Texas
State in southwestern USA; nicknamed Lone Star State
Area:
691,200 sq km/266,803 sq mi
Capital:
Austin
Towns and Cities:
Houston, Dallas- Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi,
Lubbock
Physical:
Rio Grande; Red River; arid Llano Estacado (Staked Plains); Big Bend
national park in the Guadalupe Mountains, with canyons, the Chihuahuan
Desert, and the Chisos Mountains; Aransas national wildlife refuge,
the principal wintering ground of the whooping crane; Padre Island national
seashore; large pine forests in the east; Davy Crockett national forest
Features:
Water Gardens Park, Fort Worth; Palo Duro Canyon state park, site of
the last great battle with the Comanches; Mission Ysleta, the oldest
Spanish mission in the SW; Presidio La Bahia, reconstructed 1749, a
Spanish colonial fort in Goliad state historical park; San Jacinto monument
and park; the Alamo, San Antonio, a monument to those who died 1836
while being besieged by the Mexican army; San Antonio, with Spanish
missions, Spanish Governor's Palace, Victorian mansions, and the River
Walk; Jefferson, on Big Cypress Bayou, including the Excelsior House,
dating from the 1850s; Galveston, an island in the Gulf of Mexico, with
Victorian buildings and ocean beaches; Lyndon B Johnson Space Center,
Houston; Fredericksburg, founded in the 19th century by German immigrants,
with strong German character; Bandera, a Polish community dating from
1855; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; buildings designed by I M Pei,
including the First Interstate Bank Building, Dallas (1986), the Texas
Commerce Tower, Houston, and the Morton H Meyerson Symphony Center,
Dallas (1989); the Museum of Fine Arts, the Menil Collection, and the
Rothko Chapel, Houston; Rice University; Texas Medical Center; Johnson
City, with the birthplace of President Lyndon B Johnson, and the LBJ
state historical park; Lyndon B Johnson library and museum, Austin;
Dallas, the site of the assassination of President J F Kennedy 1963,
with the Sixth Floor, an exhibit in the Texas School Book Depository;
Kerrville, which reputedly enjoys the best climate in the USA
Industries:
Rice, cotton, sorghum, wheat, hay, livestock, shrimps, meat products,
lumber, wood and paper products, petroleum (nearly one-third of US production),
natural gas, sulphur, salt, uranium, chemicals, petrochemicals, nonelectrical
machinery, fabricated metal products, transportation equipment, electric
and electronic equipment
Population:
(1995) 18,724,000
Famous People:
James Bowie, George Bush, O Henry, Buddy Holly, Sam Houston, Howard
Hughes, Lyndon Johnson, Janis Joplin, Katherine Anne Porter, Patrick
Swayze, Tina Turner, Bob Wills
History:
Settled by the Spanish 1682 ; part of Mexico 1821-36; Santa Anna massacred
the Alamo garrison 1836, but was defeated by Sam Houston at San
Jacinto the same year ; Texas became an independent republic 1836-45,
with Houston as president; in 1845 it became a state of the USA.
Texas is the only state in the USA to have previously been an
independent republic. The Texas region was explored by Cabeza
de Vaca and Francisco de Coronado in the 16th and 17th centuries,
and Spaniards settled at Ysleta (near El Paso) 1682. Americans
led by Stephen Austin settled along the Brazos River from 1821.
Texas joined the Confederacy in the Civil War but saw little fighting
and rejoined the Union 1870. The economy flourished with the development
of the cattle industry; in 1901 oil was struck, leading to the
development of the petroleum and petrochemical industries. Aircraft
and other high technology contributed to the industrialization
of Texas during and after World War II.
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