Texas

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This article is about the U.S. State of Texas. For other uses, see Texas (disambiguation).

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State of Texas

Flag of Texas Seal of Texas

Nickname(s): The Lone Star State

Motto(s): Friendship

before statehood, known as

the Republic of Texas

Official language(s)

No official language

(see Languages spoken in Texas)

Demonym Texan

Capital Austin

Largest city Houston

Largest metro area Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington[1]

Area Ranked 2nd in the US

- Total 268,820

[2] sq mi

(696,241 km²)

- Width 773[3]

miles (1,244 km)

- Length 790 miles (1,270 km)

- % water 2.5

- Latitude 25° 50′ N to 36° 30′ N

- Longitude 93° 31′ W to 106° 39′ W

Population Ranked 2nd in the US

- Total 24,326,974 (2008 est.)[4]

- Density 79.6

[5]/sq mi (30.75/km²)

Ranked 26th in the US

Elevation

- Highest point Guadalupe Peak

[6]

8,749 ft (2,667 m)

- Mean 1,700 ft (520 m)

- Lowest point Gulf of Mexico coast

[6]

0 ft (0 m)

Admission to Union December 29, 1845 (28th)

Governor Rick Perry (R)

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst (R)

U.S. Senators

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)

John Cornyn (R)

U.S. House delegation 20 Republicans, 12 Democrats (list)

Time zones

- most of state Central: UTC-6/-5

- tip of West Texas Mountain: UTC-7/-6

Abbreviations TX Tex. US-TX

Website http://www.texasonline.com//

Texas ( /ˈtɛksəs/ (help·info)) is a state in the South Central United States, nicknamed the

Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, with an

area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2), and with a growing population of 24.6 million

residents.[7]

Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States,

while the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the state and the

fourth-largest in the nation. Other major cities include San Antonio, El Paso, and Austin—

the state capital.

Texas contains diverse landscapes, resembling in places both the Deep South and the

Southwest. Traveling from east to west, one can observe piney woods and semi-forests of

oak and cross timbers, rolling plains and prairie, rugged hills, and finally the desert of the

Big Bend. The phrase "everything is bigger in Texas" derives in part from the state's

geographic sprawl and the wide open spaces of its desert and prairie regions.[8]

Due to its

long history as a center of the American cattle industry, Texas is associated throughout

much of the world with the image of the cowboy.

Historically and culturally, Texas is usually considered part of the American South.

However, with its Spanish and Mexican roots, and the topography and Southwestern

vegetation generally west of a Fort Worth to Corpus Christi line, it can also be classified as

part of the American Southwest. While residents acknowledge these categories, many claim

an independent "Texan" identity superseding regional labels.

The term "six flags over Texas" comes from the multiple countries that have claimed the

territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France held a

short lived colony in Texas. Mexico owned the territory until 1836 when Texas won its

independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845 it joined the United States as

the 28th state. The state's annexation helped set off a chain of events that caused the

Mexican–American War in 1846. Texas seceded from the United States in early 1861,

joining the Confederate States of America on March 2, 1861.

In the early 1900s, oil discoveries initiated an economic boom in the state. Texas has since

economically diversified. It has a growing base in high technology, biomedical research

and higher education. Its gross state product is the second-highest in the nation.

Contents

1 History

o 1.1 Pre-European era

o 1.2 Colonization

o 1.3 Republic

o 1.4 Statehood

o 1.5 Civil War and Reconstruction

o 1.6 Modern era

2 Geography

o 2.1 Geology

3 Climate

4 Demographics

o 4.1 Racial group and ethnic origins

o 4.2 Religion

o 4.3 Cities and towns

5 Government and politics

o 5.1 State government

o 5.2 Politics

o 5.3 Administrative divisions

6 Economy

o 6.1 Agriculture and mining

o 6.2 Energy

o 6.3 Technology

o 6.4 Commerce

7 Transportation

o 7.1 Highways

o 7.2 Airports

o 7.3 Ports

o 7.4 Railroads

8 Culture

o 8.1 Arts

o 8.2 Sports

9 Healthcare

o 9.1 Medical research

10 Education

o 10.1 Colleges and universities

11 See also

12 Footnotes

13 References

14 External links

History

Main article: History of Texas

Pre-European era

The word Texas is derived from táysha, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai,

which means "allies" or "friends".[2][9][10]

Scholars estimate that humans have lived in Texas

for approximately 11,200 years.[11]

The Paleoamericans that lived in Texas in the

Pleistocene era (between 9200 – 6000 B.C.) may have links to Clovis and Folsom cultures;

these nomadic people hunted mammoths and bison latifrons[11]

using atlatls. They extracted

flint in the region of Alibates Flint of North Texas.

Despite the extinction of giant mammals along with climate change during the archaic

period, Texas experienced population growth, beginning at the 3rd millennium BC. Many

pictograms drawn on the walls of the caves or on rocks are visible in the State, including at

Hueco Tanks[12]

and Seminole Canyon.

Native Americans in what's now Texas began to settle in villages shortly after 500 B.C.,

farming and building the first burial mounds. This phase of history is due to the influence

the Mound Builders civilizations that lived in the Mississippi basin.[11]

The Caddo nation

was formed between 500 and 800 while the Trans-Pecos populations were influenced by

Mogollon culture.

From the eighth century, the bow and arrow appeared in the region,[11]

manufacture of

pottery developed and Native Americans increasingly depended on bison for survival.

Obsidian objects found in various Texan sites attest of trade with present days Mexico and

Rocky Mountains.

Among the Native Americans that lived in Texas before European colonization were the:

Alabama, Apache, Aranama, Atakapa, Caddo, Comanche, Coahuiltecan, Cherokee,

Choctaw, Coushatta, Hasinai, Jumano, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Kiowa and Wichita.[13]

Colonization

Main articles: French Texas, Spanish Texas, and Mexican Texas

An enlargeable map of the State of Texas

The first document in Texas history was a map of the Gulf Coast created in 1519 by

Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda.[14][15]

Nine years later, shipwrecked Spanish

explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first known European in Texas.[16][17]

For over a century, Texas was essentially ignored by European powers. It was settled

accidentally in 1685, when miscalculations by René Robert Cavelier de La Salle resulted in

the establishement of French colony Fort Saint Louis at Matagorda Bay rather than along

the Mississippi River.[18]

The colony lasted only four years before succumbing to harsh

conditions and hostile natives.[19]

Spanish authorities, concerned that France posed a threat to New Spain, initiated settlement

activities in 1690 with the construction of several missions in East Texas.[20]

After

resistance from the native tribes, the Spanish missionaries returned to Mexico, abandoning

Texas for the next two decades.[21]

France began settling Louisiana, and in response in 1716

Spanish authorities established a new series of missions in East Texas.[22][23]

Two years

later, San Antonio was established as the first Spanish civilian settlement in Texas.[24]

Hostile native tribes and remoteness from New Spain discouraged settlers from moving to

Texas, leaving it one of New Spain's least populated provinces.[25]

In 1749, the Spanish

signed a peace treaty with the Lipan Apache;[26]

this angered the enemies of the Apache,

including the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes.[27]

The Comanche signed a treaty

with Spain in 1785[28]

and later assisted in defeating the Lipan Apache and Karankawa

tribes.[29][30]

An increased number of missions in the province allowed for a peaceful

conversion of other tribes, and by the end of the 1700s only a few nomadic tribes were not

Christianized.[31]

When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1801, American authorities

insisted that the agreement also included Texas. The boundary between New Spain and the

United States was finally set at the Sabine River in 1819.[32]

Many American citizens

refused to recognize the agreement, and several filibusters raised armies to invade Texas.[33]

In 1821, following the Mexican War of Independence, Texas became part of the new

country of Mexico.[34]

Due to its low population, Texas was denied independent statehood,

and instead became part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas.[35]

Stephen F. Austin was the first empresario given permission to operate a colony within

Mexican Texas.

