Editing Cortland County, New York (section)

===Early history===
Located in the glaciated [[Appalachian Plateau]] area of [[Central New York]], midway between [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]] and [[Binghamton]], this predominantly rural county is the southeastern gateway to the [[Finger Lakes]] Region. Scattered archaeological evidence indicates the Iroquois also known as the Haudenosaunee controlled the area beginning about AD 1500.

What was to become Cortland County remained within Indian territory until the [[American Revolution]]. It became part of the [[Central New York Military Tract|Military Tract]], when, in 1781, more than 1¼ million acres (5,100&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) were set aside by the State's Legislature to compensate two regiments formed to protect the State's western section from the English and their Iroquois allies, at the close of the Revolution. To encourage settlement in the upstate isolated wilderness, the State constructed a road from Oxford through Cortland County to [[Cayuga Lake]] in 1792–94. This, and construction of privately financed roads, were the major impetus to settlement.

When counties were established in New York in 1683, the present Cortland County was part of [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]], which encompassed the northern part of New York and all of the present State of [[Vermont]], as well as indeterminate territory to west. On March 12, 1772, present day Cortland County became part of [[Tryon County, New York|Tryon County]], named for [[William Tryon]], colonial governor of New York. In 1784, following the peace treaty that ended the [[American Revolutionary War]], the name of the county was changed to honor General [[Richard Montgomery]], who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of [[Quebec]], thus replacing the name of the locally unpopular British governor. Present day Cortland County became part of [[Herkimer County, New York|Herkimer County]] in 1791, then became a part of [[Onondaga County, New York|Onondaga County]] when it split from Herkimer in 1794. Cortland County was formed by the splitting of Onondaga County in 1808.