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117-535: Bergen County Jail is a facility operated by the Bergen County Sheriff's Office located at 160 South River Street in Hackensack , New Jersey . The jail provides a detention for both sentenced and unsentenced prisoners from minimum to maximum security environment. There are computer controls of inmate housing areas, in addition to alarm system and a computerized center control. The jail also houses detainees of

234-514: A Nike Missile station at Campgaw Mountain (in the west of the county) for the defense of the New York Metropolitan Area from strategic bombers . In 1959, the site was upgraded to house Nike-Hercules Missiles with increased range, speed, and payload characteristics. The missile site closed in June 1971. Bergen County is located at the northeastern corner of the state of New Jersey and

351-551: A Saw mill on East 74th Street and the East River, where a 13,710-meter (8.52 mi) long stream that began in the north of today's Central Park, which became known as the Saw Kill or Saw Kill Creek, emptied into the river. Later owners of the property George Elphinstone and Abraham Shotwell replaced the sawmill with a leather mill in 1677. The Saw Kill was later redirected into a culvert, arched over, and its trickling little stream

468-445: A sawmill was located in the northern forest at what was later the corner of East 74th Street and Second Avenue , at which African slaves cut lumber. The New Amsterdam settlement had a population of approximately 270 people, including infants. In 1642 the new director Willem Kieft decided to build a stone church within the fort. The work was carried out by recent English immigrants, the brothers John and Richard Ogden. The church

585-530: A citadel to contain Fort Amsterdam was being laid out by Cryn Frederickz van Lobbrecht at the direction of Willem Verhulst . By the end of 1625, the site had been staked out directly south of Bowling Green on the site of the present U.S. Custom House . The Mohawk-Mahican War in the Hudson Valley led the company to relocate even more settlers to the vicinity of the new Fort Amsterdam. In the end, colonizing

702-485: A globally cosmopolitan ambience of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity with respect to metrics including nationality, religion, race, and domiciliary partnership . South Korea , Poland , and India are the three most common nations of birth for foreign-born Bergen County residents. Italian Americans have long had a significant presence in Bergen County; in fact, Italian

819-607: A growing community of Russian Jews . Garfield is home to an architecturally prominent Russian Orthodox church. Likewise, Ukrainian Americans , Georgian Americans , and Uzbek Americans have more recently followed the path of their Russian American predecessors to Bergen County, particularly to Fair Lawn. The size of Fair Lawn's Russian American presence has prompted an April Fool's satire titled, " Putin Moves Against Fair Lawn". The Armenian American population in Bergen

936-427: A male householder with no wife present and 29.5% were non-families. 14.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.18 and the average family size was 3.25. About 21.3% of the county's population was under age 18, 8.0% was from age 18 to 24, 36.7% was from age 25 to 44, and 17.0% was age 65 or older. The median age

1053-607: A mindset that resembles the American Dream were already present in the first few years of this colony. Writers like Russell Shorto argue that the large influence of New Amsterdam on the American psyche has largely been overlooked in the classic telling of American beginnings, because of animosity between the English victors and the conquered Dutch. The original 17th-century architecture of New Amsterdam has completely vanished (affected by

1170-547: A moderately sunny climate, averaging between 2,400 and 2,800 hours of sunshine annually. In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Hackensack have ranged from a low of 19 °F (−7 °C) in January to a high of 86 °F (30 °C) in July, although a record low of −15 °F (−26 °C) was recorded in February 1934 and a record high of 106 °F (41 °C)

1287-567: A prelude to an anticipated official settlement by the Dutch Republic, which occurred in 1624. In 1620 the Pilgrims attempted to sail to the Hudson River from England. However, Mayflower reached Cape Cod (now part of Massachusetts) on November 9, 1620, after a voyage of 64 days. For a variety of reasons, primarily a shortage of supplies, Mayflower could not proceed to the Hudson River, and

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1404-442: A rapidly growing demographic in Bergen County, enumerating over 40,000 individuals in 2013, a significant increase from the 24,973 counted in the 2010 Census, and represent the second largest Asian ethnic group in Bergen County, after Korean Americans. The biggest clusters of Indian Americans are located in Hackensack , Ridgewood , Fair Lawn , Paramus , Teaneck , Mahwah , Bergenfield , Lodi , and Elmwood Park . Within

1521-594: A set of documents that have survived from that period, untranslated. They are the administrative records of the colony, unreadable by most scholars. Since the 1970s, Charles Gehring of the New Netherland Institute has made it his life's work to translate this first-hand history of the Colony of New Netherland. The scholarly conclusion has largely been that the settlement of New Amsterdam is much more like current New York than previously thought. Cultural diversity and

1638-585: A similarly prominent Hindu mandir has been built in Mahwah. The public library in Fair Lawn began a highly attended Hindi language (हिन्दी) storytelling program in October 2013. The affluent municipalities of northern Bergen County are witnessing significant growth in their Indian American communities, including Glen Rock, into which up to 90% of this constituency was estimated by one member in 2014 to have moved within

1755-536: A squadron of ships from Zeeland. The commanders were Jacob Benckes (Koudum, 1637–1677) and Cornelis Evertsen de Jongste (Vlissingen, 1642–1706) under instruction of the States General of the Dutch Republic . Anthony Colve was installed as the first Dutch governor of the province. Previously there had only been West India Company Directors and a Director-General. Amidst the recapture, New York City would be again renamed, this time to New Orange . However, after

