⭐Texas

The Lone Star State

Texas is the second largest state in both area and population, and the only state in the Union that was once an independent republic. Its sheer size, its cultural mix of Spanish, Mexican, Southern, and Western influences, and its outsized role in American energy, agriculture, and aerospace have given it a distinct identity — one captured in the single star on its flag.

Six Flags Over Texas

Texas has flown six different national flags through its history: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. Spain first claimed the region in the 1500s, but serious European settlement did not begin until Spanish missions were established along the San Antonio River in the early 1700s.

Independence and the Alamo

American settlers moved into Mexican Texas in large numbers during the 1820s under empresario grants. Tensions between these Anglo-American settlers and the Mexican government boiled over into the Texas Revolution in 1835. The single most famous episode came in early 1836, when a small garrison of Texan defenders held the old Spanish mission at San Antonio known as the Alamo against a much larger Mexican army. After a 13-day siege, the Alamo fell and nearly all of its defenders — including James Bowie and Davy Crockett — were killed. "Remember the Alamo" became the battle cry that rallied Texan forces to victory at San Jacinto six weeks later.

The Republic of Texas existed as an independent country from 1836 to 1845. When it joined the United States as the 28th state, disputes over its southern border with Mexico helped trigger the Mexican-American War.

Oil and Aerospace

The discovery of oil at Spindletop near Beaumont in 1901 transformed the state's economy overnight and made Texas synonymous with American petroleum. The 20th century added aerospace to the mix: NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston has served as mission control for every crewed American spaceflight since Gemini IV in 1965. The phrase "Houston, we've had a problem", sent from Apollo 13 in 1970, points to exactly that building.

Geography and Climate

Texas spans four distinct ecoregions: the Gulf Coastal Plain in the east, the piney woods on the Louisiana border, the rolling plains of Central Texas, and the arid Trans-Pecos mountains west of the Pecos River. Guadalupe Peak, the state's highest point, rises to 8,751 feet in the desert of far west Texas. The state is large enough that El Paso is closer to Los Angeles than to the eastern Texas city of Beaumont.

Distinctly Texan Facts

• Austin is named for Stephen F. Austin, known as the "Father of Texas" for leading the original Anglo-American colonization.
• The bluebonnet became the official state flower in 1901 and covers highway medians every April.
• Texas has more farms and ranches than any other state, and leads the nation in cattle, cotton, and wool production.
• The state legislature meets only every other year, in odd-numbered years, for no more than 140 days.
• Three U.S. presidents were born in Texas: Dwight Eisenhower (Denison), Lyndon Johnson (near Stonewall), and George W. Bush (though raised in Texas, he was born in Connecticut).

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