Lenape of New Jerseyhttp://www.usgennet.org/usa/nj/state/Lenape.htm

1524 - Sailing for France, Giovanni daVerrazano possibly explored New Jersey’s shores

1609 - Henry Hudson on Half Moon sailed up river that will bear his name

1618 - Dutch established the first trading station at Bergen (Jersey CityP

1621 - Dutch West India Company chartered.

1623 - Captain Cornelius J. Mey built Fort Nassau near Gloucester City and became Director General of New Netherland;map of New Netherland

1629 - Michael Pauw received the first Dutch land-grant on the west bank of the Hudson River (Jersey City), known as Pavonia; this is an example of the beginning of the Dutch "patroon system"

1630 - Area of Harsimus was an island claimed by the Dutch West India Company that developed into present-day Jersey City

1633 - Dutch built a house at Communipaw

1638 - New Sweden settled by Peter Minuit who built Fort Christina along the Delaware River

1643 - Colonel Johan Printz became governor of New Sweden (to 1653); Fort Elfsborg (Sussex County) is constructed by settlers of New Sweden; Pavonia (Jersey City) Massacre on February 25 as part of (William) Kieft's war

1647 - Peter Stuyvesant became Director General of New Netherland

1651 - Dutch built Fort Casimir

1655 - Dutch under Peter Stuyvesant forced Swedes to give up forts in South Jersey; Peach Tree War occurred on September 15; second destruction of Pavonia settlement by Indians

1656 - Dutch capture settlement of New Sweden

1660 - Dutch founded the Bergen Township (Jersey City) on site of present-day Bergen Square, Jersey City

1661 - First recorded school at Bergen Township (Jersey City)

1664 - Dutch surrender New Netherland to England; proprietorship granted to John, Lord Berkeley and  Sir George Carteret (Hudson River to Delaware River) by the James, Duke of York (June 24); Philip Carteret named first proprietary governor;

1665  - The Concessions and Agreement of the Lords Proprietor to New Jersey (Part III and Part V) established government for the colony of New Jersey; Concessions and Agreements offered 60 acres of land to anyone importing an African

1666 - Robert Treat founded Newark

1668 - First Assembly meeting held in Elizabethtown; Quakers settled in West Jersey

1673 - Third New Jersey Regiment, known as the "Jersey Blues," started at Piscataway

1674 - Edward Byllynge and John Fenwick, Quakers, bought West Jersey from Lord Berkeley

1675 - John Fenwick established a Quaker colony at Salem in West Jersey

1676 - Quintipartite Deed divided colony into East Jersey and West Jersey (from Little Egg Harbor to Delaware Water Gap); West Jersey Proprietors purchase land from Lenape; Wiliam Penn invested in West Jersey

1680 - New Jersey's first slaves bought for a plantation in Shrewsbury; Grant of 1680; George Carteret died.

1682 - Gov. Philip Carteret died. Carteret Estate sold to 24 Proprietors and establish Board of Proprietors (1685-1998)

1688 - Council of West Jersey Proprietors met in Burlington

1698 - Anglican Church was established at Perth Amboy

1702 - East and West Jersey proprietorships ended, and New Jersey became a united royal colony under a common governor with New York; Queen Anne instructed Lord Cornbury to establish the Royal African Company

1726 - There were 2,581 slaves in New Jersey

1738 - New Jersey became a separate royal colony from New York and received its own royal governor, Lewis Morris; there are nearly 4,000 slaves in New Jersey

1746 - The College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) was chartered at Elizabeth Town

1748 - Land Riots

1756 - Princeton became the home of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University); it was named Prince Town in honor of Prince William of Orange and Nassau (William III); Nassau Hall became the largest academic building in the American colonies for about 50 years; in 1776 it was the first capitol of New Jersey; between June and November of 1783, it was the site of the nation's capitol when the Continental Congress met there

1758 - New Jersey's Native American relocated to Brotherton Reservation in Burlington County by New Jersey Assembly; Barracks built in Trenton as winter quarters for British soldiers

1763 - William Franklin became New Jersey's last royal governor

1766 - William Franklin signed charter for Queen's College (Rutgers University) named after Queen Charlotte; classes started in 1771 at the Sign of the Red Lion tavern at corner of Albany and Neilson streets (Johnson and Johnson property)