104-655: Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey . Located in 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
208-456: A "corruption" of English use of Minisink is incorrect. The term follows a regular pattern of Munsee word formation. Names for the speakers of Munsee are used in complex ways in both English and in Munsee. The Unami language is sometimes treated as "Delaware" or "Delaware proper", reflecting the original application of the term Delaware to Unami speakers, but Munsee speakers use Delaware as
312-578: A county is a local level of government between the state and municipalities. County government in New Jersey includes a Board of County Commissioners , sheriff, clerk, and surrogate (responsible for uncontested and routine probate), all of which are elected officials. Counties organized under the Optional County Charter Law may also have an elected county executive . Counties traditionally perform state-mandated duties such as
416-673: A disyllable with a weak penultimate syllable, the final syllable is strong, and receives primary stress. (a) ăsə́n 'stone' (disyllabic Weak-Strong) The grammar of Munsee is characterized by complex inflectional and derivational morphology . Inflection in Munsee is realized through the use of prefixes and suffixes added to word stems to indicate grammatical information, including number (singular or plural), gender , person , possession , negation , obviation , and others. Nouns use combinations of person prefixes and suffixes to indicate possession and suffixes to indicate gender, number, diminutive , absentive , and obviation. Verbs use
520-491: 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
624-618: 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
728-586: A hot-summer humid continental climate ( Dfa ) except for higher areas in 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
832-410: A linguistically oriented transcription, followed by the same words written in a practical system. The linguistic system uses a raised dot (·) to indicate vowel length. Although stress is mostly predictable, the linguistic system uses the acute accent to indicate predictable main stress. In addition predictable voiceless or murmured /ă/ is indicated with the breve accent (˘). Similarly, the breve accent
936-438: A proposal whereby each senator's vote would be weighted based on the population of the county represented, under which Cape May County 's senator would receive one vote while the senator from Essex County would receive 19.1 votes, in direct relation to the ratio of residents between counties. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that it was unconstitutional for the senate to adopt a weighted voting system unilaterally. In 1966,
1040-489: 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
1144-604: A self-designation in English. The term Delaware was originally applied by British colonists to Unami speakers living along the Delaware River , which is named after Lord De La Warr , the first governor of Virginia. The term was gradually extended to refer to all Delaware groups. The Munsee in Ontario are sometimes referred to as "Ontario Delaware" or "Canadian Delaware". Munsee-speaking residents of Moraviantown use
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#17327983221071248-597: 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
1352-476: A single language.) Aboriginally, and for a period subsequent to the arrival of Europeans, Munsee was spoken within a series of small and largely autonomous local bands, located primarily within the drainage of the Hudson and upper Delaware rivers, the major river systems of the area. The general pattern, found throughout the Eastern Algonquian area, was one in which indigenous groups resided along
1456-929: A single set of person prefixes and a series of suffixes in position classes after the verb stem to indicate combinations of person, number, negation, obviation, and others. There is no standard writing system for Munsee. Linguists have tended to use common phonetic transcription symbols of the type found in the International Phonetic Alphabet or similar Americanist symbols in order to represent sounds that are not consistently represented in conventional standard writing systems. Europeans writing down Delaware words and sentences have tended to use adaptations of European alphabets and associated conventions. The quality of such transliterated renditions has varied widely, as Europeans attempted to record sounds and sound combinations they were not familiar with. A practical orthography for Munsee has been created in
1560-702: 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, the Continental forces staged a hasty retreat through present-day Englewood , Teaneck , and Bergenfield , and across
1664-683: A system under which each county was represented by a single member in the New Jersey Senate . The court ruled unanimously that the existing system was unconstitutional, ordered that interim measures be established by statute for the 1965 legislative elections, and ordered that the needed constitutional changes to restructure the New Jersey Legislature to be in compliance with "one man, one vote" requirements be in place before elections took place in 1967. The senate unilaterally—by internal rule, not by statute—enacted
1768-465: 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 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
1872-580: 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 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
1976-585: Is Union County , created in 1857 and named after the union of the United States when the Civil War was imminent. New Jersey's county names derive from several sources, though most of its counties are named after place names in England and prominent leaders in the colonial and revolutionary periods. Bergen County is the most populous county—as of the 2010 Census—with 905,116 people, while Salem County
