Texas Under Spain. 1519-1685; 1690-1821.

Spain was the first European nation to claim what is now Texas, beginning in 1519 when Cortez was establishing Spanish presence in Mexico, and Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda mapped the Texas coastline. A few shipwrecked Spaniards, like Alvar Nunez, Cabeza de Vaca, and explorers such as Coronado, occasionally probed the vast wilderness, but more than 100 years passed before Spain planted its first settlement in Texas: Ysleta Mission in present El Paso, established in 1681. Gradually expanding from Mexico, other Spanish missions, forts and civil settlements followed for nearly a century-and-a-half until Mexico threw off European rule and became independent in 1821. The red and yellow striped Spanish flag after 1785 depicts a lion of Leon and a castle of Castile on a shield surmounted by a crown.

Texas Under France. 1685-1690

Planning to expand its base from French Louisiana, France took a bold step in 1685, planting its flag in eastern Texas near the Gulf Coast. Although claimed by Spain, most of Texas had no Spanish presence at all; the nearest Spanish settlements were hundreds of miles distant. French nobleman Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, founded a colony called Fort St. Louis. But the effort was doomed by a series of calamities: shipwreck, disease, famine, hostile Indians, and internal strife resulting in La Salle's murder by one of his own company. by 1690, France's bold claim to Texas had evaporated. The French flag features a host of golden Fleurs-de-lis emblazoned on a field of white, which was actually the French royal ensign for ships and forts.

Texas Under Mexico. 1821-1836

For more than a decade after Mexico became independent, hardy pioneers from the Hispanic south and the Anglo north flowed into Texas. It was a frontier region for both; Anglo Texans became Mexican citizens. But divergent social and political attitudes began to alienate the two cultures. The final straw: Mexican General Santa Anna scrapped the Mexican federal constitution and declared himself dictator. Texans revolted and won their independence April 21, 1836, on the battleground of San Jacinto near Houston. Mexico's intricate flag pictures an eagle, a snake (an image from pre-Columbian mythology) and cactus on bars of brilliant green, white and red.

Texas as a Republic. 1836-1845

During nearly ten years of independence, the Texas republic endured epidemics, financial crises and still-volatile clashes with Mexico. But it was during this period that unique accents of the Texas heritage germinated. Texas became the birthplace of the American cowboy; Texas Rangers were the first to use Sam Colt's remarkable six-shooters; Sam Houston became an American ideal of rugged individualism. Texas joined the United States on December 29, 1845. The red, white and blue Texas state flag with its lone star (the same flag adopted by the republic in 1839) today flies virtually everywhere: on government buildings, schools, banks, shopping malls, and even on oil derricks.

Texas in the Confederacy. 1861-1865

Sixteen years after Texas joined the union, the American Civil War erupted. Gov. Sam Houston, urging Texans to stay aloof or re-establish a neutral republic, was driven from office. Texas cast its lot with the doomed southerners, reaping devastation and economic collapse as did all Confederate states. But two events fixed Texas and Texans as somehow different in the nation's eyes. First, Texas troops on Texas soil won the final battle of the Civil War, not knowing the south had capitulated a month earlier. Second, returning Texans found a population explosion of wild Longhorns, sparking the great cattle-trail drives that became American legends. The first Confederate flag flown in Texas was the South's national emblem, "The Stars and Bars" of the Confederate States of America, although the later-crossed Confederate battle flag is better known today.

Texas in the US. 1845-1861; 1865-Present

On joining the union, Texas became the 28th star on the U.S. flag. Shrugging aside defeat and bitter reconstruction after the Civil War, the offspring of Texas pioneers marshaled their strengths to secure a future based on determined self-reliance. First was the fabled Texas Longhorn, providing beef for a burgeoning nation. Newly turned topsoil on vast farm acreage yielded bountiful crops. The 20th Century dawned with the discovery of fabulous sources--gushers roaring in at a place called Spindletop near Beaumont. By mid-century, modern Texas industries were sprouting in a fertile climate of advanced technology. Today under the magnificent "Star Spangled Banner," Texas horizons continue to expand, thrusting up to the limitless reaches of outer space.

Spain

France

Mexico

Republic of Texas

Confederate States of America

United States of America

Absolute Location - Texas covers an area from approximately 37 degrees north to 25 degrees north and from 108 degrees west to 93 degrees west. Its total land area is 261,797 square miles.

Relative Location - Texas is bordered by the US states New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Italso shares a border with the United States of Mexico.

Capitol and Cities - The capital of Texas is Austin. which has a population of 690 thousand people. Austin is not the largest city however. Houston is Texas' largest city with slightly over 2 million people. Next in population is San Antonio with 1.25 million people. Dallas next with 1.21 million. Other notable population centers include Forth Worth (624 thousand), El Paso (598 thousand), Arlington (362 thousand), and Corpus Christi (283 thousand). The total population of Texas is just under 23 million people with half of them living in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan areas.

