Texas

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Texas
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Capital: Austin
State motto: Friendship (Friendship)
Area: 695,621 km²
Residents: 28,304,596 (estimate 2017) (41 U / km²)
Member since: December 29, 1845
Time zone: Central: UTC − 6 / −5
Mountain: UTC − 7 / −6 (tip of West Texas)
The highest point: 2667 m ( Guadalupe Peak )
Average Height: 520 m
Deepest point: 0 m Gulf of Mexico
Governor : Greg Abbott ( R )
Post  / Office /  ISO TX / / US-TX
Texas map
Texas map

Texas ( English  [ ˈtʰɛksəs ] or [ ˈtʰɛksɪs ], from cadd. Táyshaʔ , “friends” or “allies”) is a state in the south-central part of the United States of America . Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State because there is only one star on its flag . Of all the US states, Texas has the second largest area after Alaska and the second largest population after California . With 254 counties , Texas has the largest number of counties in any state in the United States. Please click to listen!Play

Texas borders Mexico to the south . This makes up about half the border between the United States and Mexico . Texas also borders the states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast and Louisiana to the east.

geography

Texas can be divided into three different climate zones: a dry continental zone in the west, a subtropical zone in the south and a maritime to temperate subtropical zone in the east. The division into different sub-regions depends on the criteria according to which they are made. A simple breakdown according to main regions distinguishes between East Texas , the region on the Gulf of Mexico , South Texas, West Texas, North Texas and Central Texas. Landscape-oriented classifications are usually finer - partly because of the many different landscapes and ecoregions that exist in Texas. The main landscape zones here are the East Texas Piney Wood or Forest region, the coastal prairie region on the Gulf, the lower and upper valley of the Rio Grande , the Trans-Pecos region in the southwest, the High Plains in the west with the two sub-regions Llano Estacado in the middle and Texas Panhandle in the north and finally the Blackland Prairie and the Edwards Plateau in the Texas heartland.

According to the outlined eco-zones, the landscape and the type of economic use changes: From the coast, which is bordered by lagoons for almost its entire length , a relatively flat area extends 50 to 100 kilometers inland, which is partly very fertile and for the cultivation of cotton , sugar cane and in some places rice is particularly suitable. Behind it rises an undulating, hilly land, which, up to 320 kilometers wide, encompasses the entire northeast of the state and is largely covered by prairies . The north-western part of the national territory is mountainous and highlands and consists partly of a 1300 meter high desert sandstone plateau (Llano Estacado). The north, also known as the Texas Panhandle, is very fertile and is used for raising livestock . Oil was produced throughout the south and west until the early 1980s . Texas is rich in rivers, although very few are navigable throughout the year. The Red River divides it from Oklahoma and Arkansas , the Sabine from Louisiana and the Rio Grande from Mexico . Other important rivers are the Colorado River , the Pecos River, and the Brazos River .

The largest city of Houston is located in the southeast of the state. The second largest city, San Antonio, is to the south, Dallas , the third largest, and Fort Worth , to the northeast. El Paso is in the far west and Corpus Christi is in the south on the Gulf Coast.

Neighbore states

Texas is in the southern United States and borders Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, Louisiana to the east, Mexico to the southwest, and New Mexico to the northwest .

structure

Texas is divided into 254 counties . These are most of the counties in a state in the United States.

population

Population development
Census Residents ± in%
1850 212,592 -
1860 604.215 184.2%
1870 818.579 35.5%
1880 1,591,749 94.5%
1890 2,235,527 40.4%
1900 3,048,710 36.4%
1910 3,896,542 27.8%
1920 4,663,228 19.7%
1930 5,824,715 24.9%
1940 6,414,824 10.1%
1950 7,711,194 20.2%
1960 9,579,677 24.2%
1970 11,196,730 16.9%
1980 14.229.191 27.1%
1990 16,986,510 19.4%
2000 20,851,820 22.8%
2010 25.145.561 20.6%
2017 estimate 28,304,596 12.6%
Before 1900