1872-504: A total area of 246.45 square miles (638.3 km ), of which 232.79 square miles (602.9 km ) was land (94.5%) and 13.66 square miles (35.4 km ) was water (5.5%). Bergen County's highest elevation is Bald Mountain near the New York state line in Mahwah , at 1,164 feet (355 m) above sea level. The county's lowest point is sea level , along the Hudson River, which in this region

1989-574: A transcription of the text, see Schagenbrief and Transcriptie Schagenbrief The deed itself has not survived, so the specific details are unknown. A textual reference to the deed became the foundation for the legend that Minuit had purchased Manhattan from the Native Americans for twenty-four dollars' worth of trinkets and beads, the guilder rate at the time being about two and a half to a Spanish dollar . The price of 60 Dutch guilders in 1626 amounts to around $ 1,100 in 2012 dollars. Further complicating

2106-666: A world where the city remained Dutch until the Napoleonic Wars and retained its name also afterward. One of New York's Broadway theatres is the New Amsterdam Theatre . The name New Amsterdam is also written on the architrave situated on top of the row of columns in front of the Manhattan Municipal Building , commemorating the name of the Dutch colony. Although no architectural monuments or buildings have survived,

2223-697: Is a tidal estuary . The sharp cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades lift much of the eastern boundary of the county up from the Hudson River. The relief becomes less pronounced across the middle section of the county, much of it being located in the Hackensack River valley or the Pascack Valley . In the northwestern portion of the county, Bergen County becomes hilly again and shares the Ramapo Mountains with Rockland County, New York. The damming of

2340-471: Is almost entirely concentrated in three municipalities: Englewood (10,215 residents, accounting for 38.98% of the city's total population), Teaneck (11,298; 28.78%), and Hackensack (10,518; 24.65%). Collectively, these three areas account for nearly 70% of the county's total African American population of 46,568, and in fact, blacks have had a presence in these towns since the earliest days of the county. In sharp contrast, African Americans comprise less than 2% of

2457-622: Is bordered by Rockland County, New York , to the north; by Manhattan and the Bronx in New York City , as well as by Westchester County, New York , across the Hudson River to the east; and within New Jersey, by Hudson County as well as a small border with Essex County to the south, and by Passaic County to the west. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , as of the 2020 Census, the county had

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2574-823: Is dispersed throughout the county, but its most significant concentration is in the southeastern towns near the George Washington Bridge. The victims of the Armenian genocide are recognized annually at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack. New Amsterdam By 1655, the population of New Netherland had grown to 2,000 people, with 1,500 living in New Amsterdam. By 1664, the population of New Netherland had risen to almost 9,000 people, 2,500 of whom lived in New Amsterdam, 1,000 lived near Fort Orange , and

2691-526: Is growing in many areas of the county but is especially concentrated in a handful of municipalities, including Fairview (37.1%), Hackensack (25.9%), Ridgefield Park (22.2%), Englewood (21.8%), Bogota (21.3%), Garfield (20.1%), Cliffside Park (18.2%), Lodi (18.0%), and Bergenfield (17.0%). Traditionally, many of the Latino residents were of Colombian and Cuban ancestry, although that has been changing in recent years. Englewood's Colombian community

2808-450: Is primarily located in the central part of the city, especially in the area near Central Avenue and First Street. Bergen County's black population has declined from 52,473 counted in the 2010 Census to an estimated 50,478 in 2012. Other county municipalities with a sizeable minority of African Americans include Bergenfield (7.7%), Bogota (9.4%), Garfield (6.5%), Lodi (7.5%) and Ridgefield Park (6.4%). Indian Americans represent

2925-693: Is the largest in Bergen County and among the top ten by percent of population in the United States (7.17%); Hackensack, Fairview, Bergenfield, Bogota, and Lodi also have notable populations. The Cuban population is largest in Fairview, Ridgefield Park, Ridgefield , and Bogota, although the Cuban community is much bigger in Hudson County to the south. Since 2000, an increasing number of immigrants from other countries (including Peru , Mexico , Guatemala , El Salvador ,

3042-645: Is the most commonly identified first ancestry among Bergen residents (18.5%), with 168,974 Bergen residents were recorded as being of Italian heritage in the 2013 American Community Survey . To this day, many residents of the Meadowlands communities in the county's south are of Italian descent, most notably in South Hackensack (36.3%), Lyndhurst (33.8%), Carlstadt (31.2%), Wood-Ridge (30.9%) and Hasbrouck Heights (30.8%). Saddle Brook (29.8%), Lodi (29.4%), Moonachie (28.5%), Garfield , Hackensack , and

3159-522: The Dominican Republic , Ecuador , and Chile ) as well as from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico have entered the county. The diverse backgrounds of the local Latino community are best exemplified in Fairview, where 10% of the overall population hails from Central America , 7% from South America , and 9% from other Latin American countries, mainly those in the Caribbean. The borough of Fairview has

3276-692: The Dutch with the New Amsterdam Trail. The Dutch-American historian and journalist Hendrik Willem van Loon wrote in 1933 a work of alternative history entitled "If the Dutch Had Kept Nieuw Amsterdam" (in If, Or History Rewritten , edited by J. C. Squire , 1931, Simon & Schuster ). A similar theme, at greater length, was taken up by writer Elizabeth Bear , who published the " New Amsterdam " series of detective stories that take place in

