At the time of first European contact, Bergen County was inhabited by Native American peoples, particularly the Lenape groups of the Tappan, Hackensack and Rumachenanck (later called the Haverstraw). Today, some of the Ramapough Mountain Indians who reside in the northwest of the county trace their ancestry back to the Lenape and Munsee peoples.

The area comprising today's Bergen and Hudson counties was part New Netherland, the 17th century North American colonial province of the Dutch Republic. It had been claimed after Henry Hudson (sailing for the Dutch East India Company) explored Newark Bay and anchored his ship at Weehawken Cove in 1609.

Early settlement attempts by the Dutch included Pavonia (1633), Vriessendael (1640) and Achter Col (1642) but these settlements were repelled in Kieft's War (1643-1645) and the Peach Tree War (1655-1660). Settlers again returned to the western shores of the Hudson in the 1660 formation of Bergen, which would become the first permanent European settlement in the territory of the modern state of New Jersey.

During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, on August 27, 1664, New Amsterdam surrendered to the English Navy. The Province of New Jersey was then formed in 1674. In 1679, Bergen was included in a judicial district with Essex, Monmouth and Middlesex counties, while the territory was called East Jersey, a proprietary colony (as opposed to a royal colony). In 1683, Bergen (along with the three other counties) was officially recognized as an independent county by the Provincial Assembly.

The origin of the name of Bergen County is a matter of debate. It is believed that the County is named for one of the earliest settlements, Bergen, in the location of modern day Hudson County. However, the source of the name of the settlement is under wide debate. Several sources attribute the name to Bergen, Norway, while others attribute it to Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands. Still others attribute it to the Dutch word meaning "hill" or "place of safety". Some sources say that the name is derived from one of the earliest settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam (now New York City), Hans Hansen Bergen, a native of Norway, who arrived in New Netherlands in 1633.

Initially, Bergen County consisted of only the land between the Hudson and the Hackensack Rivers, extending north to the border between East Jersey and New York. In January 1709, the boundaries were extended to include all the current territory of Hudson County (formed in 1840), and portions of Passaic County (formed in 1837). The 1709 borders were described as follows.

"Beginning at Constable's Hook, so along the bay and Hudson's River to the partition point between New Jersey and the province of New York; along this line and the line between East and West Jersey† to the Pequaneck River; down the Pequaneck and Passaic Rivers to the sound; and so following the sound to Constable's Hook the place of beginning."

The line between East and West Jersey here referred to is not the line finally adopted and known as the Lawrence line, which was run by John Lawrence in September and October, 1743. It was the compromise line agreed upon between Governors Coxe and Barclay in 1682, which ran a little north of Morristown to the Passaic River; thence up the Pequaneck to forty-one degrees of north latitude; and thence by a straight line due east to the New York State line. This line being afterward objected to by the East Jersey proprietors, the latter procured the running of the Lawrence line.
Bergen saw several battles and troop movements during the American Revolutionary War. Fort Lee's location atop the New Jersey Palisades, opposite Fort Washington in Manhattan, made it a strategic position during the war. In November, 1776 the Battle of Fort Lee took place as part of the Continental Army's attempts to keep British forces from sailing up the Hudson River. After these defensive positions were hastily abandoned, the American forces staged a retreat through present-day Englewood and Teaneck, and across the Hackensack River at New Bridge Landing, one of the few sites where the river was crossed by a bridge. With the British in pursuit, this retreat allowed American forces to escape capture and regroup for subsequent successes against the British elsewhere in New Jersey later that winter. The Baylor Massacre took place in 1778 in River Vale, resulting in severe losses for the Continentals.

Bergen and Passaic counties, 1872In 1837, Passaic County was formed from parts of Bergen and Essex counties. In 1840, Hudson County was formed from Bergen. These two divisions lost 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 the county. This became known as the Erie Main Line, and is still in use for passenger service today.

In the late 19th century, state law was changed to allow easy formation of municipalities with the Borough form of government. This led to the Boroughitis phenomenon where many new municipalities were created in a span of a few years.

On January 11, 1917, the Kingsland Explosion took place at a munitions factory in what is today Lyndhurst. The explosion is believed to be 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 of 1917, Camp Merritt was created in eastern Bergen County for troop staging. Beginning operations in August of 1917, it housed 50,000 soldiers at a time, staging them for deployment to Europe via Hoboken. Camp Merritt was decommissioned in November, 1919.

In 1931, the George Washington Bridge was completed, linking Fort Lee to Manhattan. This connection would spur development in the post-World War II era, developing much of the county to suburban levels. A second deck of traffic on the bridge was completed in 1962, expanding its capacity to 14 lanes.

In 1955, the U.S. Army created 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, the site was upgraded to house Nike-Hercules Missiles with increased range, speed and payload characteristics. The missile site closed in June 1971.

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