Hudson (river)

Hudson River
The Bear Mountain Bridge across the Hudson River as seen from Bear Mountain
Country	United States
States	New York, New Jersey
Tributaries
- left	Boreas River, Schroon River, Batten Kill, Hoosic River, Kinderhook Creek, Roeliff Jansen Kill, Wappinger Creek, Croton River
- right	Cedar River, Indian River, Sacandaga River, Mohawk River, Normans Kill, Catskill Creek, Esopus Creek, Rondout Creek/Wallkill River
City	See Populated places on the Hudson River
Source	Near or at Lake Tear of the Clouds or near or at Henderson Lake (See Sources)
- location	Adirondack Mountains, New York, United States
- elevation	4,590 ft (1,399 m)
- coordinates	44°7′4″N 73°55′4″W / 44.11778°N 73.91778°W / 44.11778; -73.91778 "Mount Marcy, NY" 1:25,000 quadrangle, USGS
Mouth	Upper New York Bay
- location	Jersey City, New Jersey and Lower Manhattan, New York, United States
- elevation	0 ft (0 m)
- coordinates	40°42′11″N 74°01′34″W / 40.70306°N 74.02611°W / 40.70306; -74.02611Coordinates: 40°42′11″N 74°01′34″W / 40.70306°N 74.02611°W / 40.70306; -74.02611
Length	315 mi (507 km)
Basin	14,000 sq mi (36,260 km2)
Discharge	for Lower New York Bay, max and min at Green Island
- average	21,900 cu ft/s (620 m3/s)
- max	215,000 cu ft/s (6,088 m3/s)
- min	882 cu ft/s (25 m3/s)
Discharge elsewhere (average)
- Troy	15,000 cu ft/s (425 m3/s)
Hudson and Mohawk watersheds

The Hudson River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York in the United States. The river originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, flows through the Hudson Valley, and eventually drains into the Atlantic Ocean, between New York City and Jersey City. The river serves as a political boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York, and further north between New York counties. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary occupying the Hudson Fjord, which formed during the most recent period of North American glaciation, estimated at 26,000 to 13,300 years ago. Tidal waters influence the Hudson's flow from as far north as Troy.

The river is named after Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, who explored it in 1609, and after whom Canada's Hudson Bay is also named. It had previously been observed by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano sailing for King Francis I of France in 1524, as he became the first European known to have entered the Upper New York Bay, but he considered the river to be an estuary. The Dutch called the river the North River – with the Delaware River called the South River – and it formed the spine of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Settlements of the colony clustered around the Hudson, and its strategic importance as the gateway to the American interior led to years of competition between the English and the Dutch over control of the river and colony.