1900-1990 2000

Population density

ethnicities

Texas had 25,145,561 inhabitants in 2010 (US Census 2010), of which 45.3% white (excluding Hispanics and Latinos), 11.8% African-American , 3.8% Asian, 0.7% Indian , 0.1% Hawaiian or coming from other Pacific islands. 2.7% belonged to two or more groups. 37.6% of the total population were Hispanics . In 2010, the minorities made up 50.2% of the population. Texas is therefore considered the majority-minority state . For mid-2017, the population is estimated at 28,304,596 inhabitants. The population of Texas is among the fastest growing in the United States.

age structure

2014 were

  • up to 18 years: 7,116,637 (26.4%)
  • 18–64 years: 16,740,270 (62.1%)
  • 65 years or older: 3,100,050 (11.5%)

The median age was 34.3 years (national average of the 50 US states: 37.7 years). 49.6% of the population were male and 50.4% were female.

ancestry

9.6% of the population are of German descent and thus form the largest group after those of Mexican descent (as of 2014). This is followed by the Irish (6.9%), English (6.2%), American (5.6%) and French (2.0%) groups.

Religions

The most important religious communities in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church (with 4,368,969 members), the Southern Baptist Convention (3,519,459 members) and the United Methodist Church (1,022,342 members). There are also many other, mainly Protestant , denominations .

Population distribution

Much of the east, north, and central Texas are inhabited by whites belonging to Protestant churches. They are mostly descendants of immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland . Much of central and southeast-central Texas is inhabited by whites who have German ancestors. African Americans, who historically made up one-third of the population, mostly live in parts of Texas where cotton plantations were particularly common before the Civil War, as well as in Dallas and Houston.

Biggest cities

Population 2000/2010: US Census 2000 (green) and US Census 2010 (red)

Garland (Texas) Garland (Texas) Lubbock (Texas) Lubbock (Texas) Laredo (Texas) Laredo (Texas) Plano (Texas) Plano (Texas) Corpus Christi (Texas) Corpus Christi (Texas) Arlington (Texas) Arlington (Texas) El Paso (Texas) El Paso (Texas) Fort Worth Fort Worth Austin (Texas) Austin (Texas) Dallas Dallas San Antonio San Antonio Houston Houston

story

prehistory

Projectile tips from the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument in northern Texas. The finds there reach up to 11000 BC. BC back.

The oldest datable finds of human artifacts in North America to date were made in Texas . In the Buttermilk Creek Complex in Bell County , certain stone tools and tees were discovered between 15,500 and 13,200 years before Present , which were below the Clovis culture horizon .

Texas is located in two of the North American cultural areas , prairies and plains on the one hand, and the southwest on the other. The Texan Paleo-Indians from 9200 to 6000 BC Were related to the Clovis culture and that of Folsom . Above all, they left their mark in the north, in today's Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument . They lived by hunting mammoths and bison (bison latifrons). The oldest finds were made with the Midland Man , who was found in Midland County in 1953 , a woman discovered in 1983 near Leander in Williamson County, and with a man and a boy at Waco . Around 4000 BC Petroglyphs originated on the Pecos River . The first corn farmers lived around 1500 BC. At the lower Pecos.

Around 500 BC A settled culture arose in the east under the influence of the Mississippi region, beyond the Rio Pecos the Mogollon culture dominated .

After 700 the bow began to displace the spear thrower (Atlatl), pottery was made. The trade in obsidian reached in the north as far as the Rocky Mountains , in the south especially as far as Teotihuacán . Between about 800 and 1500 there was the so-called Buried City , stone houses southeast of Perryton in Ochiltree County .

The Plains Village People , who lived around 1150 to 1450, are considered the ancestors of the Caddo , Pawnee, and Wichita . They lived in permanently inhabited large villages, whose houses consisted of one, but also up to a hundred rooms. Before 1500 they were driven westwards, presumably by the Apaches.