Authorities in Mexican Texas had neither manpower nor funds to protect settlers from near-

constant Comanche raids. In the hopes that an influx of settlers could control the Indian

raids, the government liberalized its immigration policies for the region, and for the first

time settlers from the United States were permitted to immigrate to Mexico.[36]

Under the

Mexican immigration system, large swathes of land were allotted to empresarios, who

would recruit settlers from the United States, Europe, and the Mexican interior. Texas grew

rapidly, from a population of approximately 3,500 (primarily of Mexican descent) in

1825[37]

to approximately 37,800 (only 7,800 of Mexican descent) in 1834.[38]

Many new settlers to Texas openly flouted Mexican law, especially the prohibition against

slavery. This, combined with several attempts by the United States to purchase Texas,

convinced Mexican authorities that immigration should be halted. In 1830 Mexico

officially outlawed further immigration from the United States to Texas.[39]

The new laws,

which also called for the enforcement of customs duties, angered both native Mexican

citizens (Tejanos) as well as recent immigrants.[40]

In 1832, a group of men led a revolt

against customs enforcement in Anahauc. These Anahuac Disturbances coincided with a

revolt in Mexico against the current president.[41]

Texians sided with the federalists against

the current government and drove all Mexican soldiers out of East Texas.[42]

Texians took

advantage of the lack of oversight to agitate for more political freedom, resulting in the

Convention of 1832, which, among other issues, requested independent statehood for

Texas.[43]

The following year, Texians reiterated their demands at the Convention of 1833.

After presenting their petition, courier Stephen F. Austin was jailed for the next two years

in Mexico City on suspicion of treason.[44]

Republic

Main articles: Texas Revolution and Republic of Texas

Within Mexico, tensions continued between proponents of a federalist system and those

that wanted a more centralized government. In early 1835, wary colonists in Texas began

forming Committees of Correspondence and Safety.[45]

The vague unrest erupted into

armed conflict in late 1835 at the Battle of Gonzales.[46]

This launched the Texas

Revolution, and over the next two months, the Texians successfully defeated all Mexican

troops in the region.[47]

Texians elected delegates to the Consultation, which created a

provisional government.[48]

The provisional government soon collapsed from infighting,

and Texas was without clear governance for the first two months of 1836.[49][50]

Sam Houston served twice as the President of the Republic of Texas, and was also the 7th

Governor of the State of Texas.

During this time of Texas political turmoil, Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa

Anna personally led an army to end the revolt.[51]

The Mexican expedition was initially

successful. General Jose de Urrea defeated all the Texian resistance along the coast

culminating in the Goliad Massacre.[52]

Santa Anna's forces, after a thirteen-day siege,

overwhelmed Texian defenders at the Battle of the Alamo. News of the defeats sparked

panic amongst Texas settlers.[53]

The newly-elected Texian delegates to the Convention of

1836 quickly signed a Declaration of Independence on March 2, forming the Republic of

Texas. After electing interim officers, the Convention disbanded.[54]

The new government

joined the other settlers in Texas in the Runaway Scrape, fleeing from the approaching

Mexican army.[53]

After several weeks of retreat, the Texian Army commanded by Sam

Houston attacked and defeated Santa Anna's forces at Battle of San Jacinto.[55]

Santa Anna

was captured and forced to sign the Treaties of Velasco, ending the war.[56]

Republic of Texas. The present-day outlines of the U.S. states superimposed on the

boundaries of 1836–1845

The new republic faced many challenges. Political battles raged between two factions. The

nationalist faction, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar, advocated the continued independence of

Texas, the expulsion of the Native Americans, and the expansion of Texas to the Pacific

Ocean. Their opponents, led by Sam Houston, advocated the annexation of Texas to the

United States and peaceful co-existence with Native Americans. The conflict between the

factions was typified by an incident known as the Texas Archive War.[57]

Because the treaties of Velasco were signed under duress, the Mexican government never

ratified them. Mexico launched two small expeditions into Texas in 1842. The town of San

Antonio was captured twice and Texans were defeated in battle in the Dawson Massacre.

Despite these defeats, Mexico did not keep an occupying force in Texas, and the Republic

survived.[58]

The republic's inabilty to defend itself, however, added momentum to Texas'

eventual annexation into the United States.

Statehood

Main articles: Texas Annexation and Mexican American War

As early as 1837, the Republic made several attempts to negotiate annexation with the

United States.[59]

Opposition within the republic from the nationalist faction, along with

strong abolitionist opposition to adding slave states within the United States, slowed

Texas's admission into the Union. Political support within the United States for annexation

finally went in Texas' favor when the expansionist James K. Polk won the election of 1844.

On December 29, 1845, Congress admitted Texas to the U.S. as a constituent state of the

Union.[60]

When Texas gained statehood, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the United States.

The United States claimed that Texas' border stretched to the Rio Grande, citing the 1836

Treaties of Velasco. Mexico, never ratifying these treaties, claimed the Nueces River as its

border. While the former Republic of Texas could not enforce its border claims, the United

States had the military strength and the political will to do so. President Polk ordered

General Zachary Taylor south to the Rio Grande on January 13, 1846. A few months later

Mexican troops routed an American cavalry patrol in the disputed area in what is called the

Thornton Affair. Polk declared this incident an act of war. The first battles of the war were

fought in Texas: the Siege of Fort Texas, Battle of Palo Alto and Battle of Resaca de la

Palma. After these decisive victories, the United States invaded Mexican territory ending

the fighting in Texas.[61]

Texas state welcome sign

After a series of United States victories, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the two

year war. In return, for US $18,250,000, Mexico gave the U.S. undisputed control of Texas,

ceded the Mexican Cession in 1848, most of which today is called the American

Southwest, and Texas' borders were established at the Rio Grande.[61]

The Compromise of 1850 set Texas's boundaries at their present form. Texas ceded land

which later became half of present day New Mexico, a third of Colorado, and small

portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming to the federal government, in return for the

assumption of $10 million of the old republic's debt.[62]

Post-war Texas grew rapidly as

migrants poured into the cotton lands of the state.[63]

Civil War and Reconstruction

Main article: Texas in the American Civil War

Civil war monument in Galveston, Texas

Texas was at war again after the election of 1860. Abraham Lincoln's election triggered