A map of relative location of Texas in the US.

Geography - The geography of Texas spans a wide range of features and timelines. Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. It is in the south-central part of the United States of America. It is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.

The Rio Grande, Red River and Sabine River all provide natural state lines where Texas borders Oklahoma on the north, Louisiana and Arkansas on the east, New Mexico on the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south.

By residents, the state is generally divided into North Texas, East Texas, Central Texas, South Texas, and West Texas, but according to the Texas Almanac, Texas has four major physical regions: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and The Basin and Range Province. This is the difference between human geography and physical geography.

The size of Texas prohibits easy categorization of the entire state wholly in any recognized region of the United States; geographic, economic, and even cultural diversity between regions of the state preclude treating Texas as a region in its own right.

Climate - The large size of the state of Texas and its location at the intersection of several climate zones gives the state highly variable weather. In general, though, there are three main climate zones: the humid subtropical climate of the eastern half of Texas, the temperate semi-arid steppe climate of the northwestern part, including the Panhandle, and the subtropical steppe climate (nearly an arid desert climate of the southern parts of West Texas, particularly around El Paso.

The Panhandle of the state is cooler in the winter than North Texas or the Gulf Coast. Different regions of Texas experience vastly different precipitation patterns: El Paso averages as little as 7.8 inches of rain per year while the average annual precipitation is 59 inches in Orange. Moderate snowfall often falls in the winter months in the north. Maximum temperatures in the summer months average from the 80s °F in the mountains of West Texas and on Galveston Island to around 100 °F  in the Rio Grande Valley. Nighttime summer temperatures range from the upper 50s °F in the West Texas mountains to 80 °F in Galveston.

Thunderstorms are more common in the eastern and northern part of the state, although they are far from rare elsewhere in the state. Tornadoes are common in Texas, with the state averaging around 139 a year, more than any other state. Tornadoes are most frequent in the northern and central western half of the state from April-July, although tornadoes can happen anywhere in the state at any time of year.

The El Capitain mountain peak in the Guadalupe Mountain Range.

The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.

Demographics - As of the 2005 US Census estimates, the racial distribution in Texas are as follows: 84.14% White; 12.09% African American or African; 3.62% Asian; 0.17% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; and 1.1% American Indian or Alaskan Native.Persons of Hispanic origin accounted for 35.31 percent of the population and may be of any race.

The largest reported ancestry groups in Texas include: Mexican (25.3%), German (10.9%), African American (10.5%), English (7.2%), and Scots-Irish (7.2%). Descendants from some of these ancestry groups is underreported.

Much of east, central, and north Texas is inhabited by White Protestant heritage, primarily descended from ancestors from Great Britain and Ireland. Much of central and southeast-central Texas is inhabited by whites of German descent. African Americans, who historically made up one-third of the state population, are concentrated in those parts of East Texas where the cotton plantation culture was most prominent prior to the American Civil War, as well as in Dallas and Houston.

Other population groups in Texas also exhibit great diversity. Frontier Texas saw settlements of Germans, particularly in Fredericksburg and New Braunfels. After the European revolutions of 1848, German, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech and French immigration grew, and continued until World War I. The influence of the diverse immigrants from Europe survives in the names of towns, styles of architecture, genres of music, and varieties of cuisine. Lavaca County is predominantly Czech.

More than one-third of Texas residents are of Hispanic origin and may be of any racial group. Its population in Texas is increasing as more illegal immigrants—primarily from far southern Mexico and Central America—look for work in Texas. Some are recent arrivals from Latin America, while others, known as Tejanos in English, have ancestors who have lived in Texas since before Texan independence, or at least for several generations. Hispanics dominate south, south-central, and west Texas and are a significant part of the residents in San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. The influx of illegal immigration is partially responsible for Texas having a population younger than the union average.

In recent years, the Asian population in Texas has grown—primarily in Houston and Dallas. People with ancestry from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan make up the largest Asian American groups in Texas.

Culture - Due to immigration in the United States history, the culture of Texas has been a melting pot of different cultures around the world. Texas is a diverse and an international place to live, in part because of its many academic institutions and strong biomedical, energy, manufacturing and aerospace industries.

There are many popular events held in Texas celebrating cultures of Texans. The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is held over 20 days from late February through early March. The event begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state, all of which convene at Reliant Park for a barbecue cook-off. The rodeo includes typical rodeo events, as well as concert performances from major artists and carnival rides. The World’s first rodeo was held in Pecos, Texas on 4 July 1883. The Southwestern Livestock Show and Rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas lasts three weeks in late January and early February. It has many traditional rodeos, but also a cowboy rodeo, and a Mexican rodeo in recent years that each have a large fan base. The State Fair of Texas is held in Dallas, Texas each year at Fair Park.