3393-578: The Dutch Republic . The Dutch claimed it after Henry Hudson (sailing for the Dutch East India Company ) explored Newark Bay and anchored his ship at Weehawken Cove in 1609. From an early date, the Dutch began to import African slaves to fill their labor needs. Bergen County eventually was the largest slaveholding county in the state, with nearly 20% of its population consisting of slaves in 1800. The African slaves were used for labor at

3510-551: The Hudson River ), near what is now Albany. A fort and sawmill were soon erected at Nut Island. The windmill was constructed by Franchoys Fezard and was taken apart for iron in 1648. The threat of attack from other European colonial powers prompted the directors of the Dutch West India Company to formulate a plan to protect the entrance to the Hudson River. In 1624, 30 families were sponsored by Dutch West India Company moving from Nut Island to Manhattan Island, where

3627-559: The Köppen climate classification because its coldest month (January) averages above 26.6 °F / -3 °C. In part due to Bergen's coastal location, its lower elevation , and the partial shielding of the county from colder air by the three ridges of the Watchung Mountains as well as by the higher Appalachians , the climate of Bergen County is milder than in New Jersey counties further inland such as Sussex County . Bergen County has

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3744-644: The Lenape Nation , whose subgroups included the Tappan , Hackensack , and Rumachenanck (later called the Haverstraw), as named by the Dutch colonists . Some of their descendants are included among the Ramapough Mountain Indians , recognized as a tribe by the state in 1980. Their ancestors had moved into the mountains to escape encroachment by Dutch and English colonists . Their descendants reside mostly in

3861-864: The New Jersey Supreme Court by a state legislative body, and in July 2012, Kwon was appointed instead as deputy general counsel of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . Jacqueline Choi was then sworn in as Bergen County's first female Korean American assistant prosecutor in September 2012. According to The Record , the U.S. Census Bureau has determined that the county's Korean American population has grown enough to warrant language assistance during elections, and Bergen County's Koreans have earned significant political respect. As of May 2014, Korean Americans had garnered at least four borough council seats in Bergen County. In November 2016, Ellen Park

3978-561: The Nicasius de Sille List of 1660, which enumerates all the citizens of New Amsterdam and their addresses, it can be determined who resided in every house. The city map known as the Duke's Plan probably derived from the same 1660 census as the Castello Plan. The Duke's Plan includes two outlying areas of development on Manhattan along the top of the plan. The work was created for James (1633–1701),

4095-556: The Ramapo Mountains , which are Dfb , and along the Hudson River from Fort Lee downward, where Cfa exists. Due to its location and elevation span, Bergen is the only county in New Jersey to have all three of the state's Köppen climate zones. As of the 2020 United States census , the county had 955,732 people, 343,733 households, and 242,272 families. The population density was 3,900 inhabitants per square mile (1,505.8/km ). There were 367,383 housing units at an average density of 1,576 per square mile (608.5/km ). The county racial makeup

4212-416: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement . 40°52′24″N 74°02′24″W  /  40.873417°N 74.039995°W  / 40.873417; -74.039995 This article about a building or structure in New Jersey is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bergen County, New Jersey Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey . Located in

4329-502: The fires of 1776 and 1835 ), leaving only archaeological remnants. The original street plan of New Amsterdam has stayed largely intact, as have some houses outside Manhattan. The presentation of the legacy of the unique culture of 17th-century New Amsterdam remains a concern of preservationists and educators. In 2009 the National Park Service celebrated the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson 's 1609 voyage on behalf of

4446-644: The 1660 formation of Bergen Township (now part of Jersey City, New Jersey ), which would become one of the earliest permanent European settlements in present-day New Jersey. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War , on August 27, 1664, New Amsterdam's governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered to the English Navy . The English organized the Province of New Jersey in 1665, later splitting the territory into East Jersey and West Jersey in 1674. On November 30, 1675,

4563-403: The 2010 census count to an estimated 165,442 as of 2013. Irish Americans and German Americans are the next largest individual ethnic groups in Bergen County, numbering 115,914 (12.7% of the county's total population) and 80,288 (8.8%) respectively in 2013. As is the case with Italian Americans, these two groups developed sizable enclaves long ago and are now well established in all areas of

4680-512: The 2020 census, is Hackensack , which is also its county seat . Mahwah covers the largest area of any municipality, at 26.19 square miles (67.8 km ). Bergen County is one of the largest commercial hubs in both New Jersey and the United States, generating over $ 6 billion in annual revenues from retailers in Paramus alone, despite blue laws keeping most stores in the county and especially Paramus itself (which has much stricter blue laws then

4797-616: The British elsewhere in New Jersey later that winter. Soon after the Battle of Princeton in January 1777, British forces realized that they were not able to spread themselves thin across New Jersey. Local militia retook Hackensack and the rest of Bergen County. Bergen County saw skirmishes throughout the war as armies from both sides maneuvered across the countryside. The Baylor Massacre took place in 1778 in River Vale , resulting in severe losses for

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4914-724: The Continental forces staged a hasty retreat through present-day Englewood , Teaneck , and Bergenfield , and across the Hackensack River at New Bridge Landing , one of the few sites where the river was crossed by a bridge. They destroyed the bridge to delay the British assault on Washington's headquarters in the village of Hackensack. The next day, George Washington retreated to Newark and left Hackensack via Polifly Road. British forces pursued, and Washington continued to retreat across New Jersey. The retreat allowed American forces to escape capture and regroup for subsequent successes against

