Houston

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Houston
Nickname : Space City, The Big H, H-Town
clockwise: Sam Houston Memorial, Downtown, Houston Ship Channel, Mall The Galleria, Rice University, Space Control Center
clockwise: Sam Houston Memorial , Downtown, Houston Ship Channel, Mall The Galleria , Rice University , Space Control Center
Seal of Houston
seal
Houston flag
flag
Location of Houston, Texas
Location of Houston in Harris County (left) and Texas (right)
Basic data
Foundation : August 1836
State : United States
State : Texas
Counties : Fort Bend County
Harris County
Montgomery County
Coordinates : 29 ° 46 ′  N , 95 ° 23 ′  W Coordinates: 29 ° 46 ′  N , 95 ° 23 ′  W
Time zone : Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Inhabitants :
Metropolitan Area :
2,325,502 (status: 2018)
6,997,384 (status: 2018)
Population density : 1,549.6 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 1,558.4 km 2  (approx. 602 mi 2 ) of
which 1,500.7 km 2  (approx. 579 mi 2 ) are land
Height : 12 m
Structure: 10 boroughs
Postcodes : 77001-77299, 77339 and 77345
Area code : +1 713, 281 and 832
FIPS : 48-35000
GNIS ID : 1380948
Website : www.houstontx.gov
Mayor : Sylvester Turner ( D )
Large Houston Landsat.jpg
Satellite image
Houston (USA)
Houston
Houston
Houston on the map of the United States

Houston [ ˈ (h) juːstən ] is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States , behind New York City , Los Angeles and Chicago .

geography

Houston is located on the south coast of the United States and in the east of the state of Texas directly on the Gulf of Mexico in the Gulf Coast Plain . The city extends over an area of ​​1700 km 2 , 1642 km 2 of which is land and almost 58 km 2 is water. The city itself is in Harris County , but it also includes smaller areas in two neighboring counties, Fort Bend County and Montgomery County . It is connected to the Gulf Coast by the Houston Ship Channel , an ocean-going canal, and the Port of Houston is one of the largest seaports in the United States. The Buffalo Bayou , a nearly 100 km long lowland river with a very low gradient, flows through the urban area from west to east and has a lasting impact on the cityscape. The bayou itself merges into the aforementioned canal in the eastern part of the city and then flows into the gulf.

climate

The city's climate is strongly influenced by the gulf and its location in the subtropical climatic zone . It can be regarded as warm all year round and temperatures rarely drop below 4 ° C. The precipitation, which is particularly noticeable in the summer months through heavy but short rain showers , can also turn into snow in the winter months . Like the entire south coast of the United States, Houston is also in the zone where hurricanes are not uncommon. In most cases, the city was not directly affected. It is usually located on the fringes of tropical cyclones. However, with the most recent, " Harvey " at the end of August 2017, massive rainfall flooded large parts of the city.

Houston, Texas
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
86
 
17th
6th
 
 
81
 
19th
8th
 
 
87
 
23
11
 
 
84
 
26th
15th
 
 
129
 
30th
20th
 
 
151
 
33
23
 
 
96
 
34
24
 
 
96
 
35
24
 
 
105
 
32
21st
 
 
145
 
28
16
 
 
110
 
23
11
 
 
95
 
18th
7th
Temperature in ° Cprecipitation in mm
Source: National Weather Service, US Dept of Commerce
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Houston, Texas
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 17.2 19.1 22.8 26.4 30.2 33.0 34.3 34.7 32.1 27.8 22.5 17.9 O 26.5
Min. Temperature (° C) 6.2 8.1 11.4 15.2 19.8 22.9 23.9 23.8 21.0 16.1 11.2 7.0 O 15.6
Precipitation ( mm ) 85.9 81.3 86.6 84.1 129.3 150.6 96.3 95.5 104.6 144.8 110.2 95.0 Σ 1,264.2
Rainy days ( d ) 9.6 9.2 8.8 6.8 8.0 10.6 9.1 8.3 8.0 7.9 8.2 9.5 Σ 104
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
17.2
6.2
19.1
8.1
22.8
11.4
26.4
15.2
30.2
19.8
33.0
22.9
34.3
23.9
34.7
23.8
32.1
21.0
27.8
16.1
22.5
11.2
17.9
7.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
85.9
81.3
86.6
84.1
129.3
150.6
96.3
95.5
104.6
144.8
110.2
95.0
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec


