A Brief History of Jersey City, NJ

The land that is now Jersey City was once a vast wilderness that was inhabited by the Lenape, a collection of Indian tribes (later called Delaware Indian). In 1609, Henry Hudson, seeking an alternate route to East Asia, anchored his small vessel The Half Moon at Sandy Hook, Harsimus and Weehawken Cove, and elsewhere along what was later named the North River. After spending nine days surveying the area and meeting its inhabitants, he returned to the Netherlands. The Dutch organized the United New Netherlands Company to manage the new territory, and in June 1623, The New Netherlands became a Dutch province, with headquarters in New Amsterdam.