Albany

Albany stands on the west bank of the Hudson River at the practical head of navigation, about 150 miles up from New York City — the farthest point oceangoing ships could reach. That made it a fur-trading post in the 1600s, one of the oldest continuously settled spots in the country, and the natural transfer point between the river and the routes west. It became the state capital in 1797.

Albany's fortunes were sealed by geography: it sits at the eastern end of the Mohawk Valley, the only near-sea-level break through the Appalachian Mountains. The Erie Canal exploited that gap in 1825, running from Albany to the Great Lakes and turning the city into a gateway for westward trade. The Hudson and the Mohawk meet just to the north, in the rolling country between the Catskills and the Adirondacks.

• New York
  The Empire State, from Manhattan to the Adirondacks located in
• The Hudson River
  The tidal river that made New York the gateway of a continent related
• New York City
  The largest city in the United States same state