Why is part of New York, called upstate New York. Why not not just call it Northern New York?

Answer 1

Because the major city in NY is NYC, its the southern tip of NY and most people think of NYC when they hear NY...but anyways...most people (most Upstaters anyways) would consider anything below Albany "down state"; in Upstate there are different regions, so to speak... The Northern Tier (the Adirondack's, Lake Placid, etc); Central NY( Syracuse, the Finger Lakes), The Southern Tier (Binghamton, Cortland) and Western NY (Rochester, Buffalo).

Answer 2

Actually "upstate" says a bit more than simply "northern".

Note Merriam Webster's definition (esp the second part):

"the chiefly northerly sections of a state; also : the chiefly rural part of a state when the major metropolitan area is in the south"

http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?upstate

This is a bit like the terms "uptown" and "downtown" -- though originally the names referred to the relative elevation the fact that the upper and lower sections of a city/town typcially had different characteristics led to these terms converying other ideas ("uptown" as the residential area, better off, upscale; "downtown" as the business district, less fancy...)

Also note that there is geographically much more to the state of New York. It would seem odd to refer to Binghamton (and the whole 'southern tier' --Pennsylvania border area) as "northern", using the same terms as for Watertown. (On the other hand, with the different geographical layout of the state "northern California" works just fine.)

Answer 3

for two hundred years before steam ships and locomotives, the only way to any part of New York from NYC was upstream or uphill following the Hudson River; thus up state.....not too noticable in atrain, very noticable if you're walking or sailing or rowing......

Answer 4

Look at NY state...NYC is at the southern tip... everything else is "upstate..." Seems reasonable to me!

Answer 5

I wondered the same thing..only because when decribing to someone you live in "upstate NY" (like dutchess county), to certin people they think "middle" NY like syracuse...

we need new names...