Schenectady

Sister cities

• Kunming

History

When first encountered by Europeans, the Mohawk Valley was the territory of the Mohawk nation, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or Haudenosaunee. They had occupied territory in the region since at least 1100 AD. Starting in the early 1600s, the Mohawks moved their settlements closer to the river; by 1629, they had also taken over territories on the Hudson River's west bank that were formerly held by the Algonquian-speaking Mahican people. Eventually, the word entered the lexicon of the Dutch settlers. The settlers in Fort Orange used skahnéhtati to refer to the new village at the Mohawk flats (see below), which became known as Schenectady (with a variety of spellings). In 1661, Arendt van Corlaer (later Van Curler), a Dutch immigrant, bought a large piece of land on the Mohawk River's south side. The colonial government gave other colonists grants of land in this portion of the flat, fertile river valley, as part of New Netherland. The settlers recognized the Mohawk had cultivated these bottomlands for maize for centuries. The proprietors and their descendants controlled all the land of the town for generations, Some Euro-Indian descendants, such as Jacques Cornelissen Van Slyck and his sister Hilletie van Olinda, who were of Dutch, French, and Mohawk ancestry, became interpreters and intermarried with Dutch colonists. They also gained land in the Schenectady settlement. In 1661, Jacques inherited what became known as Van Slyck's Island from his brother Marten, who had been given it by the Mohawk. Van Slyck family descendants retained ownership through the 19th century. In 1664, an English fleet conquered the colony of New Netherland and renamed it New York. They confirmed the monopoly on the fur trade by Albany, and issued orders to prohibit…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which (1.27%) is covered by water. It is part of the Capital District, the metropolitan area surrounding Albany, the New York's state capital. Along with Albany and Troy, it is one of the three principal population and industrial centers in the region. Interstate 890 runs through Schenectady, and the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90) is nearby. Amtrak has a station in Schenectady. The nearest airport is Schenectady County Airport; the nearest commercial airport is Albany International Airport. ZIP code 12345, which is used by the GE plant in Schenectady, has attracted media attention on account of its simplicity. Thousands of letters and Christmas lists addressed to Santa Claus are mailed to the ZIP code every year. Schenectady has a humid continental climate that is hot-summer (Dfa) bordering upon warm-summer (Dfb.) Average monthly temperatures range from in January to in July. These are estimates made by local amateur observers and are not official, as Schenectady does not have a weather station of its own (its "official" temperatures come from nearby Albany).

Race & ethnicity