5031-537: The Continentals. In 1837, Passaic County was formed from parts of Bergen and Essex counties. In 1840, Hudson County was formed from Bergen. These two divisions took roughly 13,000 residents (nearly half of the previous population) from the county's rolls. In 1852, the Erie Railroad began operating major rail services from Jersey City on the Hudson River to points north and west via leased right-of-way in

5148-521: The Duke of York and Albany, after whom New York , New York City , and New York's Capital – Albany , were named just after the seizure of New Amsterdam by the English . After that provisional relinquishment of New Netherland, Stuyvesant reported to his superiors that he "had endeavored to promote the increase of population, agriculture and commerce...the flourishing condition which might have been more flourishing if

5265-535: The Dutch Republic, as the emissary of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and stadholder of Holland. Hudson named the river the Mauritius River. He was also covertly attempting to find the Northwest Passage for the Dutch East India Company . Instead, he brought back news about the possibility of exploitation of beaver by the Dutch who sent commercial, private missions to the area the following years. At

5382-476: The Hackensack River and a tributary, the Pascack Brook , produced three reservoirs in the county, Woodcliff Lake Reservoir (which impounds one billion gallons of water), Lake Tappan (3.5 billion gallons), and Oradell Reservoir , which allows United Water to provide drinking water to 750,000 residents of North Jersey , mostly in Bergen and Hudson counties. The Hackensack River drains the eastern portion of

5499-711: The Korean population of Fair Lawn was estimated to have more than doubled. South Korean chaebols have established North American headquarters operations in Bergen County, including Samsung , LG Corp , and Hanjin Shipping . In April 2018, the largest Korean-themed supermarket in Bergen County opened in Paramus. In January 2019, Christopher Chung was sworn in as the first Korean-American mayor of Palisades Park. The political stature of Koreatown appears to be increasing significantly as well. Bergen County's growing Korean community

5616-562: The Munsee were fired upon as they were preparing to depart. This triggered attacks on Pavonia and Staten Island . Stuyvesant reported 28 farms destroyed, 40 deaths and 100 captives taken in what later became known as the Peach War . In 1661, the Communipaw ferry was founded and began a long history of trans-Hudson ferry and ultimately rail and road transportation. In 1664, Jan van Bonnel built

5733-735: The New World, were thoroughly documented in city maps . During the time of New Netherland's colonization, the Dutch were the pre-eminent cartographers in Europe. The delegated authority of the Dutch West India Company over New Netherland required maintaining sovereignty on behalf of the States General, generating cash flow through commercial enterprise for its shareholders, and funding the province's growth. Thus its directors regularly required that censuses be taken. These tools to measure and monitor

5850-463: The United States as ranked by Korean American percentage of overall population in 2010 are illustrated in the following table. Palisades Park has Koreans that comprise the majority (53.7%) of the population in 2022: One of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in Bergen County is the Korean American community, which is concentrated along the Hudson River – especially in the area near the George Washington Bridge – and represented more than half of

5967-436: The archaeology of New York City. For instance, the Castello map aided the excavation of the Stadthuys ( City Hall ) of New Amsterdam in determining the exact location of the building. The maps enable a precise reconstruction of the town. Fort Amsterdam was located at the southernmost tip of the island of Manhattan, which today is surrounded by Bowling Green. The Battery is a reference to its battery of cannon. Broadway

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6084-441: The bluffs of the New Jersey Palisades , opposite Fort Washington in Manhattan , made it a strategic position during the war. In November 1776, the Battle of Fort Lee took place as part of a British plan to capture George Washington and to resoundingly defeat the Continental Army , whose forces were divided and located in Fort Lee and Hackensack. After abandoning the defenses in Fort Lee and leaving behind considerable supplies,

6201-419: The border between East Jersey and New York. In January 1709, the boundaries were extended to include all of the current territory of Hudson County (formed in 1840) and portions of the current territory of Passaic County (formed in 1837). The 1709 borders were described as follows: Bergen was the location of several battles and troop movements during the American Revolutionary War . Fort Lee 's location on

6318-653: The borough's population. Per the 2010 Census, Palisades Park was home to the highest total number (10,115) of individuals of Korean ancestry among all municipalities in the state, while neighboring Fort Lee had the second largest cluster (8,318), and fourth highest proportion (23.5%, trailing Leonia (26.5%) and Ridgefield (25.7%)). All of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population in 2010 were located in Bergen County, including Palisades Park, Leonia, Ridgefield, Fort Lee, Closter , Englewood Cliffs , Norwood , Edgewater , Cresskill , and Demarest , closely followed by Old Tappan . Virtually all of

6435-499: The calculation is that the value of goods in the area would have been different from the value of those same goods in the developed market of the Netherlands. The Dutch introduced windmills first at Noten Eylandt for a sawmill, to exploit the stand of hardwoods found there. Later they exploited the hydropower of existing creeks by constructing mills at Turtle Bay (between present-day East 45th–48th Streets) and Montagne's Kill, later called Harlem Mill Creek (East 108th Street). In 1639

6552-413: The colonists decided to settle near Cape Cod, establishing the Plymouth Colony . The mouth of the Hudson River was selected as the ideal place for initial settlement as it had easy access to the ocean while also securing an ice-free lifeline to the beaver trading post near present-day Albany. Here, Indigenous hunters supplied them with pelts in exchange for European-made trade goods and wampum , which

