As originally established by the English government in the colonial era, Albany County had an indefinite amount of land, but has had an area of 530 square miles (1,400 km2) since March 3, 1888.

After England took control of the colony of New Netherland from the Dutch, Albany County was created on November 1, 1683,[a] by New York Governor Thomas Dongan, and confirmed on October 1, 1691.

[4] The act creating the county vaguely defined its territory "to containe the Towns of Albany, the Collony Rensselaerwyck, Schonecteda, and all the villages, neighborhoods, and Christian Plantaçons on the east side of Hudson River from Roelef's Creek, and on the west side from Sawyer's Creek (Saugerties) to the Sarraghtoga.

[10] Other districts established in 1772 were Hoosick, Coxsackie, Cambridge, Saratoga, Halfmoon, Kinderhook, Kings, Claverack, Great Imboght, and the Manor of Livingston.

In a census of 1697, there were 1,452 individuals living in Albany County; two years later it would be counted as 2,016 at the beginning of King William's War.

[15] On October 7, 1763, King George III, as part of his Proclamation of 1763, created the new province of Quebec, implicitly setting the northern limit of New York at the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude from the Atlantic-St. Lawrence watershed westward to the St. Lawrence River, implicitly setting the northern limit of Albany County, but it was never mapped.

Although disputes occasionally broke out later, this line became the boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont, and has remained unchanged to the present.

The Capital District has a humid continental climate, with cold, snowy winters, and hot, wet summers.

Snowfall is significant, totaling about 63 inches (1,600 mm) annually,[40] but with less accumulation than the lake-effect areas to the north and west, being far enough from Lake Ontario.

Albany County is however, close enough to the coast to receive heavy snow from Nor'easters, and the region gets the bulk of its yearly snowfall from these types of storms.

Summers in the Albany can contain stretches of excessive heat and humidity, with temperatures above 90 °F (32 °C) and dew points near 70.

Listed clockwise, they are: Albany County has myriad different architectural styles spanning centuries of development.

The cities of Albany, Cohoes, and Watervliet and the village of Green Island are more urban in architecture; while the towns of Colonie, Guilderland, New Scotland, and Bethlehem more suburban and the remaining Hilltowns (Berne, Knox, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville) very rural.

The cities, towns, and villages of Albany County have many municipal parks, playgrounds, and protected green areas.

The tradition stems from when Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd had a city ordinance passed declaring the tulip as Albany's official flower on July 1, 1948.

[44] The African-American tradition of Pinksterfest, whose origins are traced back even further to Dutch festivities, was later incorporated into the Tulip Fest.

[45] PolishFest is a three-day celebration of Polish culture in the Capital District, held in the town of Colonie for the past eight years.

[48] Albany County has many historical sites and museums covering a wide range of topics and time periods.

The ship is open for tours each week and contains an excellent and well-maintained collection of World War II US Naval artifacts.

The Empire State Plaza in Albany has one of the most important state collections of modern art in the U.S.[52] Albany County itself owns the largest venue for performing arts in the county, the Times Union Center, which was originally built as the Knickerbocker Arena; it opened on January 30, 1990, with a performance by Frank Sinatra.

Future NBA stars Mario Elie and Vincent Askew were part of that season's squad.

Albany County was originally settled primarily by Protestants from northern Europe: the Netherlands, British Isles, and Germany.

[65] Tech Valley encompasses 19 counties straddling both sides of the Adirondack Northway and the New York Thruway,[64] and with heavy state taxpayer subsidy, has experienced significant growth in the computer hardware side of the high-technology industry, with great strides in the nanotechnology sector, digital electronics design, and water- and electricity-dependent integrated microchip circuit manufacturing.

[69] In the later years of its existence, the board used a system of weighted voting to comply with recently enacted federal and state proportional representation requirements.

Other officials elected countywide include District Attorney Lee Kindlon, Clerk Bruce A. Hidley, Comptroller Susan A. Rizzo, and Sheriff Craig D. Apple.

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) uses an MPO to make decisions on what projects are most important to a metro area for immediate versus long term funding.

[83] Albany County is situated at a major crossroads of the Northeastern United States, first formed by the Mohawk and Hudson rivers.

West from Exit 24, the Thruway is I-90 and connects the county with Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.

U.S. Route 20 also enters the county on the Dunn Memorial Bridge and travels west through Albany (city) and the Town of Guilderland.

Destinations for flights out of Albany include Atlanta; Las Vegas; Chicago; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Orlando, Florida, among many others.