Syracuse, NY Summer Camps

About Syracuse, NY

Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County , New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census , the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 662,577. It is the economic and educational hub of Central New York , a region with over a million inhabitants. Syracuse is also well-provided with convention sites, with a downtown convention complex and, directly west of the city, the Empire Expo Center , which hosts the annual Great New York State Fair . The city derives its name from Siracusa , a city on the eastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily. The city has functioned as a major crossroads over the last two centuries, first between the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then of the railway network . Today, Syracuse is located at the intersection of Interstates 81 and 90 , and its airport is the largest in the region. Syracuse is home to Syracuse University , a major research university, as well as several smaller colleges and professional schools. In 2010 Forbes rated Syracuse 4th in the top 10 places to raise a family.

History of Syracuse, NY

History Salt and limestone See also: Onondaga Formation Around 399 million years ago, during the middle Devonian Period , the land now occupied by the city of Syracuse was south of the equator and covered by a salty sea. Eventually, the sea water evaporated leaving behind layers of halite and seashells which were eventually buried in the earth. From this prehistoric period, two products emerged as major resources in the 19th century; salt and limestone. Many geological events occurred over the centuries which shaped the land. The most recent was the Great Ice Age which took place approximately 20,000 years ago. The last sheet of ice formed the Finger Lakes , the Adirondack Mountains , and Onondaga Lake , in addition to other land formations in Upstate New York . Iroquois confederacy See also: Onondaga people  and Iroquois The land around Onondaga Lake had been inhabited by Native Americans for 4,000 to 5,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy inhabited this land in the 1600s. The nation was composed of the Mohawks , the Senecas , the Onondagas , the Oneidas , and the Cayugas . Each nation oversaw a different part of New York.

Syracuse, NY City Statistics: