New Jersey has produced many prominent academics, scientists, entertainers, and politicians. New Jersey was the site of many industrial, technological, and commercial innovations, including the first town ( Roselle) to be illuminated by electricity, the first incandescent light bulb, and the first steam locomotive. After the war, the state emerged as a major manufacturing center and a leading destination for immigrants, helping drive the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. New Jersey remained in the Union during the American Civil War and provided troops, resources, and military leaders. On December 18, 1787, it became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution, and thus be admitted to the Union, and was the first state to ratify the U.S. New Jersey was among the Thirteen Colonies that supported the American Revolution, hosting numerous pivotal battles and military commands in the American Revolutionary War.

The colony's fertile lands and relative religious tolerance drew a large and diverse population. Dutch and Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements in the state, with the British later seizing control of the region and establishing the Province of New Jersey, named after the largest of the Channel Islands. New Jersey was first inhabited by Paleo-Indians as early as 13,000 B.C.E., with the Lenape being the dominant indigenous group when Europeans arrived in the early 17th century. Census Bureau, with 13 counties included in the New York metropolitan area, seven counties in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and with Warren County constituting part of the rapidly industrializing Lehigh Valley metropolitan area. state in which every county is deemed urban by the U.S. The state capital is Trenton, and the most populous city is Newark. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km 2), New Jersey is the fifth-smallest state in land area, but with close to 9.3 million residents as of the 2020 United States census, ranks 11th in population.

New Jersey is bordered on its north and east by the state of New York on its east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean on its west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania and on its southwest by Delaware Bay and the state of Delaware. The state lies within both the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. A coastal state, New Jersey is situated at the center of the Northeast megalopolis, the most populous American urban agglomeration. New Jersey is the most densely populated U.S.

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