6669-406: The construction of Fort Amsterdam . A fortification was completed in 1626. The families were then dispersed to Fort Wilhelmus on Verhulsten Island ( Burlington Island ) in the South River (now the Delaware River ), to Kievitshoek (now Old Saybrook, Connecticut ) at the mouth of the Verse River (now the Connecticut River ) and further north at Fort Nassau on the Mauritius or North River (now

6786-628: The county are home to a significant number of Jewish Americans , including Fair Lawn , Teaneck , Tenafly , Closter , Englewood , Englewood Cliffs , Fort Lee , Bergenfield , Woodcliff Lake , Paramus , and Franklin Lakes . Teaneck, Fair Lawn, Englewood, and Bergenfield in particular have become havens for Bergen County's growing Orthodox Jewish communities, with a rising number of synagogues as well as supermarkets and restaurants offering kosher foods . The largest Israeli American communities in Bergen County were in Fair Lawn (2.5%), Closter (1.4%), and Tenafly (1.3%) in 2000, representing three of

6903-441: The county through the New Jersey Meadowlands , a wetlands area in the southern portion of the county. The central portion is drained by the Saddle River and the western portion is drained by the Ramapo River . Both of these are tributaries of the Passaic River , which forms a section of the southwestern border of the county. Southeastern Bergen County lies at the edge of the humid subtropical climate zone ( Cfa ) according to

7020-468: The county's Indian population is America's largest Malayali community, and Kerala -based Kitex Garments, India's largest children's clothing manufacturer, opened its first U.S. office in Montvale in October 2015. Glen Rock resident Gurbir Grewal , a member of Bergen County's growing Indian American Sikh community, was sworn into the position of county prosecutor in 2016, and an architecturally notable Sikh gurudwara resides in Glen Rock, while

7137-437: The county. In 2023, Waldwick (30.43%), Ho-Ho-Kus (26.72%), and Hillsdale (24.94%) were reported as having the highest percentages of Irish American residents in the county. The Council of Irish Associations of Greater Bergen County, based in Bergenfield , has hosted an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade in the county since 1982. Bergen County is home to the largest Jewish population in New Jersey. Many municipalities in

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7254-503: The county. The population density was 3,884.5 per square mile (1,499.8/km ). There were 352,388 housing units at an average density of 1,512.3 per square mile (583.9/km ). The racial makeup was 71.89% (650,703) White , 5.80% (52,473) Black or African American , 0.23% (2,061) Native American , 14.51% (131,329) Asian , 0.03% (229) Pacific Islander , 5.04% (45,611) from other races , and 2.51% (22,710) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 16.05% (145,281) of

7371-460: The county. This became known as the Erie Main Line , and is still in use for passenger service today. The Erie later leased two other railroads built in the 1850s and 1860s, later known as the Pascack Valley Line and the Northern Branch , and in 1881 built a cutoff, now the Bergen County Line. There were two other rail lines in the county, ultimately known as the West Shore Railroad and the New York, Susquehanna, and Western . In 1894, state law

7488-443: The first Dutch settlement there. With the construction of Fort Amsterdam , the town also became variously known as "Amsterdam" or "New Amsterdam". New Amsterdam's city limits did not extend north of the wall of Wall Street , and neither the remainder of the island of Manhattan nor of wider New Netherland fell under its definition. In 1524, nearly a century before the arrival of the Dutch, the site that would later become New Amsterdam

7605-419: The fort used the triangle between the Heerestraat and what came to be known as Whitehall Street for marching drills. Verhulst, with his council, was responsible for the selection of Manhattan as a permanent place of settlement and for situating Fort Amsterdam. He was replaced as the company director of New Netherland by Peter Minuit in 1626. According to the writer Nathaniel Benchley, to legally safeguard

7722-510: The four largest in the state. Altogether, 83,700 Bergen residents identified themselves as being of Jewish heritage in 2000, a number expected to show an increase per a 2014 survey of Jews in the county. The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey is based in Paramus. South Koreans constituted the most prevalent foreign-born nationality in Bergen County, which was home to all of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population in 2010 . The top ten municipalities in

7839-405: The highest number for any county in New Jersey. On January 11, 1917, the Kingsland Explosion took place at a munitions factory in what is today Lyndhurst . The explosion is believed to have been an act of sabotage by German agents, as the munitions in question were destined for Russia , part of the U.S.'s effort to supply allies before entrance into World War I . After the U.S. entry into

7956-415: The highest percentage of people of Salvadoran and Salvadoran American ancestry in the county, 12.4%. The city of Hackensack has the highest percentage of people of Ecuadorian and Ecuadorian American ancestry in the county, 10.01%, with a total of approximately 4,500 living within city limits. Overall, Bergen County's Latino population has demonstrated a robust increase recently, growing from 145,281 as of

8073-413: The law of the ship had applied. On May 20, 1624, the first settlers in New Netherland arrived on Noten Eylandt (Nut or Nutten Island, now Governors Island ) aboard the ship Nieu Nederlandt under the command of Cornelius Jacobsen May , who disembarked on the island with thirty families to take legal possession of the New Netherland territory. The WIC ordered engineer and surveyor Crijn Fredericxsz for

8190-456: The liberty of their consciences in religion", negotiated with the English by Peter Stuyvesant and his council.) Sometimes considered a dysfunctional trading post by the English who later acquired it from the Dutch, Russell Shorto , author of The Island at the Center of the World , suggests that the city left its cultural marks on later New York and, by extension, the United States as a whole. Major recent historical research has been based on