2080-544: Is a fair going on'; ntáyrəm 'my tire.' Different analyses of the Munsee vowel system have been proposed. Goddard (1979) presents an analysis in which Munsee and Unami have the same vowel system, unchanged from the Proto-Eastern-Algonquian vowel system (discussed in the History section below). In this analysis, there are four long vowels /i·, o·, e·, a·/ and two short vowels /a, ə/ . Vowel length
2184-471: 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
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#17327983221072288-900: 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. List of counties in New Jersey There are 21 counties in the U.S. state of New Jersey . These counties together contain 564 municipalities , or administrative entities composed of clearly defined territory; 252 boroughs , 52 cities , 15 towns , 241 townships , and 4 villages . In New Jersey,
2392-529: 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
2496-418: Is indicated with a raised dot (·). However, in modern Munsee there are several sources of new short /i, o, e/ that arise from such sources as reduplication, loan words, and other various phonological changes, and that cannot be derived from other underlying vowels. Hence an analysis in which there are four positions that have contrastive vowel length as well as /ə/ , is appropriate. The short vowel /i/ has
2600-582: Is little information on dialect variation within the Munsee-speaking area. The primary known named Munsee groups, from north to south on the west side of the Hudson River, were the The Wappinger were to the east of the upper Hudson; below them going north to south on the east bank of the Hudson were the The disruptions resulting from the entry of European settlers, fur traders, and explorers led to
2704-524: Is milder than in New Jersey counties further inland such as Sussex County . Bergen County has 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)
2808-493: Is of Unami origin, and is used in English as a self-designation by speakers of Unami; Exceptionally among scholars, Kraft uses Lenape as an English-language cover term to refer to all Delaware-speaking groups, while noting that this usage is "not entirely appropriate". Munsee speakers refer to their language as /hə̀lə̆ni·xsəwá·kan/ , literally 'speaking the Delaware language'. Speakers of Munsee originally resided in
2912-574: Is one of two Delaware languages (also known as Lenape languages , after the tribe's autonym). It is very closely related to the Unami Delaware, but the two are sufficiently different that they are considered separate languages. Munsee was spoken aboriginally by Lenape in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States , including western Long Island , Manhattan Island , Staten Island , as well as adjacent areas on
3016-446: 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
3120-651: 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 ,
3224-669: Is the least populous with 66,083 people. Until the 1960s, the New Jersey Senate had 21 representatives, one from each county regardless of population. In the wake of the 1964 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in Reynolds v. Sims , establishing the one man, one vote principle that state legislative districts must be approximately equal in size, David Friedland filed suit in New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of two union leaders, challenging
Bergen County, New Jersey - Misplaced Pages Continue
3328-657: 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
3432-451: Is to be transcribed mə̆nə́sənk . It is the locative form of a now disused word /mənə́s/ 'island' (no source given, not a form given in records and not a normal Munsee noun ending; viz. manan , manhan ; form suggests 'small island'); cognates in other Algonquian languages are e.g. Ojibwe minis , 'island'. Orthographic ⟨ink⟩ in the form Minisink is the modern Munsee locative suffix /-ənk/ (discussed below in
3536-413: Is used to indicate an ultra-short [ə] that typically occurs before a single voiced consonant followed by a vowel. The practical system indicates vowel length by doubling the vowel letter and maintains the linɡuistic system's practices for marking stress and voiceless/ultra-short vowels. The practical system uses orthographic ⟨sh⟩ for the phonetic symbol /š/ , and ⟨ch⟩ for
3640-477: The -w . This drop also carried over into "careful speech". A large class of particles and pre-words that are usually heard with final /-ɘ/ retained the original /-i/ in the speech of some speakers. Words that end with the negative suffix /-wi/ or the subjunctive suffix /-e/ had variants with final /-ɘ/ . Another large class of particles and pre-words are found in older sources ending in /-Í·wi/ , e.g. Some words have variation between underlying |
3744-591: 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
3848-645: 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
3952-666: 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 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
4056-721: 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
4160-802: 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
4264-607: The North Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 United States census , the county's population 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
Bergen County, New Jersey - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-731: The Raritan River to the Atlantic Ocean. To the south of the Munsee were the Unami Delaware. To the north were the Algonquian Mahican , and to the east were the Eastern Long Island peoples, who also spoke Algonquian languages, such as Unquachog (also spelled Unkechaug ) and southern New England languages, such as Quiripi . (Quiripi and Unquachog are likely members of a dialect continuum of
4472-530: The humid subtropical climate zone ( Cfa ) according to 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
