New York's capital — Hudson River history where the Erie Canal changed a continent
Albany is the oldest continuously chartered city in the United States and New York State's capital. Perched on the Hudson River 150 miles north of New York City, it was the hub of the Erie Canal era that opened the American interior to trade and settlement. The New York State Museum is one of the finest in the country, and the Empire State Plaza — a vast Rockefeller-era complex of marble and glass — houses a remarkable modern art collection underground. The city sits at the heart of the Capital Region, gateway to the Catskills, Adirondacks, and Berkshires.
Albany began as Fort Nassau, a Dutch fur trading post, in 1614 — making it the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the original thirteen colonies. It was chartered as a city by the British in 1686, and when the Erie Canal opened in 1825 connecting the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, Albany became the eastern terminus of America's most transformative infrastructure project. The canal made New York City the dominant port of the nation and transformed the Midwest from wilderness into farmland. Albany has been New York's state capital since 1797.