Troy is the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is located on the western edge of the county, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River just northeast of the capital city of Albany. At the 2020 census, the population of Troy was 51,401. Troy has close ties to Albany and nearby Schenectady, forming a region called the Capital District, which has a population of 1.24 million. The area long had been occupied by the Mohican Indian tribe, but Dutch settlement began in the mid-17th century. The Dutch colony was conquered by the English in 1664, renamed Troy in 1789 and was incorporated as a town in 1791. Due to the confluence of major waterways and a geography that supported water power, the American Industrial Revolution took hold in this area, making Troy reputedly the fourth-wealthiest city in America around the turn of the 20th century. As a result, Troy is noted for its Victorian architecture. Troy is home to a number of institutions of higher learning, including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hudson Valley Community College and Russell Sage College.