South Carolina's declaration of secession from the Union. A State Convention considering

secession opened in Austin on January 28, 1861. On February 1, by a vote of 166-8, the

Convention adopted an Ordinance of Secession from the United States. Texas voters

ratified the Ordinance on February 23, 1861. Texas joined the Confederate States of

America, ratifying the permanent C.S. Constitution on March 23, 1861.[2][64]

Not all Texans

favored secession initially, although many of the same would later support the Southern

cause. Texas’ most notable unionist was the state Governor, Sam Houston. Not wanting to

aggravate the situation further in Texas, Houston refused two offers from President Lincoln

for Union troops to keep him in office. However, he refused to take an oath of allegiance to

the Confederacy and was deposed as governor.[65]

While far from the major battlefields of the American Civil War, Texas contributed large

numbers of men, and equipment to the rest of the Confederacy.[66]

A few battles were

fought in Texas. Union troops briefly occupied the state's primary port, Galveston. Texas'

border with Mexico was known as the "backdoor of the Confederacy" because trade

occurred at the border, bypassing the Union blockade.[67]

The Confederacy repulsed all

Union attempts to shut down this route,[66]

however, Texas' role as a supply state, in mid-

1863, was marginalized after the Union capture of the Mississippi River. The final battle of

the Civil War was fought near Brownsville Texas at Palmito Ranch.[68]

Texas descended into near anarchy two months between the surrender of the Army of

Northern Virginia and the assumption of authority by Union General Gordon Granger.

Violence marked the early months of Reconstruction.[69]

Juneteenth commemorates the

announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston by General Gordon

Granger, over 2½ years after the original announcement.[70][71]

President Johnson, in 1866,

declared the civilian government restored in Texas.[72]

Despite not meeting reconstruction

requirements, in 1870, Congress readmitted Texas into the Union. Social volatility

continued as the state struggled with agricultural depression and labor issues.[73]

Modern era

Spindletop

The first major oil well in Texas was Spindletop, south of Beaumont, on January 10, 1901.

Other fields were later discovered nearby in East Texas, West Texas, and under the Gulf of

Mexico. The resulting "Oil Boom" permanently transformed the economy of Texas.[74]

Oil

production eventually averaged three million barrels per day at its peak in 1972;[75]

the

resulting royalties provided and continue to provide a considerable source of income to the

Permanent University Fund for Texas' public universities.[76]

The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl dealt a double blow to the state's economy, which

had significantly improved since the Civil War. Migrants abandoned the worst hit sections

of Texas during the Dust Bowl years. Especially from this period on, blacks left Texas in

the Great Migration to get work in the Northern United States or California and to escape

the oppression of segregation.[77]

On November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated president John

F. Kennedy.[78]

Texas Governor John B. Connally was also critically injured in the incident

but survived.[79]

On Air Force One at Dallas's Love Field Airport, Kennedy's vice president,

the Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson, swore in as the next president.[80]

Despite the tragedy, in the 1950 through the 1960s, Texas modernized and expanded its

system of higher education. Under the leadership of Governor Connally, the state created a

comprehensive plan for higher education, a different distribution of resources, and a central

state apparatus designed to manage state institutions more efficiently. These changes helped

Texas universities receive federal research funds.[81]

Geography

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be

found on the talk page. (January 2009)

El Capitán

Texas is second largest U.S. state, behind Alaska, with an area of 268,820 square miles

(696,200 km2). It is 10% larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or

Japan, though it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were

a separate country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile and Zambia, yet if part of

Russian it would only be the seventh largest republic and the would be Canada's fifth

largest province, with sixth, seventh and eighth not much smaller.

Texas is located at 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.

Texas' size and unique history makes its regional affiliation debatable. Depending on the

source, it can be fairly considered either or both a Southern or Southwestern state. The vast

geographic, economic, and cultural diversity within the state itself prohibits easy

categorization of the whole state into a recognized region of the United States. The East,

Central, and North Texas, regions have a stronger association with the American South

than with the Southwest. Others, such as far West Texas and South Texas share more

similarities with the latter.

The Rio Grande, Red River and Sabine River form natural state borders, Oklahoma on the

north, Louisiana and Arkansas on the east, & the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila,

Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south. The state's Texas Panhandle has an eastern

border with Oklahoma at 100° W, a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a

western border with New Mexico at 103° W. El Paso lies on the state's western tip at 32° N

and the Rio Grande.[62]

Geology

Main article: Geology of Texas

Shaded Relief Map of the Llano Estacado

Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the

folded Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. The continental crust forms a stable

Mesoproterozoic craton which changes across a broad continental margin and transitional

crust into true oceanic crust of the Gulf of Mexico. The oldest rocks in Texas date from the

Mesoproterozoic and are about 1,600 million years old. These Precambrian igneous and

metamorphic rocks underlie most of the state, and are exposed in three places: Llano uplift,

Van Horn, and the Franklin Mountains, near El Paso. Sedimentary rocks overlay most of

these ancient rocks. The oldest sediments were deposited on the flanks of a rifted

continental margin, or passive margin that developed during Cambrian time. This margin

existed until Laurasia and Gondwana collided in the Pennsylvanian era to form Pangea.

This is the buried crest of the Appalachian Mountains–Ouachita Mountains zone of

Pennsylvanian continental collision. This orogenic crest is today buried beneath the Dallas–

Waco—Austin–San Antonio trend.

The late Paleozoic mountains collapsed as rifting in the Jurassic era began to open the Gulf

of Mexico. Pangea began to break up in the Triassic but seafloor spreading to form the Gulf

of Mexico occurred only in the mid and late Jurassic. The shoreline shifted again to the

eastern margin of the state and the Gulf of Mexico passive margin began to form. Today

9 miles (14 km) to 12 miles (19 km) of sediments are buried beneath the Texas continental

shelf and a large proportion of remaining US oil reserves are located here. At the start of its

formation, the incipient Gulf of Mexico basin was restricted and seawater often evaporated

completely to form thick evaporite deposits of Jurassic age. These salt deposits formed salt

dome diapirs, and are found in East Texas, along the Gulf coast.[82]

East Texas outcrops consist of Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments which contain

important deposits of Eocenelignite. The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian sediments in the

north, Permian sediments in the west, Cretaceous sediments in the east, and along the Gulf

coast and out on the Texas continental shelf contain oil. Oligocene volcanic rocks are found

in far west Texas, in the Big Bend area. A blanket of Miocene sediments known as the

Ogallala formation in the western high plains region is an important aquifer.[83]

Located far

from an active plate tectonic boundary, Texas has no volcanoes and few earthquakes.[84]

Climate

Main article: Climate of Texas

Snow on Franklin Mountains & El Paso, causes a closure of Transmountain Highway

The large size of Texas and its location at the intersection of multiple climate zones gives

the state very variable weather. The Panhandle of the state has colder winters than North

Texas, while the Gulf Coast has mild winters. Texas has wide variations in precipitation

patterns. El Paso, on the western end of the state, averages as little as 8 inches (200 mm) of

annual rainfall while Houston, on the southeast Texas averages as much as 54 inches

(1,400 mm) per year.[85]

Dallas in the North Central region averages a more moderate

37 inches (940 mm) per year.

