Rensselaer County, New York
Before it was called a county, the American Indians lived in the area. They were called Mohicans. A man from the Netherlands, named Kiliaen van Rensselaer, who sold jewelry, bought the area from the Dutch West Indies Company in 1630. He founded a town and named it after himself, calling it Rensselaerswyck. It was a part of New Netherland.