history

In August 1836, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, bought 27 km 2 of land on Buffalo Bayou with the intention of starting a town. The brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston , the famous Texas general from the Battle of San Jacinto . On June 5, 1837, she was entered on the register and James S. Holman was elected the city's first mayor. In the same year Houston became the seat of Harrisburg County (now Harris County ) and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas .

In 1901 oil was found in Spindletop near Beaumont . Together with other oil fields, it fueled the development of the American oil industry. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt released a million dollars to build the Houston Ship Channel . It begins at the edge of the Buffalo Bayou watercourse that runs through the city . President Woodrow Wilson opened the new port of Houston some 60 km from the coast in 1914. By 1930 Houston grew to become the most populous city in Texas.

The end of May 2015 saw the heaviest rainfall in Texas since weather records began, and Houston was also badly affected by its low location; a not inconsiderable part of the city was flooded. On August 26, 2017 and in the following days, hurricane "Harvey" (classified in level 4 - the second highest level) hit the mainland near Houston with rainfall of more than 60-80 liters per m² within a few hours. As a result, large parts of the urban area were flooded, many main roads were impassable and parts of the infrastructure collapsed. The mayor of the city refrained from evacuating, however, because "no one had expected such heavy rainfall" and "it would have been a nightmare to send 6.5 million people onto the streets".

Demographics

According to the 2010 census, the population was 25.6 percent white and 23.7 percent African American; 6.3 percent were of Asian descent; 0.7% were Indians . 43.7 percent of the population were Hispanics . The median income per household was 2,015 at 46,187 US dollars . 22.5 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.

The population was over 2.3 million in 2018. This means that it has risen by over 40 percent since 1990. The Houston metropolitan area had 5 million people.

year Residents¹
1920 138.276
1930 292,352
1940 384,514
1950 596.163
1960 938.219
1970 1,232,802
1980 1,595,138
1990 1,637,859
2000 1,953,631
2010 2,099,451
2018 2,325,502

¹ 1920–2010: census results; 2018 estimate

Economy and Infrastructure

The Houston metropolitan area generated an economic output of 478.7 billion US dollars in 2016. The gross domestic product per capita is 65,332 US dollars. In a 2014 study, Houston was ranked 13th among the economically strongest metropolitan areas in the world and 4th in the United States. The unemployment rate in Houston is 4.2% as of May 2018

Industry

Houston is one of the most important ports in the southern United States and is best known for handling oil and oil products. Some of the largest refineries in the state of Texas are located in or near the city.

Several nationally or even globally known companies have their headquarters in Houston.

These include
Are specifically involved in the oil and gas business



traffic

Road traffic

Houston is conveniently located at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 45 and has a ring of the two highways that surrounds the city center, the so-called Texas State Highway Beltway 8 . Together with the Sam Houston Tollway , the ring has a total length of about 142 kilometers. A third ring, known as the Grand Parkway, State Highway 99 is currently under construction.

Rail transport

Since 2004, Houston has a running north-south light rail (Light Rail System), the twelve-kilometer downtown stretch of Metrorail Houston Red Line . This extends from the University of Houston Downtown, past the Texas Medical Center to NRG Park. Furthermore, the city has a connection to the rail network of the United States, it is served by the Amtrak three times a week. The Sunset Limited also operates from New Orleans to Los Angeles via Houston.

air traffic

The city of Houston is on the continental and intercontinental air transport network of the United States and currently has three airports:

Maritime transport

Houston is connected to the Gulf of Mexico via the Houston Ship Channel and is thus connected to the most important sea routes in the world. The port facilities are used for the transshipment of goods of all kinds, although the main focus is on the transshipment of crude oil and the products refined from it. In a national comparison, the port of Houston is the most heavily handled in the country.