8307-413: The local population as a representative of the Dutch East India Company. He is the first recorded non-Indigenous inhabitant of what would eventually become New York City. The territory of New Netherland was originally a private, profit-making commercial enterprise focused on cementing alliances and conducting trade with the local Indigenous peoples. Surveying and exploration of the region was conducted as

8424-402: The median home price in 2022 exceeding $ 600,000. The county's park system covers more than 9,000 acres (3,600 ha). The origin of the name of Bergen County is a matter of debate. It is believed that the county is named after one of the earliest settlements, Bergen , in modern-day Hudson County, New Jersey . However, the origin of the township's name is debated. Several sources attribute

8541-567: The municipalities with the highest Korean concentrations are located in the eastern third of the county, near the Hudson River, although Ridgewood has emerged as a Korean American nexus in western Bergen County, and Paramus and River Edge in central Bergen County. Beginning in 2012, county election ballots were printed in the Korean language, in addition to English and Spanish, given the U.S. Census Bureau's directive that Bergen County's Korean population had grown large enough to warrant language assistance during elections. Between 2011 and 2017,

8658-525: The name to Bergen, Norway , while others attribute it to Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands . Some sources say that the name is derived from one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam (now New York City ), Hans Hansen Bergen , a native of Norway , who arrived in New Netherland in 1633. At the time of first European contact, Bergen County was inhabited by Native American people, particularly

8775-584: The northeastern corner of New Jersey, Bergen County and its many inner suburbs constitute a highly developed part of the New York City metropolitan area , bordering the Hudson River ; the George Washington Bridge , which crosses the Hudson, connects Bergen County with Manhattan . The county is part of the North Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 United States census , the county's population

8892-534: The northwest of the county, in nearby Passaic County and in Rockland County, New York , tracing their Lenape ancestry to speakers of the Munsee language , one of three major dialects of their language. Over the years, they absorbed other ethnicities by intermarriage. In the 17th century, the Dutch considered the area comprising today's Bergen and Hudson counties as part of New Netherland , their colonial province of

9009-467: The now afflicted inhabitants had been protected by a suitable garrison...and had been helped with the long sought for settlement of the boundary, or in default thereof had they been seconded with the oft besought reinforcement of men and ships against the continual troubles, threats, encroachments and invasions of the British neighbors and government of Hartford Colony, our too powerful enemies". The existence of these city maps has proven to be very useful in

9126-401: The population is of Polish descent; this is the largest concentration among New Jersey municipalities and the seventh-highest in the United States. The adjacent city of Garfield has also become a magnet for Polish immigrants, with 22.9% of the population identifying themselves as being of Polish ancestry, the third highest concentration in the state. The county's African American community

9243-418: The population was under the age of 18, 7.4% was from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 29% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.1 years. For every 100 females, the population had 92.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 89.8 males. Given its location as a suburban extension of Manhattan across the George Washington Bridge , Bergen County has evolved

9360-418: The population. Of the 335,730 households, 32% had children under the age of 18; 56.1% were married couples living together; 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present and 28.9% were non-families. Of all households, 24.6% were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.2. 22.6% of

9477-446: The ports to support shipping, as well as for domestic servants, trades, and farm labor. Early settlement attempts by the Dutch colonists included Pavonia (1633), Vriessendael (1640), and Achter Col (1642), but the Native Americans repelled these settlements in Kieft's War (1643–1645) and the Peach War (1655). European settlers returned to the western shores of the Hudson River in

9594-480: The post-World War II era, developing much of the county to suburban levels. Two lanes were added to the upper level in 1946 and a second deck of traffic on the bridge was completed in 1962, expanding its capacity to becoming the world's only 14-lane suspension bridge . The bridge is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge, carrying 104 million vehicles in 2019. In 1955, the United States Army established

9711-769: The preceding two-year period alone. In February 2015, the board of education of the Glen Rock Public Schools voted to designate the Hindu holy day Diwali as an annual school holiday, making it the first district in the county to close for the holiday, while thousands celebrated the first county-wide celebration of Diwali under a unified sponsorship banner in 2016. An annual " Holi in the Village" festival of colors has been launched in Ridgewood. Fair Lawn , Tenafly , Alpine , and Fort Lee are hubs for Russian Americans , including

9828-484: The province's progress were accompanied by accurate maps and plans. These surveys, as well as grassroots activities to seek redress of grievances, account for the existence of some of the most important of the early documents. There is a particularly detailed city map called the Castello Plan produced in 1660. Virtually every structure in New Amsterdam at the time is believed to be represented, and by cross-referencing

9945-469: The region from the 38th parallel to the 45th parallel . On their 1614 map, which gave them a four-year trade monopoly under a patent of the States General , they named the newly discovered and mapped territory New Netherland for the first time. It also showed the first year-round trading presence in New Netherland, Fort Nassau , which would be replaced in 1624 by Fort Orange, which eventually grew into

10062-560: The remainder in other towns and villages. In 1664, the English took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York after the Duke of York (later James II & VII ). After the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–67, England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands agreed to the status quo in the Treaty of Breda . The English kept the island of Manhattan, the Dutch giving up their claim to

10179-434: The rest of the county) open only six days per week. The county is one of the wealthiest counties in the United States , with a median household income of $ 109,497 (compared to $ 89,703 in New Jersey and $ 69,021 nationwide) and a per capita income of $ 55,710 (vs. $ 46,691 in the state and $ 37,638 in the U.S.) as of the 2017–2021 American Community Survey . Bergen County has some of the highest home prices in New Jersey, with

