page_title: Upstate New York
section_title: Statistics for selected cities
hierarchical_section_title: Upstate New York / Geography / Climate / Statistics for selected cities
caption_attribution_description: English: Niagara Falls
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.
caption: Niagara Falls in the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area
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