When the Spaniards arrived, cultures were divided into numerous ethnic groups of various compositions. They included the Alabama , Apaches , Atakapan , Bidai , Caddo , Coahuiltecan , Comanche , Cherokee , Choctaw , Coushatta , Hasinai , Jumano , Karankawa , Kickapoo , Kiowa , Tonkawa, and Wichita .

Today in Texas there are only three tribes recognized by the federal government in the 1960s and 1970s, the Alabama Coushatta, which emerged from the amalgamation of a group of Alabama with the Coushatta , the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas (on the Rio Grande in the Maverick County ), as well as the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso and Socorro . There is also a South Texas subgroup of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma . They had been evicted from the Republic of Texas to Mexico in 1839 .

Spaniards

In 1519 the Spaniard Alonso Álvarez de Pineda created the first map of the Texan coast. This was also the beginning of the Spanish occupation of the territory. In 1528 the Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca was shipwrecked on the coast near what is now Galveston . A small group of survivors marched across the Indian territories to Mexico City and later spread the legend of the " Seven Cities of Gold ". The Spanish adventurer Coronado , attracted by this story, crossed western Texas and parts of what is now New Mexico all the way up to Kansas . Even though he couldn't find the golden cities, the rumor persisted over the centuries.

In the period that followed, many towns and especially missions emerged in what is now Texas. In 1621 Spanish immigrants founded the city of Corpus Christi de la Isleta. El Paso followed in 1659 .

Robert Cavelier de La Salle

A French attempt to colonize the territory of Texas came in 1685. The adventurer Robert Cavelier de La Salle reached Matagorda Bay by ship and founded Fort St. Louis there. The settlement suffered badly from Indian attacks, illnesses and the loss of important material through shipwrecks. Just two years later, La Salle was murdered by his own people while he was trying to get help. St. Louis was then given up; Texas was Spanish again. However, the French were able to assert themselves in the settlements in the Mississippi Delta. From 1686 to 1689, Alonso de Leon, Governor of Coahuila, searched the French colony and found only a few survivors.

In the course of another Spanish expedition, several mission stations were founded. This is how the Mission San Antonio de Valero came into being in 1718. Over 100 years later, this mission went down in history as The Alamo . In 1786, Pedro Vial found a path from San Antonio to Santa Fe , but it was of no importance as a trade route.

Mexico

In 1821 Texas became part of Mexico, which had become independent from Spain . Already during the Mexican War of Independence , many adventurers from the United States gathered here. After the North American Colonel Stephen F. Austin received the approval of the central government of Mexico in 1823 to settle with 300 families in the state of Texas, he founded the city of San Felipe de Austín. The deal with Austin was very easy. He had to exchange his US citizenship for a Mexican one and was therefore subject to Mexican jurisdiction. More and more settlers from the north reached the Gulf of Mexico. It was the beginning of Anglo-American colonization, and by 1835 around 45,000 people from the north had settled in Texas.

The Alamo in Texas

Tensions between American settlers, on the one hand, and the Mexicans and the Mexican government under President General Santa Anna, on the other hand, became more intense when Mexico banned slavery. Because the United States wanted to buy the entire state of Texas, Mexican state authorities prohibited further immigration from the United States in 1830. Religious, cultural, and political problems in particular seemed insurmountable. But new laws and regulations gave the settlers in Texas so many exemptions and freedoms that tensions eased and 1835 was a relatively quiet year at first. However, US land speculators fueled suspicion against Mexico. When Stephen F. Austin was arrested while visiting Mexico City and because of personal disappointment spoke out against remaining in Mexico, separatists saw their chance. After Austin returned, they proclaimed the secession of Texas from Mexico in a hastily called meeting. Shortly thereafter, Santa Anna sent troops (approx. 5000 men) to Texas. On October 2, 1835, the battle of Gonzales began the Texan War of Independence .