Generally, snow falls multiple times each winter in the Panhandle and mountainous areas of

West Texas, once or twice a year in North Texas, once every few years in Central and East

Texas, but snow rarely falls south of San Antonio or on the coast except in extreme

circumstances, such as the 2004 Christmas Eve Snowstorm which saw the first recorded

White Christmas ever for Houston and 6 inches of snow as far south as Kingsville, whose

average high temperature in December is 65° F.[86]

Maximum temperatures in the summer months average from the 80s °F (26 °C) in the

mountains of West Texas and on Galveston Island to around 100 °F (38 °C) in the Rio

Grande Valley, but most areas of Texas see consistent summer high temperatures in the

90 °F (32 °C) range.

Night time summer temperatures range from the upper 50s °F (14 °C) in the West Texas

mountains[87]

to 80 °F (27 °C) in Galveston.[88]

Thunderstorms strike Texas often, especially the eastern and northern portion of the state.

Tornado Alley covers the northern section of Texas. The state experiences the most

tornadoes in the Union, an average of 139 a year. These strike most frequently in North

Texas and the Panhandle.[89]

Tornadoes in Texas generally occur in the months of April,

May, and June.[90]

Some of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history have impacted Texas. A hurricane

in 1875 killed approximately 400 people in Indianola, followed by another hurricane in

1886 that destroyed the town, at the time the most important port city in the state. This

allowed Galveston to take over as the chief port city, the Galveston hurricane of 1900

subsequently devastated that city killing approximately 8,000 people (possibly as many as

12,000), making it the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Other devastating Texas

hurricanes include the 1915 Galveston Hurricane, Hurricane Audrey in 1957, which killed

over 600 people, during 2001, Claudette in 1979 among them.

Texas emits the most greenhouse gases in the US.[92][93][94]

The state emits nearly 1.5 trillion

pounds (680 billion kg) of carbon dioxide annually. As an independent nation Texas would

rank as the world's seventh-largest producer of greenhouse gases.[93]

Causes of the state's

vast greenhouse gas emissions include the state's large number of coal power plants and the

state's refining and manufacturing industries.[93]

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Texas

Texas Population Density Map

As of 2008, the state has an estimated population of 24,236,974, an increase of 2.0% from

the prior year and 16.1% since the year 2000.[95]

The state's rate of natural increase (births -

deaths) since the last census was 1,389,275 people, immigration from outside the United

States resulted in a net increase of 801,576 people, and migration within the country

produced a net increase of 451,910 people.[2]

As of 2004, the state had 3.5 million foreign-

born residents (15.6 percent of the state population), of which an estimated 1.2 million are

illegal immigrants. Texas from 2000–2006 had the fastest growing illegal immigration rate

in the nation.[96]

Texas's population density is 34.8 persons/km2 which is slightly higher than the average

population density of the US as a whole, at 31 persons/km2. In contrast, Texas and France

are similarly sized yet France has a density of 110 persons/km2.

Racial group and ethnic origins

This list may be better in a table format. Please help improve this list, prune it, or discuss it on the talk page.

This article has been tagged since April 2009.

As of the 2006 US Census estimates, the racial distributions in Texas are as follows:

70.6% White (51.5% Non-Hispanic White, 20% White Hispanic)

o German (10.9%)

o English (7.2%)

o Scots-Irish (7.2%)

11.5% African American

3.3% Asian American

0.5% Native American

12.3% other racial groups

1.8% Two or more races

Grouped by ethnicity, the population was:

35.5% Hispanic or Latino of any race[5]

64.5% non-Hispanic of any race

The annual Houston International Festival spotlights a different culture each year

German descendants inhabit much of central and southeast-central Texas. Over one-third of

Texas residents are of Hispanic origin;[5]

while many have recently arrived, some Tejanos

have ancestors with multigenerational ties to 18th century Texas. In addition to the

descendants of the state's former slave population, many African American college

graduates have come to the state for work recently in the New Great Migration.[97]

Recently, the Asian population in Texas has grown—primarily in Houston and Dallas.

Native American tribes who once lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include

Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Comanche, Cherokee, Kiowa, Tonkawa, Wichita, Hueco

and the Karankawa of Galveston. Currently, three federally recognized Native American

tribes reside in Texas: the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe, and

the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo.[98]

Religion

Lakewood Church interior

Texas resides in the socially conservative Evangelical Protestant Bible Belt, and has the

highest percentage of people with a religious affiliation in the United States.[99]

Dallas-Fort

Worth, home to three major evangelical seminaries, also has several megachurches,

including Fellowship Church, Potter's House, First Baptist Church, Dallas, and

Prestonwood Baptist Church. Houston is home to the largest church in the nation,

Lakewood Church, averaging more than 43,000 in attendance per week.[100]

Lubbock,

according to local lore, has the most churches per capita in the nation.[99]

This list may be better in a table format. Please help improve this list, prune it, or discuss it on the talk page.

This article has been tagged since April 2009.

The religious affiliation of Texas are as follows:[101]

Roman Catholic - 28%

Baptist - 21%

No religion - 11%

Methodist - 8%

Christian - Others- 7%

Lutheran - 3%

Pentecostal - 3%

Presbyterian - 2%

Episcopalian - 1%

Judaism, Islam, other - 1%

Non-denominational - 1%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic

Church with 4,368,969; the Southern Baptist Convention with 3,519,459; and the United

Methodist Church with 1,022,342.[102]

Also, approximately 400,000 Muslims live in

Texas.[103]

Cities and towns

See also: List of cities in Texas, List of Texas metropolitan areas, and Population of Texas

cities in 2000

Dallas

As of 2000, six incorporated places in Texas have populations greater than 500,000, two of

which are beta world cities: Dallas and Houston.[104]

Texas has the most cities, three, with

populations exceeding 1 million: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio.[105]

These three rank

among the 10 largest cities of the United States. Austin, Fort Worth, and El Paso rank

among the top 25 largest U.S. cities. Texas has a total of 25 metropolitan areas, with four

having populations over 1 million (Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin-

Round Rock) of which Dallas and Houston are over 5 million. Three interstate highways –

I-35 to the west (Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio, with Austin in between), I-45 to the

east (Dallas to Houston), and I-10 to the south (San Antonio to Houston) forms the Texas

Urban Triangle region. The region contains most of the state's largest cities and

metropolitan areas, as well as nearly 75 percent of Texas's total population.[106]

In contrast to the cities, Texas has rural, unincorporated settlements called colonias which

often lack basic infrastructure and are marked by poverty.[107]

As of 2007, Texas had at

least 2,294 colonias, located primarily along the state's 1,248-mile (2,008 km) border with

Mexico.[107]

Texas has the largest concentration of people, approximately 400,000, living in

colonias.

