Rensselaer County, New York

Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2000 census, 152,538 people lived there. It is named for Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the Dutch person who owned the land in the area. The county seat is Troy.
Rensselaer County is in the eastern part of New York. The county's eastern line runs along the New York-Vermont and New York-Massachusetts borders.
The county has a total area of 665 square miles (1,723 km²). Out of this, 654 square miles (1,694 km²) is land and 11 square miles (30 km²) (1.72%) is water.
The highest point is Berlin Mountain, which is above sea level. The mountain is in the town of Berlin. The lowest point is sea level at the Hudson River. The Hoosic River, a tributary of the Hudson River, is in the north part of the county.
History.
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.