Republic of Texas

On March 2, 1836, the Texans, relying on the assistance of the Democratic Party in the United States , which advocated an increase in slave states, proclaimed the independent Republic of Texas and appointed General Sam Houston as military commander in chief. The Mexican army under Santa Anna occupied San Felipe de Austín , the capital of Texas , during the hostilities .

Sam Houston

On March 6, 1836, the mission city of Alamo was captured by the Mexicans after a thirteen-day siege. All of the 190 or so defense attorneys were killed, including Davy Crockett , James Bowie and William Travis .

The Mexican troops, which consisted of around 1,600 soldiers, were surprisingly defeated on April 21, 1836 in the Battle of San Jacinto by the Texans under Sam Houston. The Mexican President General Santa Anna has been captured. In the following years the Mexican government tried to reverse the independence of the Texans through further military expeditions; but failed.

As an independent republic, Texas was recognized by France and the United Kingdom on November 23, 1839 and November 14, 1841, respectively. Sam Houston became the first President of the Independent Nation and Republic of Texas. Stephen F. Austin became his state's foreign secretary, but died of a lung disease just two months after taking office.

Domestically, the young Republic of Texas was split into two camps. A group led by Sam Houston advocated rapid entry into the United States. The other group, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar , the second president of the republic, wanted to avoid such a move. Instead, an expansion of the Republic of Texas to the Pacific was thought. Texas was supposed to form a buffer state between Mexico and the United States. Finally, the group around President Houston, who held this office with interruptions until shortly before the merger with the United States and from 1856 to 1861, also became governor of the US state, prevailed.

US state

The country was annexed to the United States on February 19, 1845; the US Congress approved the annexation on March 1, 1845. Admission to the confederation took place on December 29, 1845. This sparked the Mexican-American War in 1846 , which ended on February 2, 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . Mexico waived its claims to Texas and the area between the Rio Grande and Nueces River , but by resolution of September 7, 1850, the US government assigned part of this area to New Mexico , which had since been annexed to the Union as territory. Texas received $ 10 million in compensation for this.

Old map of the southeast
Map by Stephen F. Austin , 1836

The election victory of Abraham Lincoln, known for his strict principles on the slave question, in the presidential election of November 6, 1860 , triggered the breakaway of the slave-holding southern states from the Union , beginning with South Carolina on December 20, 1860 . Texas, whose declaration of resignation decided on February 1, 1861 at a convention in Austin , was approved by referendum on February 23 and thus came into force on March 2, was the seventh and last southern state that existed before Abraham Lincoln took office on May 4. March and the beginning of the civil war, resigned from the Union and the beginning of February 1861 established the Confederate States of America joined ( see also: Texas-German in the American civil war ). After the end of the Civil War in 1865, US President Andrew Johnson installed the unionist Andrew Jackson Hamilton as provisional governor of Texas. The process of reconstruction for Texas ended on March 30, 1870 with the resumption of Texas representatives to the United States Congress .

To this day, the flawed modern legend holds that Texas is the only US state that has the right to leave the United States at will, since it was accepted into the Union through the conclusion of a treaty.

German immigrants

German immigrants have had a major impact on the US state. Caroline Ernst and her family were the first German settlers. An enthusiastic letter from her father to Germany in 1832 was one of the triggers for German engagement in Texas.

Organized German immigration began in 1834 in the thirties and is mainly due to the Giessen Emigration Society and the Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas , also known as the Mainz Aristocracy Association . After the March Revolution of 1848, some of the Forty-Eighters followed .

At the beginning of the 20th century, around 100,000 Texans were German-speaking. Most of them settled in central Texas in the so-called Texas Hill Country , the German Hills in the Austin and San Antonio area. Early settlements were the Latin Settlements , founded by German emigrants. Above all, the influence of the First World War led to a significant decline in the German language. The German-English mixed dialect is also called Texas German .

