Editing Saratoga, New York (section)

== History ==
The name may derive from the [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]] ''se-rach-ta-gue'' or ''sa-ra-ta-ke'', which the early Dutch settlers rendered as "Sarachtoge".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.townofsaratoga.com/history/history |title=Town of Saratoga History}}</ref> A second early version of the name is, "Saraghtogo"<ref name=oledic>{{Cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Saratoga |title=Saratoga &#124; Etymology, origin and meaning of the name saratoga by etymonline}}</ref> but the origin remains unproven and thus uncertain.<ref name=oledic/>

The location was first settled at the end of the 17th century as "Fort Saratoga". Saratoga soon became contested land between British and French colonial forces, and the village of Saratoga (now Schuylerville) [[Raid on Saratoga|was destroyed]] by the French in 1745 during [[King George's War]].

Saratoga was originally a district of Albany County stretching from north of the Mohawk River to Northumberland, including lands for six miles on both sides of the Hudson River.  In 1775, the three districts were Ballstown, Halfmoon, and Saratoga.

It is best known as the location that [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] General [[John Burgoyne]] surrendered to [[Continental Army|American]] General [[Horatio Gates]] at the end of the [[Battles of Saratoga]] on October 17, 1777, often cited as the turning point for the United States during the [[American Revolutionary War|American Revolution]].  The two battles took place in the town of [[Stillwater (town), New York|Stillwater]] to the south, but the final 10 days of encampment and the actual surrender ceremony took place in Saratoga (Schuylerville).

In 1788, an act was passed organizing towns in place of districts and Stillwater was created from the Saratoga District, making four towns in what would become Saratoga County. These four mother towns were subdivided into the present 19 towns.  The original town of Saratoga included the modern-day towns of Easton, Northumberland, Moreau, Wilton, portions of Greenfield and Corinth, and the city of Saratoga Springs. The first loss of territory was in 1789 to the town of [[Easton, New York|Easton]] (now in [[Washington County, New York|Washington County]]). In 1798, the towns of [[Corinth (town), New York|Corinth]], [[Greenfield, New York|Greenfield]], [[Northumberland, New York|Northumberland]], [[Moreau, New York|Moreau]], and [[Wilton, New York|Wilton]] split from the town of Saratoga. In 1805, a narrow strip in the southwestern part of Saratoga was annexed to the town of Malta.  In 1819, the town of Saratoga Springs was formed from the rest of the western part of the town of Saratoga. Later, this would become the city of Saratoga Springs.<ref>HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK by NATHANIEL BARTLETT SYLVESTER 1878
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nysarato/Sylvester/chap02.html</ref>

The [[Saratoga Race Course]], in the adjoining city of Saratoga Springs, is the oldest operating horse-racing course in the US.