10296-491: The settlement Bergen and surrounding plantations and settlements were called Bergen County in an act passed by the province's General Assembly. In 1683, Bergen (along with the three other original counties of East Jersey) was officially recognized as an independent county by the Provincial Assembly. Initially, Bergen County comprised only the land between the Hudson River and the Hackensack River , extending north to

10413-525: The settlers' investments, possessions and farms on Manhattan island, Minuit negotiated the "purchase" of Manhattan from a band of Canarse from Brooklyn who occupied the bottom quarter of Manhattan, known then as the Manhattoes , for 60 guilders ' worth of trade goods. Minuit conducted the transaction with the Canarse chief Seyseys, who was only too happy to accept valuable merchandise in exchange for an island that

10530-433: The signing of the Treaty of Westminster in February 1674, both the Dutch territories were relinquished to the English. With the effective transfer of control on 10 November 1674 (N.S.), the names New Netherland and New Orange reverted to the English versions of "New York" and "New York City", respectively. Suriname became an official Dutch possession in return. The beginnings of New Amsterdam, unlike most other colonies in

10647-568: The southeastern Bergen towns were Italian American strongholds for decades, but their Italo-American demographics have diminished in recent years as more recent immigrants have taken their place. At the same time, the Italian American population has grown in many of the communities in the northern half of the county, including Franklin Lakes , Ramsey , Montvale , and Woodcliff Lake . The diverse Hispanic and Latin American population in Bergen

10764-455: The state's entire Korean population as of 2000. As of the 2022 American Community Survey , persons of Korean ancestry made up 6.5% of Bergen County's population, the highest percentage for any county in the United States; while the concentration of Koreans in Palisades Park , within Bergen County, is the highest density and percentage of any municipality in the United States, at 53.7% of

10881-633: The summer of 1654 directly from Holland, with passports that gave them permission to trade in the colony. Then in early September, 23 Jewish refugees arrived from the Brazilian city of Recife , which had been conquered by the Portuguese in January 1654. The director-general of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant , sought to turn them away but was ultimately overruled by the directors of the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam. Asser Levy , an Ashkenazi Jew who

10998-411: The time, beaver pelts were highly prized in Europe, because the fur could be felted to make waterproof hats. A by-product of the trade in beaver pelts was castoreum —the secretion of the animals' anal glands—which was used for its medicinal properties and for perfumes. The expeditions by Adriaen Block and Hendrick Christiaensen in 1611, 1612, 1613 and 1614, resulted in the surveying and charting of

11115-510: The total in most of Bergen's other municipalities. In Englewood, the African American population is concentrated in the Third and Fourth wards of the western half of the city, while the northeastern section of Teaneck has been an African American enclave for several decades. In 2014, Teaneck selected its first female African-American mayor. Hackensack's long-established African American community

11232-520: The town and the rest of the colony, while the English formally abandoned Surinam in South America, and the island of Run in the East Indies to the Dutch, confirming their control of the valuable Spice Islands . The area occupied by New Amsterdam is now Lower Manhattan . The indigenous Munsee term for the southern tip of the island was Manhattoe , and variations of this name were also applied to

11349-604: The town of Beverwijck , renamed Albany in 1664. Spanish trader Juan Rodriguez (rendered in Dutch as Jan Rodrigues), was born in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo , the first Spanish Colony in the Americas. Allegedly of Portuguese and African descent, he arrived on Manhattan Island during the winter of 1613–1614 under the command of Thijs Volckenz Mossel captain of the Jonge Tobias , trapping beavers and trading with

11466-501: The typical grid become enforced long after the town ceased to be Dutch. Most of the Financial District overlaps with New Amsterdam and has retained its original street layout. The 1625 date of the founding of New Amsterdam is now commemorated in the official Seal of New York City . (Formerly, the year on the seal was 1664, the year of the provisional Articles of Transfer, assuring New Netherlanders that they "shall keep and enjoy

11583-498: The valuable sugar plantations and factories captured by them that year on the coast of Surinam , giving them full control over the coast of what is now Guyana and Suriname . On 9 August 1673 ( N.S. ; 30 July 1673 (O.S.)), during the Third Anglo-Dutch War , the Dutch quickly but briefly retook the colony of New Netherland, which the English called "New York", with a combined fleet of a squadron of ships from Amsterdam and

11700-557: The war in April 1917, Camp Merritt was created in eastern Bergen County for troop staging. Beginning operations in August 1917, it housed 50,000 soldiers at a time, staging them for deployment to Europe via Hoboken . Camp Merritt was decommissioned in November 1919. The George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, linking Fort Lee to Manhattan . This connection spurred rapid development in

11817-436: Was 42.1 years. The gender makeup was 48.53% male and 51.14% female. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males. The median household income was $ 108,827, and the median family income was $ 122,981. About 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line , including 7.4% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over. The 2010 United States census counted 905,116 people, 335,730 households, and 238,704 families in

11934-409: Was 56.90% White , 5.73% African American , 0.47% Native American , 16.59% Asian , and 10.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 21.41% of the population. There were 343,733 households, of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.1% were married couples living together, 24.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 13.9% had

12051-446: Was 955,732, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 50,616 (+5.6%) from the 905,116 recorded at the 2010 census , which in turn reflected an increase of 20,998 (2.4%) from the 884,118 counted in the 2000 census . The county is divided into 70 municipalities, the most of any county in New Jersey, made up of 56 boroughs , nine townships, three cities, and two villages. Its most populous place, with 46,030 residents as of

