page_title: Upstate New York
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Upstate New York / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Canisteo River Valley from Pinnacle State Park, Addison, NY
context_page_description: Upstate New York is the portion of New York State north of the New York metropolitan area. The Upstate region includes most of the land area of the state of New York, but a minority of the state's population. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Island, and most definitions of the region exclude all or part of Westchester and Rockland counties. Major cities in Upstate New York from east to west include Albany, Utica, Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.
  Before the American Revolutionary War, Upstate was populated by Native Americans and was home to the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The region saw many battles between the Iroquois, the inhabitants of the region, and the Continental Army, and several treaties drawn up after the war forced the Iroquois to relinquish control of their land to settlers of European descent. It is largely rural with rugged terrain.
  Upstate New York was transformed by the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which greatly eased the movement of goods from the upper midwest, the cities along the Great Lakes, and Upstate New York, to the port of New York City.
context_section_description: The headwaters of the Delaware, Susquehanna, Hudson, and Allegheny rivers are located in the region. The region is characterized by the major mountain ranges, large lakes, and extensive forests.
  The Allegheny Plateau extends into west and central New York from the south. The Catskill Mountains lie in the southeastern part of the state, closer to New York City. The Catskills and the Allegheny Plateau are both part of the Appalachian Mountains. The northernmost part of the state contains the Adirondack Mountains, which are sometimes considered part of the Appalachians but are geologically separate, a southern extension of the Canadian Shield.
  In the more mountainous eastern part of Upstate New York, the valleys of the Hudson River and the Mohawk River were historically important travel corridors and remain so today. Western New York in the vicinity of Buffalo is very flat, as it was once the bottom of a glacial lake. The only "hills" in Niagara County are the Niagara Escarpment, which formed the Falls.
  Upstate has a long shared border with Canadian province of Ontario divided by water; including the Lake Erie, Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It shares a land border with the province of Quebec in the northernmost part of the state.
  The sizes of upstate counties and towns are generally larger in area and smaller in population, compared with the downstate region, although there are exceptions. The state's smallest county in population (Hamilton County) and largest county in area (St. Lawrence County on the state's northern border) are both in Upstate New York, while the largest in population (Kings County) and smallest in area (New York County) are both part of New York City.
caption: Canisteo River Valley in the Allegheny Plateau
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