Native Americans

There were Native Americans that lived in New Jersey in this time period. They were called the Lenni Lenape. But the Europeans referred to them as the Delaware. The Europeans thought that the Native Americans were uncivilized because they spoke a different language then them. That language that the Lenni Lenape spoke was called Algonquian. The Europeans thought that they were uncivilized because they spoke differently, had different homes, and a different life style. The Lenni Lenape thought the same way about the Europeans. They were wondering why the Europeans would want to crunch themselves into a little home. The way that the Lenni Lenape lived was by fishing, hunting, gathering, and by planting corn, squash, and beans. The Lenny Lenape populated New Jersey in this time period ("New Jersey", 250 ).


Free Choice

The free choice topic that I picked was exploration in New Jersey. A man by the name of Giovanni da Verrazano was an important explorer in New Jersey. He was Italian and was born in Val di Greve, near Florence. He was a famous pirate on invasions on Spanish ships. The king of France, Francis I, ordered him to claim new lands for France and to find a sea route going west to get to China. On his first expedition he reached all the way to North Carolina and explored the Atlantic coast. Verrazano mostly explored New Jersey and found Native Americans there. He was the first European to go into the New York Bay. Then he went on a second expedition, which led to his death. A tribe of Native Americans in Brazil killed Verrazano. Verrazano had a bridge named after him in New York Harbor ("Verrazano, Giovanni da", 4/18/02).

Event

A very important event happened in the year of 1774 in New Jersey. How it started was that a group of New Jerseyites went out to seek revenge from King George. They were disguised as Native Americans. That is how they didn't get caught by the British and weren't discovered as New Jerseyites. They sailed to Greenwich, which is near Salem and on the southwestern part of New Jersey. The New Jerseyites got on a British boat with an enormous amount of British tea. The New Jerseyites burned the British tea in no time at all and got off the boat. This was an important event in New Jersey. It was a rebellion. It was called The Greenwich Tea Burning. This event was very similar to another important event by the name of The Boston Tea Party ("History", 250).

Person

A famous person in New Jersey in this time period was Sir George Carteret. He was born on the island of New Jersey. When he was a boy he joined the navy and rose through the ranks. In the French and Indian War he fought for the loyalists and was rewarded to be made lieutenant governor of New Jersey. Later he joined the French army. He then came back and became the treasurer of English navy. In 1664, he and John Berkeley were made lords of New Jersey. The name of New Jersey was given in honor of Carteret's administration of island of New Jersey. In 1676 the colony of New Jersey was divided into the East Jersey and West Jersey. Sir George Carteret was the rightful owner of East Jersey ("Carteret, Sir George", 4/18/02).