12168-488: Was a prohibitively expensive undertaking, only partly subsidized by the fur trade. This led to a scaling back of the original plans. By 1628, a smaller fort was constructed with walls containing a mixture of clay and sand. The fort also served as the center of trading activity. It contained a barracks, the church, a house for the West India Company director and a warehouse for the storage of company goods. Troops from

12285-530: Was actually mostly controlled by the Weckquaesgeeks. An official letter of November 7, 1626 in which Pieter Schagen informed the States General of the purchase (by Peter Minuit ) of Manhattan ("'t eylant Manhettes", groot 11000 morgen ) from the "wilden" (wild ones). This area amounts to 94 square kilometres (36 sq mi). Schagen also mentioned the successful first harvest and the shipload of 7,246 beaver skins ( Nationaal Archief , The Hague ). For

12402-446: Was called Arch Brook. On August 27, 1664, while England and the Dutch Republic were at peace, four English frigates sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender, effecting the bloodless capture of New Amsterdam . On September 6, the local Dutch deciding not to offer resistance, Stuyvesant's lawyer Johannes de Decker and five other delegates signed the official Articles of Surrender of New Netherland . This

12519-400: Was changed to allow easy formation of municipalities with the borough form of government. This led to the " boroughitis " phenomenon, in which many new municipalities were created in a span of a few years. There were 26 boroughs that were formed in the county in 1894 alone, with two more boroughs (and one new township) formed in 1895. Ultimately 56 boroughs were incorporated in Bergen County,

12636-465: Was cited by county executive Kathleen Donovan in the context of attorney Jae Y. Kim's appointment to Central Municipal Court judgeship in nearby Hackensack in January 2011. Subsequently, in March 2012, leaders from Bergen County's Korean community announced they would form a grassroots political action committee to gain an organized voice in politics in the wake of the rejection of attorney Phillip Kwon to

12753-536: Was elected to the borough council in nearby Englewood Cliffs , while namesake Daniel Park was elected to the borough council in nearby Tenafly in November 2013. Polish Americans are well represented in western Bergen County and are growing as a community, with 59,294 (6.5%) of residents of Polish descent residing in the county as of the 2013 American Community Survey. The community's cultural and commercial heart has long been centered in Wallington , where 45.5% of

12870-663: Was finished in 1645 and stood until destroyed in the Slave Insurrection of 1741 . A pen-and-ink view of New Amsterdam, drawn on-the-spot and discovered in the map collection of the Austrian National Library in Vienna in 1991, provides a unique view of New Amsterdam as it appeared from Capske (small Cape) Rock in 1648. It was associated with Adriaen van der Donck 's Remonstrance of New Netherland , and may have inspired later views as by Claes Jansz. Visscher . Capske Rock

12987-509: Was named Nouvelle Angoulême by the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano , to commemorate his patron King Francis I of France , whose family consisted of the Counts of Angoulême . The first recorded exploration by the Dutch of the area around what is now called New York Bay was in 1609 with the voyage of the ship Halve Maen (English: "Half Moon"), commanded by Henry Hudson in the service of

13104-461: Was one of the 23 refugees, eventually prospered and in 1661 became the first Jew to own a house in New Amsterdam, which also made him the first Jew known to have owned a house anywhere in North America. On September 15, 1655, New Amsterdam was occupied by several hundred Munsee , possibly in response to a Dutch colonist killing a woman stealing peaches from his orchard. No bloodshed occurred until

13221-433: Was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 3.21 inches (82 mm) in February to 4.60 inches (117 mm) in July. Average monthly temperatures at the interchange of Route 17 and MacArthur Boulevard in Mahwah range from 28.5 °F in January to 73.8 °F in July. Using the 0 °C January isotherm, most of Bergen has a hot-summer humid continental climate ( Dfa ) except for higher areas in

13338-581: Was situated in the water close to Manhattan between Manhattan and Noten Eylant, and signified the start of the East River roadstead. New Amsterdam received municipal rights by a charter from New Netherland Governor Peter Stuyvesant on February 2, 1653, thus becoming a city. Albany, then named Beverwyck , received its city rights in 1652. Nieuw Haarlem , now known as Harlem , was formally recognized in 1658. The first Dutch Jews known to have arrived in New Amsterdam arrived in 1654. First to arrive were Solomon Pietersen and Jacob Barsimson, who sailed during

13455-404: Was soon being made by the Dutch on Long Island . In 1621, the Dutch West India Company was founded. Between 1621 and 1623, orders were given to the private, commercial traders to vacate the territory, thus opening up the territory to Dutch settlers and company traders. It also allowed the laws and ordinances of the states of Holland to apply. Previously, during the private, commercial period, only

13572-466: Was swiftly followed by the Second Anglo-Dutch War , between England and the Dutch Republic . In June 1665, New Amsterdam was reincorporated under English law as New York City, named after the Duke of York (later King James II ). He was the brother of King Charles II , who had been granted the lands. In 1667, the Treaty of Breda ended the conflict in favor of the Dutch. The Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland but did demand control over

13689-438: Was the main street that led out of town north towards Harlem. The town was surrounded to the north by a wall leading from the eastern to the western shore. Today, where the course of this city wall was, is Wall Street . Nearby, a canal which led from the harbor inland was filled in 1676, and is today Broad Street . The layout of the streets was winding, as in a European city. Only starting from Wall Street going toward uptown did

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