4576-618: 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
4680-400: 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
4784-513: 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
4888-630: 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
4992-547: 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
5096-536: The Delaware languages constitute Delawaran, a subgroup within Eastern Algonquian. The term Munsee developed as an English name for the aggregated group that formed along the upper Delaware River north of the Delaware Water Gap . Other Munsee dialect speakers joined the Minisink group; the earliest recorded mention of Munsee dates from 1725. Minisink is a Munsee term meaning 'at the island', and
5200-554: The English term Munsee to refer to residents of Munceytown, approximately 50 km (31 mi) to the east. In English, Moraviantown residents call themselves Delaware , and in Munsee /lənáːpeːw/ 'Delaware person, Indian'. Some Delaware at Moraviantown also use the term Christian Indian as a preferred self-designation in English. The equivalent Munsee term is ké·ntə̆we·s ('one who prays, Moravian convert'). Munsee speakers refer to Oklahoma Delaware as Unami in English or /wə̆ná·mi·w/ in Munsee. The English term Lenape
5304-474: The Grammar section). The term Munsee is the English adaptation of a regularly formed word, mə́n'si·w ('person from Minisink'). Over time the British extended the term Munsee to any speaker of the Munsee language. Attempts to derive Munsee from a word meaning 'stone' or 'mountain,' as proposed by Brinton , are incorrect. Kraft 's claim that Munsee is not an indigenous term, and that it results from
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#17327983221075408-558: 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
5512-719: 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
5616-526: 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
5720-425: 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 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
5824-566: 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 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,
5928-418: The constitution was amended to establish 40 districts statewide, each represented by one senator and two assembly members, without relation to county boundaries. The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. FIPS codes are five-digit numbers; for New Jersey the codes start with 34 and are completed with
6032-438: The context of various language preservation and documentation projects. A recent bilingual dictionary of Munsee uses a practical orthography derived from a linguistic transcription system for Munsee. The same system is also used in a recent word book produced locally at Moraviantown. The related Unami language is written using a distinct practical orthography . The table below presents a sample of Munsee words, written first in
6136-678: 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
6240-576: 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
6344-579: 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 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
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#17327983221076448-652: 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 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
6552-434: 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
6656-501: 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
6760-459: 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
6864-401: 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 the bluffs of the New Jersey Palisades , opposite Fort Washington in Manhattan , made it
6968-525: The deletion of certain short vowels. All syllables containing long vowels are strong. Any short vowel in a closed syllable (i.e. (C)VC) is strong. Counting left to right, in a sequence of two or more open syllables containing short vowels, the odd-numbered syllable is weak and the even-numbered syllable is strong. As well, certain syllables containing short vowels (frequently such syllables occur in reduplicated syllables and loan words) must exceptionally be marked as strong. In words longer than two syllables,
7072-453: The displacement of these local groups. They gradually consolidated into larger groups that brought together speakers from the different groups within the Munsee-speaking area. Munsee phonology is complex but regular in many regards. Metrical rules of syllable weight assignment play a key role in the assignment of word-level stress , and also determine the form of rules of vowel syncope that produce complex but mostly regular alternations in
7176-436: The drainages of major river systems, with divisions between upriver and downriver groupings. Named groups were found on the major tributaries; they developed larger sites on the main streams and smaller camps at the headwaters and on feeder streams. Estimates vary, but these local groups may have had a population of up to two hundred people each. These groups spoke localized varieties of the language now called Munsee, but there
7280-480: 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, the settlement Bergen and surrounding plantations and settlements were called Bergen County in an act passed by
7384-434: 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 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
7488-662: The eastern portion of 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
7592-526: The final syllable is excluded from consideration of stress placement, i.e. is extrametrical , and the last strong syllable preceding the final syllable in the word receives the main stress. (a) payaxkhı́·kan 'rifle' (strong penultimate, receives primary stress) (b) né·wake 'if I see him' (weak penultimate, preceding syllable receives primary stress) In disyllabic words a strong penultimate syllable receives primary stress. (a) á·mwi·w 's/he gets up from lying down' (disyllabic Strong-Strong) In