The influence of German immigrants can be seen in place names such as New Braunfels (founded in 1845 by Carl Prinz zu Solms-Braunfels , a member of the Mainz Adelsverein) and the name of the Schlitterbahn water park . The sausage festival is celebrated every year in New Braunfels, about 65 km south of the capital Austin . In the district of Gruene, founded in 1872 by Henry D. Gruene, is the oldest surviving dance hall in Texas, the Gruene Hall . Today it is a historic place for live music and dance events.

There is also a German colony near Fredericksburg (founded in 1846 and named in honor of Prince Friedrich of Prussia (1794–1863), another member of the Mainz Noble Association, "Friedrichsburg"). The local Chamber of Commerce welcomes visitors to the Internet with "Welcome"; some of the menus in restaurants are bilingual.

The settlement of Luckenbach became known here , which was mentioned in a song performed by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson entitled Luckenbach, Texas . The song made it to number 1 on the US country charts. Up to 20,000 Texans still speak German today.

Also sorbent from the Lausitz wandered the mid-19th century in significant numbers to Texas and founded under the leadership of January Kilian , among other things, the settlement Serbin . Although the inhabitants have not spoken Sorbian for a long time , remember u. a. the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum and a Wendish Heritage Society on this chapter of Texan history.

politics

Conservative attitude

Texas is now considered a stronghold of American conservatism in Europe . From 1874 to 1979 all governors of the Solid South belonged to the Democratic Party, which at the time was running a conservative and racist policy in the southern states. This only changed with the civil rights movement , when the Dixiecrats switched to the Republicans and the former Abraham Lincoln party became attractive to racist voters. Presidents George W. Bush and his father George HW Bush made careers in Texas. In the US, Texas is seen as thoroughly conservative, but states like Mississippi and Alabama still rank well ahead of Texas in the internal view. In both the US and Europe, Texas stands out for its rigorous use of the death penalty . No other state had so many children without health insurance in 2010 (14%).

Politically, Texas has been a Republican stronghold since the 1970s. Only Democratic presidential candidates John F. Kennedy , Lyndon B. Johnson , Hubert H. Humphrey and Jimmy Carter have been victorious in Texas since the early 1960s. After that, however, the Republicans in Texas always won by a clear margin. The counties between San Antonio and the Mexican border as well as the counties in the El Paso and Houston area are the strongholds of the Democrats . Based on the polls ahead of the 2020 presidential election , Texas was seen as the future swing state .

In Electoral College , Texas has had 38 electors since 2012, and the number is steadily increasing as the Texan population is growing faster than that of the entire United States. In the US Senate , Texas is represented by Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz . The Texas delegation to the 116th Congress House of Representatives consists of 23 Republicans and 13 Democrats.

