The seed entry for this article was provided by Wikipedia. ^[1]

Albany, NY is the capital city of the US state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. At roughly 150 miles (240 km) north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, a few miles (kilometers) south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The 2008 population estimate was 93,539 and the 2009 metro population estimate was 857,592. Albany has close ties with the nearby cities of Troy, Schenectady, and Saratoga Springs, forming a region called the Capital District. The bulk of this area is made up of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA); this MSA is the fourth largest urban area in New York and the 56th largest MSA in the country. ^[2]

Albany was permanently settled in 1614, officially chartered as a city in 1686, and became the capital of New York in 1797. It is the oldest surviving settlement from the original thirteen colonies, and the oldest continuously chartered city in the United States. Modern Albany was founded as the Dutch trading posts of Fort Nassau in 1614 and Fort Orange in 1623; the fur trade brought in a population that settled around Fort Orange, founding a village called Beverwijck. The English took over and renamed the town Albany in 1664, in honor of the Duke of Albany. The city was officially chartered in 1686 with the issuance of the Dongan Charter, still the oldest effective city charter in the nation and noted for possibly being the longest-running instrument of municipal government in the Western Hemisphere.

In the late 1700s and most of the 1800s, Albany was known for being a center of transportation, being located on the north end of the navigable Hudson River (the first steamboat service connected Albany and New York City), the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal, and for being home to some of the earliest railroad systems in the world. Albany's main exports at the time were beer, lumber, published works, and ironworks. Beginning in 1810, Albany was one of the ten most populous cities in the nation, a distinction that ended with the 1860 census.

The 20th century brought changes to Albany; in 1908 the city opened one of the first commercial airports in the world, the precursor to today's Albany International Airport. The 1920s saw the rise of a powerful political machine controlled by the Democratic Party which brought about the election of Erastus Corning 2nd, the nation's longest-serving mayor of any city. The 1960s saw major changes to the city's skyline with the construction of the Empire State Plaza and the uptown campus of SUNY Albany, mainly at the hand of GovernorNelson Rockefeller. While Albany saw a decline in its population due to urban sprawl, many of its historic neighborhoods were saved from destruction thanks to the policies of Mayor Corning.

Albany has been a center of both state government and higher education for over a century, and much of the rest of its economy has been dependent on health care services. More recently, the city has experienced growth in the high-tech industry, with great strides in the nanotechnology sector. The urban decline of the 1970s and 1980s has rebounded, with noticeable development being seen in the city's downtown and midtown neighborhoods.

Albany is known for its extensive history, culture, architecture, and institutions of higher education. The city is home to the mother churches of two Christian diocese as well as the oldest Christian congregation in upstate New York. Albany is also a two-time All-America City Award winner (1991 and 2009). ^[3]