Government and politics

The Texas Constitution was adopted in 1876. Like many states, it explicitly provides for a

separation of powers. The state's Bill of Rights is much larger than its federal counterpart,

and has a number of provisions unique to Texas.[108]

State government

Main article: Government of Texas

See also: List of Texas state agencies

Texas State Capitol

Texas has a plural executive branch system which limits the power of the Governor. Except

for the Secretary of State, voters elect executive officers independently making candidates

directly answerable to the public, not the Governor.[109]

This election system has led to

some executive branches split between parties. When Republican President George W.

Bush served as Texas' governor, the state had a Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Bob

Bullock. The executive branch positions consists of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor,

Comptroller of Public Accounts, Land Commissioner, Attorney General, Agriculture

Commissioner, the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, the State Board of

Education, and the Secretary of State.[109]

The bicameral Texas Legislature consists of the House of Representatives, with 150

members, and a Senate, with 31 members. The Speaker of the House leads the House, and

the Lieutenant Governor, the Senate.[110]

The Legislature meets in regular session

biennially, but the Governor can call for special sessions as often as desired.[111]

The state's

fiscal year spans from the previous calendar year's September 1 to the current year's August

31. Thus, the FY 2008 dates from September 1, 2007 through August 31, 2008.

The judicial system of Texas is one of the most complex in the United States, with many

layers and overlapping jurisdictions. Texas has two courts of last resort: the Texas Supreme

Court, for civil cases, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Except for some municipal

benches, partisan elections select judges at all levels of the judiciary; the Governor fills

vacancies by appointment.[112]

Although only capital murder is eligible for the death

penalty, Texas leads the nation in executions, 400, from 1982 to 2007.[113]

The Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety is a law enforcement

agency with statewide jurisdiction. Over the years, the Texas Rangers have investigated

crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted as riot police and as detectives,

protected the Texas governor, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a paramilitary

force at the service of both the Republic (1836–45) and the state. The Texas Rangers were

unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 and formally constituted in 1835. The

Rangers were part of several important events of Texas history and some of the best-known

criminal cases in the history of the Old West.[114]

Politics

Main article: Politics of Texas

Further information: Political party strength in Texas

Lyndon B. Johnson, Texan and 36th president of the United States

As in other "Solid South" states, whites resented the Republican Party after the American

Civil War, and the Democratic Party dominated Texas politics from the end of

Reconstruction until the late 20th century. When President Lyndon Johnson signed the

Civil Rights Act of 1964, he reportedly said "We have lost the South for a generation".[115]

The Texas political atmosphere leans towards fiscal and social conservatism.[116][117]

Since

1980, most of Texas voters have supported Republican presidential candidates. In 2000 and

2004, Republican George W. Bush won Texas with 60.1% of the vote partly due to his

"favorite son" status as a former Governor of the state. John McCain won the state in 2008,

but in a smaller margin compared to Bush at (55%-44%). Austin consistently leans

Democratic in both local and statewide elections. Houston, San Antonio and Dallas remain

approximately split. Counties along the Rio Grande generally vote Democratic, while most

rural and suburban areas of Texas vote Republican.[118][119]

The 2003 Texas redistricting of congressional districts led by the Republican Tom Delay,

was called by the New York Times "an extreme case of partisan gerrymandering".[120]

A

group of Democratic legislators, the "Texas Eleven", fled the state in a quorum-busting

effort.[121]

Despite these efforts the legislature passed a map heavily in favor of

Republicans. Protests of the redistricting reached the national Supreme court in the case

League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, but the ruling went in the Republicans'

favor.[122]

As of the general elections of 2008, a large majority the members of Texas' U.S. House

delegation are Republican, along with both U.S. Senators. In the 111th United States

Congress, of the 32 congressional districts in Texas, 20 are held by Republicans and 12 by

Democrats. Texas' Senators are Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. Since 1994,

Texans have not elected a Democrat to a statewide office. The state's Democratic presence

comes primarily from minority groups and urban voters, particularly in Austin, San

Antonio, Dallas and Houston.

Texas is not unique in possessing a secessionist movement. While Texas did originally

retain the right to divide into as many as five independent States,[123]

after the civil war the

option for Texas to secede was revoke and in 1869 the US Supreme Court banned any

unilateral acts of secession.[124]

Despite those facts, a 2009 poll found that 31% of Texans

believe that Texas has the legal right to secede and form an independent country and 18%

believe it should do so.[125]

Administrative divisions

Map outlining 254 counties of Texas

See also: List of Texas counties and List of United States congressional districts#Texas

Texas has 32 congressional districts, the most after California. There are 254 counties—the

most nationwide. Each county runs on Commissioners' Court system consisting of four

elected commissioners and a county judge. County government runs similar to a "weak"

mayor-council system; the county judge has no veto authority, but votes along with the

other commissioners.

Although Texas permits cities and counties to enter "interlocal agreements" to share

services, the state does not allow consolidated city-county governments, nor does it have

metropolitan governments. Counties are not granted home rule status; their powers are

strictly defined by state law. The state does not have townships— areas within a county are

either incorporated or unincorporated. Incorporated areas are part of a municipality. The

county provides limited services to unincorporated areas. Municipalities are classified

either "general law" cities or "home rule".[126]

A municipality may elect home rule status

once it exceeds 5,000 population with voter approval. Municipal elections are

nonpartisan[127]

as are elections for school boards.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Texas

The Johnson Space Center

Texas had a gross state product (GSP) of $1.09 trillion, the second highest in the

U.S.[128][129]

Its GSP is comparable to the GDP of India or Canada which are ranked 12th

and 11th worldwide. Texas's economy is the third largest in the world of country

subdivisions behind California and Tokyo Prefecture. It's Per Capita personal income in

2007 was $37,083, ranking 22nd in the nation. Texas's large population, abundance of

natural resources, and diverse population and geography have led to a large and diverse

economy. Since oil was discovered, the state's economy has reflected the state of the

petroleum industry. In recent times, urban centers of the state have increased in size,

containing two-thirds of the population in 2005. The state's economic growth has led to

excessive urban sprawl and its associated symptoms.[130]

Texas has a "low taxes, low services" reputation.[116]

According to the Tax Foundation,

Texans' state and local tax burdens rank among the lowest in the nation, 7th lowest

nationally; state and local taxes cost $3,580 per capita, or 8.7% of resident incomes.[131]

Texas is one of six states that lack a state income tax.[131][132]

Instead, the state collects

revenue from a state sales tax, which is charged at the rate of 6.25%.[131]

Texas is a "tax

donor state"; in 2005, for every dollar Texans paid to the federal government in federal

income taxes, the state received approximately $0.94 in benefits.[131]

In 2004, Site Selection Magazine ranked Texas as the most business friendly state in the

nation. This ranking stems in part from the state's three-billion-dollar Texas Enterprise

Fund.[133]

The state holds the most Fortune 500 company headquarters in the United

States.[134][135]

Agriculture and mining

A Texas longhorn

Texas has the most farms and the highest acreage in the United States.[136]

Texas leads the

nation livestock production.[136]

Cattle is the state's most valuable agricultural product, and

the state leads nationally in production of sheep and goat products. Texas leads the nation

in production of cotton.[136]

The state grows significant amounts of cereal crops and

produce.[136]

Texas has a large commercial fishing industry. With mineral resources, Texas

leads in creating cement, crushed stone, lime, salt, sand and gravel.[136]

Energy

See also: Deregulation of the Texas electricity market

An oil well

Ever since the discovery of oil at Spindletop, energy has been a dominant force politically

and economically within the state.[137]

According to the Energy Information Administration,

Texans consume the most energy in the nation per capita and as a whole.[138]

Unlike the rest

of the nation, most of Texas is on its own alternating current power grid, the Texas

Interconnection. Despite the California electricity crisis, Texas still has a deregulated

electric service.

