Richelieu River in the context of Sorel-Tracy

The geography of New York varies widely across the state. Most of New York is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack Park is larger than any U.S. National Park in the contiguous United States. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction. The Hudson River begins near Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu River and then the St. Lawrence. Four of New York City's five boroughs are on the three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Brooklyn and Queens on Long Island.

"Upstate" is a common term for New York counties north of suburban Westchester, Rockland and Dutchess counties. Upstate New York typically includes the Catskill Mountains or areas North of the Catskill Mountains, the Capital District, The Adirondacks, the Erie Canal, Lake Champlain, Otsego Lake, Oneida Lake; rivers such as the Delaware, Genesee, Mohawk, and Susquehanna. The highest elevation in New York is Mount Marcy of the Adirondack Mountains. New York is the 27th-largest state.

Lake Champlain (/ʃæmˈpleɪn/ sham-PLAYN; French: Lac Champlain, pronounced [lak ʃɑ̃plɛ̃] ) is a large natural freshwater lake in North America. With a length of 107 mi (172 km) and surface area over 500 sq mi (1,295 km), it lies mostly between the U.S. states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec.

The cities of Burlington, Vermont, and Plattsburgh, New York, are the largest settlements on the lake, and towards the south lies the historic Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The Quebec portion is in the regional county municipalities of Le Haut-Richelieu and Brome-Missisquoi. There are a number of islands in the lake; the largest include Grand Isle, Isle La Motte and North Hero: all part of Grand Isle County, Vermont. Because of Lake Champlain's connections both to the St. Lawrence Seaway via the Richelieu River, and to the Hudson River via the Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain is sometimes referred to as "The Sixth Great Lake".

Lake George (Mohawk: Kaniá:taro’kte, "Lake-End") is a long narrow oligotrophic lake located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains, in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York. It lies within the upper region of the Great Appalachian Valley and drains all the way northward into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River drainage basin. The lake is situated along the historical natural (Amerindian) path between the valleys of the Hudson and St. Lawrence Rivers, and so lies on the direct land route between Albany, New York, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The lake extends about 32.2 mi (51.8 km) on a north–south axis, is 187 ft (57 m) deep, and ranges from one to three miles (1.6 to 4.8 km) in width, presenting a significant barrier to east–west travel. Although the year-round population of the Lake George region is relatively small, the summertime population can swell to over 50,000 residents, many in the village of Lake George region at the southern end of the lake.

Lake George drains into Lake Champlain to its north through a short stream, the La Chute River, with many falls and rapids and drops 226 feet (69 m) in its 3.5-mile (5.6 km) course, virtually all of which is within the lands of Ticonderoga, New York, and near the site of Fort Ticonderoga. Ultimately, the waters flowing via the 106-mile-long (171 km) Richelieu River drain into the St. Lawrence River downstream and northeast of Montreal, and then into the North Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia.

The capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred during the American Revolutionary War on May 10, 1775, when a small force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold surprised and captured the fort's small British garrison. The cannons and other armaments at Fort Ticonderoga were later transported to Boston by Colonel Henry Knox in the noble train of artillery and used to fortify Dorchester Heights and break the standoff at the siege of Boston.

Capture of the fort marked the beginning of offensive action taken by the Americans against the British. After seizing Ticonderoga, a small detachment captured the nearby Fort Crown Point on May 11. Seven days later, Arnold and 50 men raided Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River in southern Quebec, seizing military supplies, cannons, and the largest military vessel on Lake Champlain.

Le Haut-Richelieu Regional County Municipality (French pronunciation: [lə o ʁiʃ(ə)ljø], lit. 'The Upper Richelieu') is a regional county municipality in the Montérégie region in southwestern Quebec, Canada. Its seat is in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. It is named for the Richelieu River which runs south-north through it.

Isle La Motte (French: Île La Motte) is an island in Lake Champlain in northwestern Vermont, United States. At 7 mi (11 km) by 2 mi (3 km), it lies close to the place that the lake empties into the Richelieu River. It is incorporated as a New England town in Grand Isle County. Its population was 488 at the 2020 census.

The island is named after a French soldier, Pierre La Motte, who built a military outpost on the island in 1666. The island's population significantly increases in the summer months. The island is the site of Fort Sainte Anne, Saint Anne's Shrine, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Isle La Motte, the Fisk Quarry and Goodsell Ridge Preserves, the Isle La Motte Elementary School, and the Isle La Motte Lighthouse.

Fort Saint-Jean (French pronunciation: [fɔʁ sɛ̃ ʒɑ̃]) is a fort in the Canadian province of Quebec located on the Richelieu River. The fort was first built in 1666 by soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment of France who had travelled to New France to assist the young colony. It was part of a series of forts built along the Richelieu River. Over the years, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times, but it is, after Quebec City, the military site that has been occupied non-stop for the longest time in Canada. The fort is designated as a National Historic Site of Canada, and it currently houses the Royal Military College Saint-Jean. The fort has been continually occupied since 1748, and is the core from which the city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec grew around. Fort Saint-Jean played a crucial role in the British defence strategy during the 1775 American invasion of the Province of Quebec.