Buffalo

Before the arrival of Europeans, nomadic Paleo-Indians inhabited the western New York region from the 8th millennium BCE. The Woodland period began around 1000 BC, marked by the rise of the Iroquois Confederacy and the spread of its tribes throughout the state. Seventeenth-century Jesuit missionaries were the first Europeans to visit the area. During French exploration of the region in 1620, the region was sparsely populated and occupied by the agrarian Erie people in the south and the Neutral Nation in the north, with a relatively small tribe, the Wenrohronon, between and the Senecas, an Iroquois tribe, occupying the land just east of the region. The Neutral grew tobacco and hemp to trade with the Iroquois, who traded furs with the French for European goods. The tribes used animal- and war paths to travel and move goods across what today is New York State. …

Buffalo is on the eastern end of Lake Erie opposite Fort Erie, Ontario. It is at the head of the Niagara River, which flows north over Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario. The Buffalo metropolitan area is on the Erie/Ontario Lake Plain of the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands, a narrow plain extending east to Utica, New York. The city is generally flat, except for elevation changes in the University Heights and Fruit Belt neighborhoods. The Southtowns are hillier, leading to the Cattaraugus Hills in the Appalachian Upland. Several types of shale, limestone and lagerstätten are prevalent in Buffalo and its surrounding area, lining their stream beds. According to Fox Weather, Buffalo is one of the top five snowiest large cities in the country, receiving, on average, 95 inches of snow annually. …

Buffalo is home to over 20 theater companies, with many centered in the downtown Theatre District. Shea's Performing Arts Center is the city's largest theater. Designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and built in 1926, the theater presents Broadway musicals and concerts. Shakespeare in Delaware Park has been held outdoors every summer since 1976. Comedy can be found throughout the city and is anchored by Helium Comedy Club, which hosts both local talent and national touring acts. The Nickel City Opera (also known as NC Opera Buffalo and NCO) is an opera company based in Buffalo. It was founded in 2004 by Valerian Ruminski. and operated between 2009 and 2024. The Nickel City Opera|NCO has collaborated with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, has commissioned an opera and staged operatic works. …