[3] The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the surname of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal for the name of the United States.

To the west of the river were the Mohawk and other four tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, extending past what is now the border of New York state.

An accident to his craft forced him to stop at what is now known as Columbia County and there search for food and supplies.

[4] In 1612, the Dutch established trading posts and minor settlements, building New Amsterdam (now New York City) and Fort Orange (now Albany).

[5] In the late 17th century, Robert Livingston, a Scots immigrant by way of Rotterdam, built on his connections as Indian agent in the colony and purchased two large tracts from the Native Americans.

He was made lord of Livingston Manor by the Crown, with all its perquisites, and developed the property with tenant farmers.

In 1710, he sold 6,000 acres of his property to Queen Anne of Great Britain for use as work camps and for the resettlement of Palatine German refugees.

New York's Governor Hunter had also helped with these arrangements: the workers were to make naval stores (e.g., pitch, resin, and turpentine) from the pine trees in the Catskill Mountains.

[5] They were refugees from years of religious fighting along the border with France, as well as crop failures from a severe winter.

[6] After many years, some of the colonists were granted land in the frontier of the central Mohawk Valley west of present-day Little Falls in the 100 lots of the Burnetsfield Patent; in the Schoharie Valley, and other areas, such as Palatine Bridge along the Mohawk River west of Schenectady.

The landscapes of the county were among the scenes depicting by the Hudson River School, a mid-19th century art movement.

[7] The terrain is gentle, rolling hills, rising sharply into the Taconic and Berkshire Mountains along the state line.

The highest point is on the Massachusetts state line, near the summit of Alander Mountain, at approximately 2,110 feet (640 m) above sea level, in the town of Copake.

I-90 has two exits within the county; for the southbound Taconic State Parkway in Chatham, and for NYS Route 22 in Canaan.

Depending on precise location within the county, road travel distance to New York City ranges between 96 and 145 miles (154 and 233 km).

Amtrak passenger trains of the Empire Service corridor, as well as the Adirondack, Ethan Allen Express, Maple Leaf and the seasonal Berkshire Flyer make stops at Hudson station.

[21] Columbia County Airport is located in Hudson and provides general aviation services.