Community of Ticonderoga. Native Americans portaging between Lake Champlain and Lake George crossed 'the place between two waters' and called it Ticonderoga. Musket carrying soldiers viewed it and proclaimed Ticonderoga 'the key to a continent.' The lands that three nations fought over during the French and Indian and American Revolutionary Wars. A state of the northeast United States. It was admitted as one of the original Thirteen Colonies in 1788. First explored by Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson, the region was claimed by the Dutch in 1624 but fell to the English in 1664–1667. The building of the Erie Canal and railroad lines in the 1820s and 1830s led to development of the western part of the state and great economic prosperity, establishing New York City as the financial center of the nation. Albany is the capital and New York City the largest metropolis.