The city was named for Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. The city was founded in 1812, at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and laid out to become the state capital.
Franklinton, now a city neighborhood, was the first European settlement, laid out in 1797. Ĭolumbus originated as numerous Native American settlements on the banks of the Scioto River. The metropolitan area has a 2020 population of 2,138,926, making it the largest entirely in Ohio. It is the core city of the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses ten counties. Columbus is the county seat of Franklin County it also extends into Delaware and Fairfield counties. With a population of 905,748 for the 2020 census, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest after Chicago, and the third-most populous state capital.
John Glenn Columbus International Airport, Rickenbacker International AirportĬolumbus ( / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s/) is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S.
