlantic trade. Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, relinquished control of the colony and was able in the articles of transfer to secure guarantees for property rights, laws of inheritance, and freedom of religion. After the surrender, Richard Nicolls took the position as deputy-governor of New Amsterdam and the rest of New Netherland, including those settlements on the west side of the North River known as Bergen and those along the Delaware River that had been New Sweden.

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