Albany is the capital city of the state of New York[1]  and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles (219 km) north of the city of New York,[2]  and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk  and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and has a major port. As of July 2007, the city had an estimated population of 94,172.[3]

Albany has close ties with the nearby cities of Troy, Schenectady, and Saratoga Springs, forming a region called the Capital District,[4] a historic area of the United States. The bulk of this area is made up of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which has a population of 850,957;[5] this MSA is the fourth largest urban area in New York and the 56th largest MSA in the United States.[6]

Modern Albany was founded as the Dutch trading posts of Fort Nassau in 1614 and Fort Orange in 1623, and the surrounding community known as Beverwyck.[7] The English renamed the town Albany, in honor of James II, Duke of Albany after they conquered New Netherlands in 1664. A 1686 document issued by Thomas Dongan granted Albany its official charter.[8] After New Amsterdam, Albany is the second-oldest city in the state in terms of its date of incorporation.