Texas Presidential Election
year Winner in Texas percent be right Opposing candidate percent be right
2016 Donald Trump (R) 52.10 4,685,047 Hillary Clinton (D) 43.12 3,877,868
2012 Mitt Romney (R) 57.13 4,569,843 Barack Obama (D) 41.35 3,308,124
2008 John McCain (R) 55.38 4,479,328 Barack Obama (D) 43.63 3,528,633
2004 George W. Bush (R) 61.09 4,526,917 John Kerry (D) 38.22 2,832,704
2000 George W. Bush (R) 59.30 3,799,639 Al Gore (D) 37.98 2,433,746
1996 Bob dole (r) 48.76 2,736,167 Bill Clinton (D) 43.83 2,459,683
Ross Perot ( RE ) 6.75 378,537
1992 George HW Bush (R) 40.56 2,496,071 Bill Clinton (D) 37.08 2,281,815
Ross Perot ( I ) 22.01 1,354,781
1988 George HW Bush (R) 55.95 3,036,829 Michael Dukakis (D) 43.35 2,352,748
1984 Ronald reagan (r) 63.61 3,433,428 Walter Mondale (D) 36.11 1,949,276
1980 Ronald reagan (r) 55.28 2,510,705 Jimmy Carter (D) 41.42 1,881,147
John B. Anderson (I) 2.46 111,613
1976 Jimmy Carter (D) 51.14 2,082,319 Gerald Ford (R) 47.97 1,953,300
1972 Richard Nixon (R) 66.20 2,298,896 George McGovern (D) 33.24 1,154,291
1968 Hubert H. Humphrey (D) 41.14 1,266,804 Richard Nixon (R) 39.87 1,227,844
George Wallace ( AI ) 18.97 584.269
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 63.32 1,663,185 Barry goldwater (r) 36.49 958.566
1960 John F. Kennedy (D) 50.52 1,167,567 Richard Nixon (R) 48.52 1,121,310
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 55.26 1,080,619 Adlai Ewing Stevenson (D) 43.98 859.958
T. Coleman Andrews ( I ) 0.75 15,591
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 53.13 1,102,878 Adlai Ewing Stevenson (D) 46.69 969.228
1948 Harry S. Truman (D) 65.96 824.235 Thomas E. Dewey (R) 24.29 303,467
Strom Thurmond (SD) 9.11 113,776
1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 71.42 821605 Thomas E. Dewey (R) 16.64 191,425
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 80.92 909.974 Wendell Willkie (R) 18.91 212,692
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 87.08 739,952 Alf Landon (R) 12.32 104,661
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 88.06 760.348 Herbert Hoover (R) 11.35 97,959
1928 Herbert Hoover (R) 51.77 367.036 Alfred E. Smith (D) 48.10 341.032
1924 John W. Davis (D) 73.70 484605 Calvin Coolidge (R) 19.78 130.023
Robert M. La Follette sr. ( P ) 6.52 42,881
1920 James M. Cox (D) 59.34 288,767 Warren G. Harding (R) 23.54 114,538
Parley P. Christensen ( FL ) Not on the ballot in Texas
1916 Woodrow Wilson (D) 76.92 286,514 Charles Evans Hughes (R) 17.45 64,999
1912 Woodrow Wilson (D) 72.73 219,489 Theodore Roosevelt ( P ) 9.46 28,853
William Howard Taft (R) 8.77 26,577
1908 William J. Bryan (D) 73.97 217,302 William Howard Taft (R) 22.35 65,666
1904 Alton B. Parker (D) 71.45 167,200 Theodore Roosevelt (R) 21.9 51,242
1900 William J. Bryan (D) 63.12 267,432 William McKinley (R) 30.83 130,641
1896 William J. Bryan (D) 68.00 370.434 William McKinley (R) 30.75 167,520
1892 Grover Cleveland (D) 56.65 239.148 James B. Weaver ( P ) 23.61 99,688
1888 Grover Cleveland (D) 65.70 234,883 Benjamin Harrison (R) 24.73 88,422
1884 Grover Cleveland (D) 69.26 225,309 James G. Blaine (R) 28.63 93.141
1880 Winfield S. Hancock (D) 64.71 156,428 James A. Garfield (R) 23.95 57,893
James B. Weaver ( G ) 11.34 27.405
1876 Samuel J. Tilden (D) 70.04 104,755 Rutherford B. Hayes (R) 29.96 44,800
1872 Horace Greeley ( LR ) 57.07 66,546 Ulysses S. Grant (R) 40.71 47,468
1868 no participation
1864 no participation
1860 John C. Breckinridge (D) 75.50 47,454 John Bell ( CU ) 24.50 15,383
Stephen A. Douglas (D) 0.0 18th
Abraham Lincoln (R) Not on the ballot in Texas
1856 James Buchanan (D) 66.59 31,169 Millard Fillmore ( A ) 33.41 15,639
John C. Frémont (R) Not on the ballot in Texas
1852 Franklin Pierce (D) 73.07 13,552 Winfield Scott ( W ) 26.93 4,995
John P. Hale ( F ) Not on the ballot in Texas
1848 Lewis Cass (D) 70.29 10,668 Zachary Taylor (W) 29.71 4,509
Martin Van Buren (F) Not on the ballot in Texas

congress

Governors

Law

At the head of the judiciary is the Supreme Court of Texas as the highest court of the state.

