Bergen (N.J. : Township)

On May 25, 1664, an English expedition to seize New Netherlands forced the surrender of the Dutch on September 8, 1664. Philip Carteret, the governor of the colony now called New Jersey, granted a new charter to the Town of Bergen, largely confirming all the rights and privileges the inhabitants had enjoyed under the Dutch. The boundaries in the new charter set forth an area that included all of present Jersey City and Bayonne. War broke out between England and Holland in 1672, and the following year the Dutch recaptured their lost territory, however, it was regained by England in 1674. With the creation of Bergen County in 1682, Bergen Township was established.