7696-625: The first two locations, the language is used only by a few elders at Moraviantown, Ontario. Since the early 21st century, the language has been taught to tribal members of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Native Americans, and the Delaware Nation , Moraviantown Reserve. The southern boundary of Munsee territory was the area north of the Delaware Water Gap, following the river system southeast along
7800-432: The forms of words. Word-level stress is largely predictable, with exceptions occurring primarily in loan words, reduplicated forms, and in words where historical change has made historically transparent alternations more opaque. Munsee has the following inventory of consonants; International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) values are given in brackets. Some loan words from English contain /f/ and /r/ : fé·li·n 'there
7904-505: 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
8008-671: The greater Manhattan area, the drainage of the Lower Hudson River valley , and the upper Delaware River. The arrival of European explorers, traders and settlers resulted in the progressive displacement of Munsee people over a period of several centuries. Munsee groups affected by this process ultimately moved away from their homeland to communities in both the United States and Canada. In the 20th century, surviving Munsee speakers in Canada lived at Six Nations , Ontario; Munceytown , Ontario; and Moraviantown Reserve. Now extinct in
8112-413: 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
8216-471: The language by younger individuals. Munsee is an Eastern Algonquian language, which is the sole recognized genetic subgroup descending from Proto-Algonquian , the common ancestor language of the Algonquian language family. Munsee is very closely related to Unami Delaware. Munsee and Unami constitute the Delaware languages, comprising a subgroup within Eastern Algonquian. Taken together with Mahican ,
8320-547: The mainland: southeastern New York State , the northern third of New Jersey , and northeastern Pennsylvania . As of 2018, Munsee was spoken only on the Moraviantown Reserve in Ontario , Canada , by two elderly individuals, aged 77 and 90, making it critically endangered. The language that the individuals speak differs between speakers, each having a personal dialect. There has been interest in learning
8424-577: The maintenance of jails, parks, and certain roads. The site of a county's administration and courts is called the county seat . New Jersey was governed by two groups of proprietors as two distinct provinces, East Jersey and West Jersey , between 1674 and 1702. New Jersey's first counties were created as administrative districts within each province, with East Jersey split in 1675 into Bergen , Essex , Middlesex and Monmouth counties, while West Jersey's initial counties of Burlington and Salem date to 1681. The most recent county created in New Jersey
8528-400: 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
8632-562: 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,
8736-535: 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
8840-543: 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
8944-542: The phonetic symbol /č/ . Currently, the Munsee language has eight native speakers whose personal dialects vary from each other. Extensive details about how the language differs between all eight speakers have been cataloged in a paper by Ives Goddard titled "The Personal Dialects of Moraviantown Delaware" which was published in Anthropological Linguistics volume 52. Nouns and verbs that end in -i·w , -e·w and -a·w ; some speakers often dropped
9048-459: The phonetic value [ɪ] . Short /a/ has values centring on [ʌ] , with [a] occurring before [hC] (where 'C' represents any stop or the lateral consonant). Short /o/ has values centring on [ʊ] . The long vowels /iː, eː, aː, oː/ have the primary values [iː] , [ɛː] , [aː] , and [oː] , with /a/ varying to [ɑ] , and [ɒ] after labial consonants. Syllable weight plays a significant role in Munsee phonology, determining stress placement and
9152-399: 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
9256-416: 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
9360-416: 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
9464-678: 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 the 1660 formation of Bergen Township (now part of Jersey City, New Jersey ), which would become one of
9568-789: 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
9672-558: 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 the border between East Jersey and New York. In January 1709, the boundaries were extended to include all of
9776-432: 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
9880-523: 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 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
9984-523: 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
10088-488: 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 the borough's population. Per
10192-600: The three-digit county code. The FIPS code for each county in the table links to census data for that county. Munsee language Munsee (also known as Munsee Delaware, Delaware, Ontario Delaware, Delaware : Huluníixsuwaakan, Monsii èlixsuwakàn ) is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family. Munsee
10296-519: 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
10400-433: 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 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
10504-470: 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, the highest number for any county in New Jersey. On January 11, 1917,
10608-468: 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
10712-539: 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
10816-488: Was recorded in February 1934 and a record high of 106 °F (41 °C) 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
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