The Railroad Commission of Texas, contrary to its name, regulates the state's oil and gas

industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and

surface coal and uranium mining. Until the 1970s, the commission controlled the price of

petroleum because of its ability to regulate Texas's oil reserves. The founders of the

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) used the Texas agency as one of

their models for petroleum price control.[139]

Texas has known petroleum deposits of about 5 billion barrels (790,000,000 m3), which

makes up approximately one-fourth of the known U.S. reserves.[138]

The state's refineries

can process 4.6 million barrels (730,000 m3) of oil a day.

[138] The Baytown Refinery in the

Houston area is the largest refinery in America.[138]

Texas also leads in natural gas

production, producing one-fourth of the nation's supply.[138]

Several petroleum companies

are based in Texas such as: Conoco-Phillips, Exxon-Mobil, Halliburton, Valero, and

Marathon Oil.

The state is a leader in renewable energy sources; it produces the most wind power in the

nation.[138][140]

The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Taylor and Nolan County, Texas,

is the world's largest wind farm as of November 2008 with a 735.5 megawatt (MW)

capacity.[141]

The Energy Information Administration states that the state's large agriculture

and forestry industries gives Texas enormous biomass for use in biofuels. The state also has

the highest solar power potential for development in the nation.[138]

Technology

With large universities systems coupled with initiatives like TEF and the Texas Emerging

Technology Fund, a wide array of different high tech industries have developed in Texas.

The Austin area is nicknamed the "Silicon Hills" and the north Dallas area the "Silicon

Prairie". Texas has the headquarters of many high technology companies, such as Dell,

Inc., Texas Instruments, Perot Systems, AT&T, and Electronic Data Systems (EDS).

Electronic Data Systems headquarters in Plano

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Lyndon B. Johnson Space

Center (JSC) located in Southeast Houston, sits as the crown jewel of Texas's aeronautics

industry. Fort Worth hosts both Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics division and Bell

Helicopter Textron.[142][143]

Lockheed builds the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the largest Western

fighter program, and its successor, the F-35 Lightning II in Fort Worth.[144]

Commerce

Texas's affluence stimulates a strong commercial sector consisting of retail, wholesale,

banking and insurance, and construction industries. Examples of Fortune 500 companies

not based on Texas traditional industries are: AT&T, Men's Warehouse, Landry's

Restaurants, Kimberly-Clark, Blockbuster, Whole Foods Market, and Tenet Healthcare.[145]

Nationally, the Dallas–Fort Worth area, home to the second shopping mall built in the

United States, has the most shopping malls per capita of any American metropolitan

area.[146]

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) contributes to Mexico, the state's largest

trading partner, importing a third of the state's exports. NAFTA has encouraged the

formation of controversial maquiladoras on the Texas/Mexico border.[147]

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in Texas

Texans have historically had difficulties traversing Texas due to the state's large size and

rough terrain. Texas has compensated by building both America's largest highway and

railway systems in terms of mileage, as well as the largest number of airports.[148]

The

regulatory authority, the Texas Department of Transportation maintains the state's immense

highway system, regulates aviation,[149]

and public transportation systems.[150]

Texas's central North American location has the state an important transportation hub.

From the Dallas/Fort Worth area, trucks can reach 93 percent of the nation's population

within 48 hours, and 37 percent within 24.[151]

Texas has the most foreign trade zones

(FTZ), in the nation, 33.[152]

In 2004 a combined total of $298 billion of goods passed

though Texas FTZs.[152]

Highways

I-10 and I-45 interchange in Houston

Main article: Texas state highways

Texans have heavily traveled their freeways since the 1948 opening of the Gulf Freeway in

Houston.[153]

As of 2005 79,535 miles (127,999 km) of public highway crisscrossed Texas

(up from 71,000 miles (114,263 km) in 1984).[154]

To fund recent growth in the state

highways currently there are currently 17 toll roads in Texas, with several additional

tollways proposed.[155]

In west Texas, both I-10 and I-20 have speed limits of 80 miles per

hour (130 km/h), the highest in the nation.[156]

Airports

See also: List of airports in Texas

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

Texas has the most airports of any state in the nation.[148]

Largest of these is Dallas-Fort

Worth International Airport (DFW), the second largest in the United States, and fourth in

the world.[157]

In traffic, DFW is the busiest in the state, fourth in the United States,[158]

and

sixth worldwide.[159]

AMR Corporations American / American Eagle, the world's largest

airline in total passengers-miles transported[160]

and passenger fleet size,[161]

uses DFW as

its largest and main hub. Southwest Airlines, is also headquartered in Dallas, Texas, began

its operations at Dallas Love Field.[162]

It ranks as the largest airline in the United States by

number of passengers carried domestically per year and the largest airline in the world by

number of passengers carried.[163]

Texas's second-largest air facility Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)

serves as Houston based Continental Airlines's largest hub. IAH offers service to the most

Mexican destinations of any U.S. airport.[164][165]

Ports

Main article: List of ports in the United States

Over 1,000 seaports dot Texas's coast with over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of channels.[166]

Ports employ nearly one-million people and handle an average of 317 million metric

tons.[167]

Texas ports connect with the rest of the US Atlantic seaboard with the Gulf section

of the Intracoastal Waterway.[166]

The Port of Houston today is the busiest port in the

United States in foreign tonnage, second in overall tonnage, and tenth worldwide in

tonnage.[168]

The Houston Ship Channel currently spans 530 feet (160 m) wide by 45 feet

(14 m) deep by 50 miles (80 km) long.[169]

Railroads

METRORail in Houston

See also: List of Texas railroads

Part of the state's tradition originates from cattle drives in which wranglers herded livestock

to railroads in Kansas. The first railroad in Texas completed in 1872, the Missouri-Kansas-

Texas Railroad. Since 1911, Texas has led the nation in railroad length. Texas railway

mileage peaked in 1932 at 17,078 miles (27,484 km), but declined to 14,006 miles

(22,540 km) by 2000.[148]

While the Railroad Commission of Texas, originally regulated

state railroads, in 2005, the state reassigned these duties to TxDOT.[170]

Both Dallas and Houston feature light rail systems. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)

built the first light rail system in the Southwest United States.[171]

The commuter rail

service, the Trinity Railway Express (TRE), links Fort Worth and Dallas, provided by the

Fort Worth Transportation Authority (the T) and DART.[172]

The Metropolitan Transit

Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) operates light rail lines in the Houston area.

