Texas
hideTexas ( /ˈtɛksəs/ (help·info)) is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States. Located in the South Central United States, Texas is bordered by Mexico to the south, New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2), and a growing population of 24.6 million residents. Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while Dallas–Fort Worth 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 is nicknamed the Lone Star State, for historical reasons.
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. 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.
For more information about Texas, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with texas
EU drops Qualcomm antitrust probe
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(AP) -- European Union antitrust regulators on Tuesday dropped a monopoly abuse probe into wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc. after mobile phone companies withdrew complaints about high royalty fees.
In Texas, drought means conserving every last drop
Jul 26, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Off-duty police officers are patrolling streets, looking for people illegally watering their lawns and gardens. Residents are encouraged to stealthily rat out water scofflaws on a 24-hour hot line. ...
Texas Instruments 2Q profit falls 56 percent
Jul 20, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Chip maker Texas Instruments says its second-quarter earnings fell 56 percent from a year ago, clipped by a weak economy that the company expects will "take some time" to strengthen.
TI profit, revenue tumble on shrinking demand (Update)
Apr 20, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Texas Instruments Inc. said Monday that first-quarter profit and revenue tumbled as competition heightened and demand for its chips shrank amid the recession, but the results still beat the company's own expectations ...
Texas School Standards: Age of the Universe Erased
Apr 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The fight over the new education and curriculum standards for the public schools in Texas has been long and publicized. Most of the publicity, though, focuses on the school board's focus on ...
Texas education board approves science standards (Update)
Mar 27, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Texas will no longer require educators to teach weaknesses of all scientific theories, including evolution.
Texas board hears testimony on science standards
Mar 26, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Tensions over the teaching of evolution are simmering as the State Board of Education begins the final stretch in the process of adopting new classroom science curriculum standards.
Texas is second to Alaska in acres of forest land
Mar 26, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The first detailed statewide tree count in Texas history is headed toward this conclusion: Texas is No. 2.
Wishful betting can contaminate financial markets, study shows
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Mar 11, 2009 |
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Wishful bettors, those who make overly optimistic investments, will ultimately harm themselves financially, but they can harm entire markets as well, new research shows.
Amazonian amphibian diversity traced to Andes
Mar 10, 2009 |
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Colorful poison frogs in the Amazon owe their great diversity to ancestors that leapt into the region from the Andes Mountains several times during the last 10 million years, a new study from The University ...
Mutation of BRCA gene influences women's views of preventive mastectomy
Mar 09, 2009 |
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Women whose cells harbor harmful mutations in the BRCA genes are likely to view preventive mastectomy as the best way to reduce their risk and fears of developing breast cancer, despite other, less drastic options available. ...
Younger breast cancer patients have greater chance of recurrence
Mar 04, 2009 |
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Breast cancer patients 35 years old and younger have higher rates of their cancer returning after treatment than older women patients with the same stage of cancer, and their risk of recurrence is greatly impacted by the ...
Study Looks Inside the Minds of Identity Thieves
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Mar 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The Federal Trade Commission recently asked a UT Dallas criminology researcher for help understanding what motivates identity thieves.
Wenchuan earthquake mudslides emit greenhouse gas
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 02, 2009 |
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Mudslides that followed the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan, China earthquake, ranked by the US Geological Survey as the 11th deadliest earthquake ever recorded, may cause a carbon-dioxide release in upcoming decades equivalent to two ...
Anti-immigrant sentiment greater in California than Texas
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Mar 02, 2009 |
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Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (March 2, 2009) California and Texas have the largest populations of Mexican immigrants in all of the United States. A recent study, published by SAGE in the January/February ...