Space travel

Houston is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the Mission Control Center (MCC) (radio nickname: "Houston") and, as a NASA facility, has coordinated the US manned space program since 1961.

politics

Town twinning

Houston has 16 twin cities (in brackets, the year the collaboration began):

  • TaiwanRepublic of China (Taiwan) Taipei , Taiwan (1963)
  • SpainSpain Huelva , Spain (1969)
  • JapanJapan Chiba , Japan (1973)
  • FranceFrance Nice , France (1973)
  • AzerbaijanAzerbaijan Baku , Azerbaijan (1976)
  • United KingdomUnited Kingdom Grampian Region , United Kingdom (1979)
  • NorwayNorway Stavanger , Norway (1980)
  • AustraliaAustralia Perth , Australia (1983)
  • TurkeyTurkey Istanbul , Turkey (1986)
  • China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China Shenzhen , People's Republic of China (1986)
  • EcuadorEcuador Guayaquil , Ecuador (1987)
  • GermanyGermany Leipzig , Germany (1993)
  • RussiaRussia Tyumen , Russia (1995)
  • United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates (2001)
  • AngolaAngola Luanda , Angola (2003)
  • MexicoMexico Tampico , Mexico (2003)
  • PakistanPakistan Lahore , Pakistan

Culture, education, sights

education

The city is the seat of many universities, such as the private Rice University , the state-owned University of Houston or the Texas Southern University, which was originally founded only for blacks .

museum

theatre

In the carefully restored Downtown Houston there are numerous important cultural institutions in the immediate vicinity: the Schauspielhaus Alley Theater , the Wortham Center (home of the Houston Grand Opera ), Jones Hall (concert hall of the Houston Symphony Orchestra ) and the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts (cultural center for guest performances including shows, musicals and concerts).


Main Street in downtown Houston, north-northeast, taken from Lamar Street, March 2011

Sports

club Sports league Stadion
Houston Astros baseball Major League Baseball (American League) Minute Maid Park
Houston Texans American football National Football League (American Football Conference) NRG Stadium
Houston Rockets basketball National Basketball Association Toyota Center
Houston Dynamo Soccer Major League Soccer (Western Conference) BBVA Compass Stadium
Houston Roughnecks American football XFL (Western Conference) TDECU Stadium

Personalities

Houston Skyline, 1971
Uptown Houston by Night - Post Oak Boulevard

Honorary citizen

  • Hans Sennholz (born February 3, 1922 in Bergkamen; † June 23, 2007 in Grove City, Pennsylvania), German economist and US university professor
  • Jan January Janczak (born October 1, 1938 in Środa), Polish and Swiss painter, filmmaker, illustrator, sculptor, glass painter.

sons and daughters of the town

See also

literature

  • Martin V. Melosi, Joseph A. Pratt (Eds.): Energy Metropolis: An Environmental History of Houston and the Gulf Coast . University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh 2007, ISBN 978-0-8229-7324-9

Web links

Commons : Houston  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. houstontx.gov
  2. ^ David G. McComb: Houston, Texas. In: Texas Handbook. Retrieved January 5, 2010 .
  3. Tagesschau.de. Retrieved June 3, 2015 .
  4. Jasmin Lörchner: Why Houston was not evacuated. Spiegel.de, August 28, 2017, accessed on August 28, 2017 .
  5. Dakin Andone CNN: Why didn't Houston evacuate? Retrieved August 28, 2017 .
  6. US Census Bureau QuickFacts selected: Houston city, Texas. Retrieved November 7, 2017 .
  7. US Census Bureau QuickFacts: Houston city, Texas. Accessed November 4, 2019 .
  8. ^ US Department of Commerce, BEA, Bureau of Economic Analysis: Bureau of Economic Analysis. Retrieved July 4, 2018 (American English).
  9. ^ Alan Berube, Jesus Leal Trujillo, Tao Ran, and Joseph Parilla: Global Metro Monitor . In: Brookings . January 22, 2015 ( brookings.edu [accessed July 4, 2018]).
  10. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX Economy at a Glance. Retrieved July 4, 2018 .