Amtrak provides Texas limited intercity passenger rail service both in size and frequency.

Just three scheduled routes serve the state: the daily Texas Eagle (Chicago – San Antonio);

the tri-weekly Sunset Limited (New Orleans – Los Angeles), with stops in Texas; and the

daily Heartland Flyer (Fort Worth – Oklahoma City).

Culture

Main article: Culture of Texas

See also: List of people from Texas and List of Texas symbols

Big Tex has presided over every Texas State Fair since 1952

Historically, Texas culture comes from a blend of Southwestern (Mexican), Southern

(Dixie), and Western (frontier) influences. A popular food item, the breakfast burrito, draws

from all three influences, having a soft flour tortilla wrapped around bacon and scrambled

eggs or other hot, cooked fillings. Adding to Texas's traditional culture, established in the

18th and 19th centuries, immigration has made Texas a melting pot of cultures from around

the world.

Arts

Further information: Music of Texas

Houston is one of only five American cities with permanent professional resident

companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines: the Houston Grand Opera, the

Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, and The Alley Theatre.[173]

Known for

the vibrancy of its visual and performing arts, the Houston Theatre District—a 17-block

area in the heart of Downtown Houston—ranks second in the country in the number of

theater seats in a concentrated downtown area, with 12,948 seats for live performances and

1,480 movie seats.[173]

Founded in 1892, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, also called "The Modern", is Texas's

oldest art museum. Fort Worth also has the Kimbell Art Museum, the Amon Carter

Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, the Will Rogers Memorial

Center, and the Bass Performance Hall downtown. The Arts District of Downtown Dallas

has arts venues such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony

Center, the Bill and Margot Winspear Opera House, the Trammell & Margaret Crow

Collection of Asian Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center.[174]

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston

The Deep Ellum district within Dallas became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the

prime jazz and blues hotspot in the Southern United States. The name Deep Ellum comes

from local people pronouncing "Deep Elm" as "Deep Ellum".[175]

Artists such as Blind

Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played

in early Deep Ellum clubs.[176]

Austin, the The Live Music Capital of the World, boasts the most venues per capita

citywise.[177]

The city's music revolves around the nightclubs on 6th Street and events like

the film, music, and multimedia festivals, South by Southwest. The longest-running concert

music program on American television, Austin City Limits and its similarly named music

festival run at Zilker Park.[178]

Over the past couple of decades, San Antonio has evolved into the "Nashville of Tejano

music." The Tejano Music Awards have provided a forum to create greater awareness and

appreciation for Tejano music and culture.[179]

Sports

Main article: Sports in Texas

Further information: List of Texas sports teams, and List of University Interscholastic

League events

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers

While American football has long been considered "king" in the state, Texans today enjoy a

wide variety of sports.[180]

Texans have a plethora of professional sports teams to cheer for.

Texas has two NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans; two Major

League Baseball teams, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros; three NBA teams: the

Houston Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Dallas Mavericks; one WNBA team: the

San Antonio Silver Stars; one National Hockey League team, the Dallas Stars; two Major

League Soccer teams, the Houston Dynamo, and FC Dallas; and one Arena Football

League team, the Dallas Desperados. Dallas / Fort Worth metropolitan area is one of only

thirteen American cities that hosts sports teams from all the "Big Four" professional

leagues.

Collegiate athletics have deep significance in Texas culture. The state has the most Division

I-FBS schools in America, ten. The four largest programs in the state, the Baylor Bears,

Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies, and Texas Tech Red Raiders, belong to the Big 12

Conference. According to a survey of Division I-A coaches the rivalry between the

University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas, the Red River Shootout, ranks the

third best in the nation.[181]

A fierce rivalry, the Lone Star Showdown, also exists between

the state's two largest universities, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas.

2006 Lone Star Showdown football game at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium

Collegiate teams nationwide see Texas high school football as a recruiting hotbed. In 2006,

170 players in the NFL came from Texas high schools.[182]

The University Interscholastic

League (UIL) organizes most primary and secondary school competitions. Events

organized by UIL include athletics as well as the arts and academic subjects such as

mathematics.[183]

Texans also enjoy the rodeo. The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the largest

rodeo in the world, begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the

state, that convene at Reliant Park. Pecos, Texas hosted the world's first rodeo.[184]

The

Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas has a cowboy, a

Mexican and many traditional rodeos. Dallas hosts the State Fair of Texas each year at Fair

Park.[185]

Healthcare

See also: List of hospitals in Texas

The Commonwealth Fund ranks the Texas healthcare system the third worst in the

nation.[186]

Texas ranks close to last in access to healthcare, quality of care, avoidable

hospital spending, and equity among various groups.[186]

Causes of the state's poor rankings

include: politics, a high poverty rate, and illegal immigration, Texas having the highest rate

in the nation.[96]

In May 2006, Texas initiated the program "code red" in response to the

report that the state had 25.1 percent of the population without health insurance, the largest

proportion in the nation.[187]

Texas also has controversial non-economic damages caps for

medical malpractice lawsuits, set at $250,000, in an attempt to "curb rising malpractice

premiums, and control escalating healthcare costs".[188]

The Trust for America's Health ranked Texas 15th highest adult obesity rate, 27.2

percent.[189]

The 2008 Men's Health obesity survey ranked four Texas cities among the top

25 fattest cities in America; Houston ranked 6th, Dallas 7th, El Paso 8th, and Arlington

14th.[190]

Texas had only one city, Austin, ranked 21st, in the top 25 among the "fittest

cities" in America.[190]

The same survey has evaluated the state's obesity initiatives

favorably with a "B+".[190]

Medical research

Aerial of Texas Medical Center in Houston

Many elite research medical centers reside in Texas. The state has nine medical schools,[191]

three dental schools,[192]

and one optometry school.[193]

Texas has two Biosafety Level 4

(BSL-4) laboratories: one at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in

Galveston,[194]

and the other at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San

Antonio—the first privately owned BSL-4 lab in the United States.[195]

The Texas Medical Center, in Houston, holds the world's largest concentration of research

and healthcare institutions, with 47 member institutions.[196]

Texas Medical Center

performs the most heart transplants in the world.[197]

San Antonio's South Texas Medical

Center facilities rank sixth in clinical medicine research impact in the United States[198]

with the University of Texas Health Science Center being another highly ranked research

and educational institution.[199][200]

Also in Houston, highly regarded academic institution,

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, centers around cancer patient

care, research, education and prevention.[201]

Both the American Heart Association and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical

Center call Dallas home. The Southwestern Medical Center ranks "among the top academic

medical centers in the world".[202]

The institution's medical school employs the most

medical school Nobel laureates in the world.[202][203]

Education

Main article: Education in Texas

The main offices of the Texas Education Agency

The second president of the Republic of Texas—Mirabeau B. Lamar—is called the Father

of Texas Education. During his term, the state set aside three leagues of land for each

county for equipping public schools. An additional 50 leagues of land set aside for the

support of two universities would later become the basis of the state's Permanent University

Fund. Lamar's actions set the foundation for a Texas-wide public school system.[204]

Texas

ranked 26 in the American Legislative Exchange Council's Report Card on American

Education. Texas students ranked higher than average in mathematics, but lower in reading.

