Albany, New York became the capital of New York in 1797 following formation of the United States. Albany is one of the oldest surviving settlements of the original British thirteen colonies, and is the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. During the late 18th century and throughout most of the 19th, Albany was a center of trade and transportation. The city lies toward the north end of the navigable Hudson River, was the original eastern terminus of the Erie Canal connecting to the Great Lakes, and was home to some of the earliest railroad systems in the world. In the 1920s,
Great Lakes Megalopolis Great Lakes Megalopolis The Great Lakes Megalopolis consists of the group of metropolitan areas in North America largely in the Great Lakes region and along the Saint Lawrence Seaway. To its south and west, it lies in the Midwestern United States, extending east into western Pennsylvania and Upstate New York, as well as north to Southern Ontario and the southern part of Quebec in Canada. It is the largest and most populated megalopolis in North America. At its most inclusive, the region cuts a wide swath from the Twin Cities in Minnesota to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Rochester, New York. On