Its name is believed to be the lone surviving remnant of the Erie language, a tongue lost in the 17th century Beaver Wars; its meaning is unknown and a subject of speculation.

Chautauqua County comprises the Jamestown–Dunkirk–Fredonia, NY Micropolitan Statistical Area.

It is located south east of Lake Erie and includes a small portion of the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca.

The Seneca Nation conquered the territory during the Beaver Wars and held it through the next century until siding with the British crown, their allies for most of the 18th century, against the American revolutionaries in the American Revolutionary War.

Chautauqua County was organized by the state legislature during the development of western New York after the American Revolutionary War and the ratification of The Treaty of Canandaigua, between the United States and the Council of the Six Nations.

[5] This partition was performed under the same terms that produced Cattaraugus and Niagara counties.

On February 9, 1811, Chautauqua was completely organized, and its separate government was launched.

Part of the Eastern Continental Divide runs through Chautauqua County.

This divide, known as the Chautauqua Ridge, can be used to mark the border between the Southern Tier and the Niagara Frontier.

[9] The county is generally composed of rolling hills and valleys, with elevations ranging anywhere between 1100 and 2100 feet, although the land within a few miles of Lake Erie is generally flat and at an elevation of 1000 feet or lower.

The entire county is within the bounds of New York's 23rd congressional district which is represented by Nick Langworthy.

However, in 2012, it voted for Republican Mitt Romney even as Democrat Barack Obama won re-election, marking its first miss since 1976.

[20] The county council currently consists of 19 members each elected from single-member districts.

[21] Prior to changes in representation of the New York State Assembly, each county had a given number of representatives.

The State University of New York at Fredonia is located in the northern part of the county.