Jersey

Jersey is a self-governing British Crown dependency in the English Channel, 23 km (14 mi) off the coast of Normandy. It is the largest of the Channel Islands, St Helier is the capital, English is the main language, and the Norman dialect Jèrriais is part of its heritage.

Neanderthals used the site of La Cotte de St Brelade some 200,000 years ago, when the island was still joined to the mainland, and it became an island by about 5500 BC. Neolithic people built dolmens such as La Hougue Bie, and settlers from Brittany brought Christianity in the 5th or 6th century, when Saint Helier lived on the islet now occupied by Elizabeth Castle. In 933 William Longsword joined the island to Normandy.

When Normandy went back to the French king in 1204, Jersey stayed with the English crown without ever becoming part of England. Mont Orgueil Castle was built to guard the island from France, and in 1781 Major Peirson's troops won the Battle of Jersey at St Helier. German forces occupied Jersey from 1 July 1940 until 9 May 1945, now the island's national day.

Jersey is not part of the United Kingdom: the States Assembly makes its laws, a Chief Minister leads the government and the Bailiff is the civil head, while Britain handles defense and foreign relations. The island has its own legal and tax systems and issues its own pound notes and coins. Finance has grown into the largest industry since the war, alongside farming and tourism, and the Latin name Caesarea, long used for Jersey, inspired the name of New Jersey.