Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city’s population of 66,135 made it the state’s ninth-largest city by population. The name “Schenectady” is derived from the Mohawk word skahnéhtati, meaning “beyond the pines”.Schenectady was founded on the south side of the Mohawk River by Dutch colonists in the 17th century, many of which were from the Albany area. The Dutch transferred the name “Skahnéhtati” which is in reality the Mohawk name for Albany, New York. These Dutch were prohibited from the fur trade by the Albany monopoly, which kept its control after the English takeover in 1664. Residents of the new village developed farms on strip plots along the river.

Connected to the west by the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, Schenectady developed rapidly in the 19th century as part of the Mohawk Valley trade, manufacturing, and transportation corridor. By 1824, more people worked in manufacturing than agriculture or trade, and the city had a cotton mill which processed cotton from the Deep South. Numerous mills in New York had these types of ties with the South. Through the 19th century, nationally influential companies and industries developed in Schenectady, including General Electric and American Locomotive Company (ALCO), which were powers into the mid-20th century. Schenectady was part of emerging technologies, with GE collaborating in the production of nuclear-powered submarines and, in the 21st century, working on other forms of renewable energy.

Schenectady is in eastern New York, near the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. It is in the same metropolitan area as the state capital, Albany, which is about 15 miles southeast.