Texas has a vibrant live music scene in Austin boasting more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city, befitting the city's official slogan as The Live Music Capital of the World. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film, music, and multimedia festival known as South by Southwest. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, is videotaped on The University of Texas at Austin campus or in Zilker Park. Austin City Limits and Waterloo Records run the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin.

Over the past couple of decades, San Antonio evolved into what has been billed as the "Nashville of Tejano music." The Tejano Music Awards have provided a forum to create greater awareness and appreciation for Tejano music and culture.

Education - There are more than 100 colleges and universities and dozens of institutions engaged in research and development in Texas. The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, and University of Houston are Texas's three largest comprehensive doctoral degree-granting institutions with a combined enrollment of over 130,000. The state is also home to Rice University—one of the country’s leading teaching and research universities—ranked the 17th-best university overall in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, Baylor University—the oldest university in the state—was chartered by the Republic of Texas.

The state's public school systems are administered by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Texas has over 1,000 school districts—all but one of the school districts in Texas are separate from any form of municipal government. School districts may (and often do) cross city and county boundaries—an exception to this rule is Stafford Municipal School District. School districts have the power to tax their residents and to use eminent domain.

A population density map of Texas.

 Big Tex has stood over the

Texas State Fair since 1952.

Rice University in Houston.

Texas is the second largest state in terms of land mass. It is only smaller than Alaska in square miles. It also has the second largest population second only to California. Texas is also the only state in the union which has at some point in its history been an independent nation. It is for this reason that the Texas flag is the only state flag that may be flown at the same height as the United States flag.

Even though Texas is often thought of a a unique region of the United States, the truth is that it is relativly similar to the other states in the union. Texas shares a similar history and ethnic makup with its immediate neighbor New Mexico and also with Arizona. Regions of far east Texas are virtually indistinguishable with parts of Louisiana. Likewise, the Texas panhandle shares many similarities both in geography and demography with Oklahoma and Kansas.

The bluebonnet is the state flower. 

Highways - Texas freeways have been heavily traveled since the 1948 opening of the Gulf Freeway in Houston, and they are often under construction to meet the demands of continuing growth. As of 2005, there were 79,535 miles (127,999 km) of public highway in Texas (up from 71,000 in 1984). Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) planners have sought ways to reduce rush hour congestion, primarily through High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for vans and carpools. The "Texas T"—an innovation originally introduced in Houston—is a ramp design that allows vehicles in the HOV lane, which is usually the center lane, to exit directly to transit centers or to enter the freeway directly into the HOV lane without crossing multiple lanes of traffic.

One characteristic of Texas's freeways are its frontage roads (also known as service roads, access roads or feeder roads), which in Texas can be found even in the most remote areas. Frontage roads provide access to the freeway from businesses alongside, such as gas stations and retail stores, and vice versa. Another common characteristic found near Texas overpasses are the Texas U-turns which is a lane allowing cars traveling on one side of a one-way frontage road to U-turn into the opposite frontage road (typically crossing over or under a freeway or expressway) without being stopped by traffic lights or crossing the highway traffic at-grade. In the western part of the state I-10 and I-20 both have a speed limit of 80 MPH, the highest in the nation.

Airports - The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, located nearly equidistant from downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, is the largest airport in the state, the second largest in the United States, and fourth largest in the world. In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest in the state, third busiest in the United States, and sixth busiest in the world. The airport serves 135 domestic destinations and 37 international, and is the largest and main hub for American Airlines (900 daily departures), the world's largest airline, and also the largest hub for American Eagle.

Texas's second-largest air facility is Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The airport is the ninth-busiest in the United States for total passengers, and nineteenth-busiest worldwide. Houston is the headquarters of Continental Airlines, and the airport is Continental Airlines' largest hub, with over 750 daily departures (the majority of which are operated by Continental Airlines). IAH currently ranks second among U.S. airports with scheduled non-stop domestic and international service (221 destinations), trailing only Atlanta Hartsfield with 250 destinations.

Some of the other airports that are served by airlines include Dallas Love Field, McAllen-Miller International Airport, Houston Hobby Airport, San Antonio International Airport, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Corpus Christi International Airport, El Paso International Airport, Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport, Valley International Airport in Harlingen, and Midland International Airport in Midland, Texas.

The intersection of I45 and I10 in Houston.

DFW airport in Dallas, Texas.

Texas ranks first among the 50 states as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The state's annual carbon dioxide emissions are nearly 1.5 trillion pounds. Texas would be the world's seventh-largest producer of greenhouse gases if it were its own country, emitting more carbon dioxide than France, the United Kingdom, or Canada.

Pollution in Texas has reached such a level that the state government is entertaining notions of actually taxing air and solid waste pollution for busunesses and possibly even individuals. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) monitors pollution in Texas and is the state regulatory agency. This agency monitor the pollution levels in Texas in both the air and in the water supply.

Trash in Galveston Bay.