Texas (ⁱ / ˈ t ɛ k s ə s /) is the second-largest U.S. state A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is by both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States The contiguous United States are the 48 U.S. states on the continent of North America that are south of Canada, plus the District of Columbia. The term excludes the states of Alaska and Hawaii, and all off-shore U.S. territories and possessions, such as Puerto Rico. The name, meaning "friends" or "allies" in Caddo Caddo is a Caddoan language of the Southern Plains, spoken by the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. Few native speakers remain, but the tribe is working to teach the language to the youngest generation again, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma. The different Caddo languages have converged themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone County and then southeastward to Galveston Bay", though some separate the Gulf Coast area into a separate region.^[7] Located in the South Central United States The South Central United States or South Central states is a region of the United States located in the south central part of the country. It evolved out of the archaic southwest, which originally was literally the western U.S. South. The states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas are always included in the region; sometimes Kansas,, Texas is bordered by Mexico In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory, which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain which would eventually become Mexico to the south, New Mexico Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, at 44 percent , including descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Latin America. It to the west, Oklahoma A major producer of natural gas, oil and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's to the north, Arkansas The name "Arkansas" derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word "akakaze" meaning "land to the northeast, and Louisiana Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural, multilingual heritage, being so strongly influenced by an admixture of 18th century French, Spanish, Indian and African cultures that they are considered to be somewhat exceptional in the U.S. Before the American influx and statehood at the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²), and a growing population of 24.7 million residents.^[8]

Houston Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city in the state of Texas. As of the 2009 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a population of 2.3 million within an area of 579 square miles (1,500 km2). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest The following is a list of the most populous incorporated places in the United States. As defined by the United States Census Bureau, an "incorporated place" includes a variety of designations, including a city, town, village, borough, and municipality.[a] Some census-designated places may also be included in the Census Bureau's listing in the United States, while San Antonio The City of San Antonio is the second-largest city in the American state of Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States with a population of 1.4 million. The city is the seat of Bexar County. Located in the American Southwest and the northern part of South Texas, San Antonio is the center of Tejano culture and Texas tourism.[citation is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston Greater Houston is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is situated in Southeast Texas, just west of the Golden Triangle are the fourth and sixth largest United States metropolitan areas In the United States, a metropolitan area refers to a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are not legally incorporated as a city or town would be, nor are they legal administrative divisions like counties or states. As such the precise definition of any, respectively. Other major cities include El Paso El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in West Texas. According to the United States Census Bureau's 2009 population estimates, the city had a population of 620,447 (July 2009). It is the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 22nd-largest city in the United States. Its metropolitan area covers all and Austin Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 15th-largest in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006. According to the 2008 U.S. Census—the state capital A capital city is the area of a country, province, region, or state, regarded as enjoying primary status; although there are exceptions, a capital is almost always a city which physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of the seat of government and is fixed by law. An alternate term is political capital, but this phrase has a second. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify Texas as an independent republic and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. The "Lone Star" can be found on the Texas State Flag and on the Texas State Seal today.^[9]

Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault The Balcones Fault Zone is a tensional structural system in Texas that runs approximately from the southwest part of the state near Del Rio, Texas to the north central region near Waco, Texas along Interstate 35. The Balcones Fault zone is made up of many smaller features, including normal faults, grabens, and horsts. One of the most obvious, Texas contains diverse landscapes The geography of Texas form a wide and far reaching scope. Occupying about 7% of the total water and land area of the U.S., it is the second largest state after Alaska, and is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which end in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. Texas is in the south-central part of the United States that resemble both the American South The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, including Native Americans, early European settlements of English, Ulster Scots, and Southwest The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. Narrowly defined, the "core" Southwest might include only Arizona and New Mexico, with parts of.^[10] Although Texas is popularly associated with the Southwestern deserts This is a list of North American deserts. There are four major deserts in North America, all located in the western United States and northern Mexico. These are:, less than 10% of the land area is desert A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Deserts are defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation. In the Köppen.^[11] Most of the population centers are located in areas of former prairies Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, and the steppes of Eurasia, grasslands Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae) and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants (forbs). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica. In temperate latitudes, such as northwest Europe and the Great Plains and, forests The Piney Woods is a terrestrial ecoregion in the Southern United States covering 54,400 square miles of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. These temperate coniferous forests are dominated by several species of pine as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers, and the coastline The coast is defined as where the land meets the sea. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs. Both the terms coast and coastal are often used to. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a big number of hammock |hammocks]], or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or forest swamps and "transitional& and piney woods The Piney Woods is a terrestrial ecoregion in the Southern United States covering 54,400 square miles of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. These temperate coniferous forests are dominated by several species of pine as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers, to rolling plains and rugged hills, and finally the desert A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Deserts are defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation. In the Köppen and mountains of the Big Bend The Big Bend is a colloquial name of a geographic region in the western part of the state of Texas in the United States along the border with Mexico, roughly defined as the counties north of the prominent northward bend in the Rio Grande as it passes through the gap between the Chisos Mountains in Texas and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico.