Between 2005–2006, Texas spent $7,584 per pupil ranking it below the national average of

$9,295. The pupil/teacher ratio was 15.0, slightly below average. Texas paid instructors

$38,130, below the national average. The state provided 89.22% of the funding for

education, the federal government 10.8%.[205]

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) administers the state's public school systems. Texas

has over 1,000 school districts—all districts except the Stafford Municipal School District

are independent from municipal government and many cross city boundaries.[206]

School

districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately

owned property. Due to court-mandated equitable school financing for school districts, the

state has a controversial tax redistribution system called the"Robin Hood plan". This plan

transfers property tax revenue from wealthy school districts to poor ones.[207]

The TEA has

no authority over private or home school activities.[208]

Texas students take the standardized test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills

(TAKS), both in primary and secondary school. TAKS assess students' attainment of

reading, writing, math, science, and social studies skills required under Texas education

standards and the No Child Left Behind Act. In spring 2007, Texas legislators replaced the

TAKS for freshmen in the 2011–2012 school year and onward with End of Course exams

for core high school classes.[209]

Colleges and universities

Further information: List of colleges and universities in Texas

Southern Methodist University in University Park

Discoveries of minerals, on Permanent University Fund land, —particularly oil—has

helped fund the rapid growth the state's two largest university systems: The University of

Texas System and The Texas A&M University System. The PUF principal in fall 2005 was

approximately $15 billion, second in size only to Harvard University's endowment.[210]

In addition to the state's two Permanent University Fund university systems, Texas has four

other state university systems and four independent public universities.[211][212]

These

university systems are the University of Houston, University of North Texas, Texas State,

and Texas Tech.

Texas's controversial alternative affirmative action plan, Texas House Bill 588, guarantees

Texas students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class automatic

admission to state-funded universities. The bill encourages diversity while avoiding

problems stemming from the Hopwood v. Texas (1996) case.

The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University are flagship universities of

the state of Texas. Both were established by the Texas Constitution and hold stakes in the

Permanent University Fund. The state is trying to expand the number of flagship

universities by elevating some of its seven emerging research universities. Texas Tech

University, the University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Dallas are generally

considered in the upper echelon from which the next tier one research flagship university

will emerge.[213]

Texas has many private institutions of higher learning—ranging from liberal arts colleges

to nationally recognized Tier One research universities. Rice University in Houston is one

of the leading teaching and research universities of the United States and ranked the

nation's 17th-best overall university by U.S. News & World Report.[214]

While Texas did not

form public universities until its statehood, the former republic chartered two private

universities: Baylor University and Southwestern University.[215][216]

Other prominent

private institutions include Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Southern Methodist

University in University Park, and Trinity University in San Antonio.

Universities in Texas currently host two presidential libraries: George Bush Presidential

Library at Texas A&M University and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum at

The University of Texas at Austin. An agreement has been reached to create a third; the

George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University.

See also

Lone Star portal

Dallas-Fort Worth portal

Houston portal

Index of Texas-related articles

Footnotes

1. ^ "Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area Estimates". US Census. 2007-04-04.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/CBSA-est2006-pop-chg.html. Retrieved

on 2008-04-28.

2. ^ a b c d "Facts". Texas Almanac. 2008. http://www.texasalmanac.com/facts/. Retrieved on

2008-04-29.

3. ^ "Environment". Texas Almanac. 2008. http://www.texasalmanac.com/environment/.

Retrieved on 2008-04-29.

4. ^ "2008 Population Estimates" (xls). US Census.

http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-23.

5. ^ a b c "Texas QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau". 2006.

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References

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University Press, ISBN 9781585445325 originally published 2004 by New York: Free

Press

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F. Austin to John B. Connally, Jr., College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University

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Lack, Paul D. (1992), The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social

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Manchaca, Martha (2001), Recovering History, Constructing Race: The Indian, Black,

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ISBN 0292752539

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External links

History of Texas

French Texas

Spanish Texas

Mexican Texas

Republic of Texas

Texas in the Civil War

State of Texas

Find more about Texas on Wikipedia's sister projects:

Definitions from Wiktionary

Textbooks from Wikibooks

Quotations from Wikiquote

Source texts from Wikisource

Images and media from Commons

News stories from Wikinews

Learning resources from Wikiversity

State Government

The State of Texas

Texas State Databases - Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Texas

state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the

American Library Association.

Texas Politics. An online textbook from the College of Liberal Arts, The University

of Texas.

U.S. Government

Energy Profile for Texas- Economic, environmental, and energy data

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Texas

Texas State Facts

South and West Texas, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage

Travel Itinerary

Other

Texas at the Open Directory Project

The Texas State History Museum

The Handbook of Texas Online – Published by the Texas State Historical

Association

Texas Register, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries

Texas travel guide from Wikitravel

South and West Texas: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary

v • d • e

State of Texas Austin (capital)

Topics

Architecture | Climate | Culture | Demographics |

Economy | Education | Geography | Government |

History | Languages | Literature | Politics | Sports

| Texans | Transportation | Symbols | Visitor

Attractions

Regions

Ark-La-Tex | Big Bend | Blackland Prairies |

Brazos Valley | Coastal Bend | Cross Timbers |

Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex | Deep East Texas |

East Texas | Edwards Plateau | Galveston Bay |

Golden Triangle | Greater Houston | Hill Country

| Llano Estacado | Longview–Marshall |

Northeast Texas | North Texas | Osage Plains |

Panhandle | Permian Basin | Piney Woods | Rio

Grande Valley | Southeast Texas | South Plains |

South Texas | West Texas

Metropolitan

areas

Abilene | Amarillo | Austin–Round Rock |

Beaumont–Port Arthur | Brownsville–Harlingen |

College Station–Bryan | Corpus Christi | Dallas–

Fort Worth–Arlington | El Paso | Houston–Sugar

Land–Baytown | Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood |

Laredo | Longview | Lubbock | McAllen–

Edinburg–Mission | Midland | Odessa | San

Angelo | San Antonio | Sherman–Denison |

Texarkana | Tyler | Victoria | Waco | Wichita

Falls

Counties See: Table of Texas counties or List

v • d • e

Political divisions of the United States

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Wisconsin · Wyoming

One District Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia)

Insular areas American Samoa · Guam · Northern Mariana Islands · Puerto Rico ·

U.S. Virgin Islands

Outlying islands Bajo Nuevo Bank · Baker Island · Howland Island · Jarvis Island ·

Johnston Atoll · Kingman Reef · Midway Atoll · Navassa Island ·

Palmyra Atoll · Serranilla Bank · Wake Island

v • d • e

Former Confederate States of America (CSA)

Alabama · Arkansas · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · North

Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · Texas · Virginia

Coordinates: 31°N 100°W31°N 100°W

Preceded by

Florida

List of U.S. states by date of

statehood Admitted on December 29, 1845

(28th)

Succeeded by

Iowa

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas"

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