Bergen Township, New Jersey (pre-1862)

Bergen Township was a township that existed in the U.S. state of New Jersey, from 1661 to 1862, first as part of New Netherland, then as part Bergen County, and later as part of Hudson County. Several places still bear the name: the township of North Bergen; Bergen Square, Old Bergen Road, Bergen Avenue, Bergen Junction, Bergen Hill and Bergen Arches in Jersey City; Bergen Point in Bayonne; and Bergenline Avenue and Bergen Turnpike in North Hudson.

The name Bergen was originally given to the peninsula between the Hudson River and Hackensack River by the European settlers to New Netherland. There are various opinions as to the origin. Some believe it comes from the Dutch word bergen, which in the Germanic languages of northern Europe means hills, and could describe a most distinct geological feature of the region, The Palisades. A more farfetched interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch word bergen, meaning to save or to recover, inspired by the settlers return after they had fled attacks by the native population after the Peach Tree War in 1655. Others say it is so called for the town of Bergen, North Holland in the Netherlands or (less likely) Bergen op Zoom, also in the Netherlands or the city of Bergen in Norway. Another theory is that the name derived from that of one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam, Hans Hansen Bergen, who arrived in 1633 as a ship's carpenter. Bergen initially settled on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan but later owned extensive plantations elsewhere on the island. From Bergen, Norway, he was one of the few Scandinavian settlers of New Amsterdam.

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