The term "six flags over Texas Six flags over Texas is the slogan used to describe the six nations that have had sovereignty over some or all of the current territory of the U.S. state of Texas. This slogan has been incorporated into shopping malls, theme parks , and other enterprises. The "six flags" are also shown on the reverse of the Seal of Texas. In 1997 the" came from the several nations that had ruled over the territory. Spain Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain nominally claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after discovering evidence of the failed French was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France France is a founding member state of the European Union and is the largest one by area. France has been a major power for several centuries with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and in the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America; during the 19th and early 20th held a short-lived colony From 1685 until 1689, a French colony, Fort Saint Louis, existed near what is now Inez, Texas . Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle intended to found the colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River, but inaccurate maps and navigational errors caused his ships to instead anchor 400 miles (650 km) west, off the coast of Texas near Matagorda Bay in Texas. Mexico In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory, which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain which would eventually become Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic The Republic of Texas was an independent state in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846. In 1845 it joined the United States as the 28th state. The state's annexation The Texas Annexation of 1845 was the voluntary annexation of the Republic of Texas to the United States of America as the twenty-eighth state. It quickly led to the Mexican War in which the U.S. captured further territory west to the Pacific Ocean. Texas claimed but never controlled parts of present-day Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state In the United States of America prior to the American Civil War, a slave state was a U.S. state in which slavery of African Americans was legal, whereas a free state was one in which slavery was either prohibited or eliminated over time. Slavery was one of the causes of the American Civil War and was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment of the, Texas declared its secession from the United States in early 1861, joining the Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America was the government set up from 1861 to 1865 by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S. The CSA's de facto control over its claimed territory varied during the course of the American Civil War, depending on the success of its military in battle during the American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast. After the war and its restoration to the Union, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation.

One Texas industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius. Cattle are raised as livestock for meat (beef and veal), as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products,. Due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a. The state's economic fortunes changed in the early 1900s, when oil Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, toxic, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, and other organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling. It is refined and separated, most easily by discoveries Spindletop is a salt dome oil field located in south Beaumont, Texas in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of Jurassic age. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil . The new oil field soon produced more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Gulf Oil and Texaco, now part of Chevron initiated an economic boom The term boom and bust refers to a great buildup in the price of a particular commodity or, alternately, the localized rise in an economy, often based upon the value of a single commodity, followed by a downturn as the commodity price falls due to a change in economic circumstances or the collapse of unrealistic expectations in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy The economy of Texas is one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the United States. In 2006, Texas was home to six of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list and 46 overall, more than any other state. Texas has an economy that was the second largest in the nation and the 15th largest in the world based on GDP figures. As the and high tech High tech is technology that is at the cutting edge: the most advanced technology currently available. The adjective form is hyphenated: high-tech or high-technology industry in the mid twentieth century. Today it has more Fortune 500 companies than any other U.S. state.^[12][13] With a growing base of industry, the state leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace, and biomedical sciences. It leads the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. Texas' GDP per capita (nominally) is ranked 23rd in the nation, which is below the national average.

History

Pre-European era

Texas lies between two major cultural spheres of Pre-Columbian North America: the Southwestern and the Plains areas. Archaeologists have found that three major indigenous cultures lived in this territory, and reached their developmental peak before the first European contact. These were:^[14]

• the Pueblo from the upper Rio Grande region, centered west of Texas;
• the Mississippian culture, also known as Mound Builder, which extended along the Mississippi River Valley east of Texas; and
• the civilizations of Mesoamerica, centered south of Texas. Influence of Teotihuacan in northern Mexico peaked around AD 500 and declined over the 8th to 10th centuries.

No culture was dominant in the present-day Texas region, and many peoples inhabited the area.^[14] Native American tribes that lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include the Alabama, Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Choctaw, Coushatta, Hasinai, Jumano, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita.^[15][16] The name Texas derives from táyshaʔ, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai, which means "friends" or "allies".^{[2][17][18][19][20]}

Whether a Native American tribe was friendly or warlike was critical to the fates of European explorers and settlers in that land.^[21] Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow indigenous crops, prepare foods, and hunt wild game. Warlike tribes made life difficult and dangerous for Europeans through their attacks and resistance to the newcomers.^[22]

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