The Albany region was long inhabited by the Creek Indians, who called it Thronateeska after their word for "flint", the valuable mineral they gathered from the river to make arrowheads and other tools. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and the U.S. Army forcibly removed most native peoples, including the Creek, to "Indian Territory."

While important to the economic life of the town, the Flint River has has also proven dangerous. Major floods hit Albany in 1841 and 1925, but no one was prepared for the 500-year flood that devastated the city in the summer of 1994, with the river cresting at 43 feet, killing 14 people and displacing 23,000 residents. Because of such flooding, Albany officials decided against redeveloping areas along the riverfront floodplain for commercial or residential purposes.

In The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, W. E. B. Du Bois writes: "For a radius of a hundred miles about Albany, stretched a great fertile land, luxuriant with forests of pine, oak, ash, hickory, and poplar; hot with the sun and damp with the rich black swamp-land; and here the corner-stone of the Cotton Kingdom was laid."

From 1930 to 1934, Bill McAfee played for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Braves, Washington Senators, and St. Louis Browns. He appeared in 83 Major League games, all but seven as a relief pitcher. He had his best season in 1932 when he was the starting pitcher in five games and compiled a 6-1 record and 3.92 ERA for the Senators. A native of Georgia, McAfee later returned to his home state, where he was elected as the mayor of Albany in 1956 and again in 1958. He still held the position at the time of his death.

Nelson Tift took land along the Flint River in October 1836 after Indian removal, and the area was incorporated as a city just two years later. Tift and his colleagues named the new town Albany after the capital of New York, hoping their city near the headwaters of the Flint River would prove to be just as successful.

Already important as a shipping port, Albany became the rail center of southwest Georgia during the mid 1800s, with seven railroads serving the community and as many as thirty-five trains arriving and departing daily.

In 1988, Albany made national headlines as the "Murder Capital of America," with the highest murder rate per capita in the United States. Other cities have since taken that title.

Ray Charles was born on September 23, 1930, while his mother was visiting family in Albany, Georgia. Charles, who was blinded during childhood, would go on to pioneer the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles. Charles's 1960 hit "Georgia On My Mind" was the first of his three career No. 1 hits, and on April 24, 1979, it was designated as Georgia's official state song.

Beginning in the 1890s, Albany farmers began switching from cotton to more profitable crops like pecan trees. In 1922 the Albany District Pecan Exchange completed its factory building and warehouse, and pecans became a major Albany product. Today, the city boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees and hosts the National Pecan Festival.

Originally developed as Chehaw State Park in 1937, the property is named for the Chiha, or Chehaw, a tribe of Creek Native Americans who had previously inhabited the area. Today the park is home to many endangered or vanishing species, including the red wolf, black rhinoceros, cheetah, black-and-white colobus monkeys, four species of lemurs, bongos, duiker, Grant's zebras, black bears, American bison, bobcat, Bactrian camel, several species of antelope, and unique birds such as ibis, flamingos, grey crowned cranes, ostriches, bald eagles, and turaco.