Texas is a US state that uses the death penalty . It is imposed by the criminal courts if the crime is serious enough. In contrast to other states, the governor of Texas cannot pardon prisoners on his own initiative. A governor pardon is only possible if the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends a pardon. If the committee has a negative decision, the governor can only postpone the execution for 30 days. When it comes to the number of enforcements, Texas ranks first in the US; From 1976 to September 2015, 528 people were executed in Texas, representing 37% of all executions in the United States. The sunset clause applies in Texas law .

Corporal punishment of students using the so-called paddle is allowed. Texas is consistently one of the five US states that have the most paddling activities.

Culture and sights

Museums

The largest art museum in the state of Texas is the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in Houston , which has a collection of 56,000 objects and is also home to important exhibitions.

music

The following well-known bands come from Texas: Absu , At The Drive-In , Butthole Surfers , Dixie Chicks , Pantera , ZZ Top . In addition, numerous musicians such as Beyoncé , Buddy Holly , Guy Clark , Janis Joplin , Kelly Clarkson , Kris Kristofferson , Lead Belly , Roky Erickson , Roy Orbison , Sam Lightnin 'Hopkins , Stevie Ray Vaughan , T-Bone Walker , Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson .

kitchen

In Texas, the barbecue (BBQ for short) plays an important role in everyday life. In Taylor, northeast of Austin, the "International Barbeque Cookoff", a festival with many BBQ dishes, takes place every year. Texas is also known for its chilli dishes. The state's cuisine is Mexican influenced, so chicken fried steak is a specialty.

Parks

National park location view
Big Bend National Park
  • Texas
  • 306,641 visitors (2003)
  • founded June 12, 1944
Big Bend National Park
United States map
Big bend np.jpg
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
  • Texas
  • 179,188 visitors (2003)
  • founded October 15, 1966
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
United States map
GUMO4307.jpg

There is also a national monument in Texas : Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument in the north of the state. This is a site of flint , the Indians and their predecessor cultures between 11000 BC. And around 1870 to make tools and weapons from the material.

Sports

Texas is home to various sports teams in the five major sports leagues in the country. The basketball teams of the San Antonio Spurs , Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks around superstar Dirk Nowitzki all play in the NBA . American football is also very important in Texas. With the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans , two teams are based in the NFL . In the MLB , the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers are also two teams based in Texas. The Dallas Stars play in the NHL North American Ice Hockey League . Football is also enjoying growing enthusiasm in Texas. The Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas play in the highest soccer league, the MLS .

Economy and Infrastructure

The most important industries are:

  • Oil and gas production
  • Petroleum refineries
  • Petrochemicals
  • Agriculture, mainly cotton, wheat, citrus fruits, rice, corn, oats, vegetables
  • Livestock farming (cattle, sheep)
  • Food industry
  • Aerospace Industry
  • Electronic industry
  • tourism

Most of the US oil is produced in Texas. Texas is the second most important industrial and commercial state in the USA after California. The GDP was $ 1,616 billion in 2016, which is approximately 8.76 percent of the total GDP of the United States. This puts Texas on a par with countries like Brazil or Canada . The real gross domestic product per capita GDP was USD 58,028 in 2016 (average of the 50 US states: USD 57,118; national ranking: 19). The unemployment rate was 3.8% in November 2017 (national average: 4.1%).

As of mid-2020, there are over 15,100 wind turbines in Texas ; they have a total capacity of 30,217 megawatts (2016: 18,500 MW). This makes Texas the leader in the use of wind energy in the USA, and Texas has installed more wind power than countries like Spain or the United Kingdom, only surpassed by China, the United States, Germany and India.

With the port of Houston, Texas has the second largest seaport in the United States in terms of tons.

traffic

education

State universities

The most important state universities are grouped together in the University of Texas System with headquarters in Austin , the Texas A&M University System , the Texas Tech University System , the University of Houston System and the Texas State University System . Other state universities include the University of North Texas , Midwestern State University , Stephen F. Austin State University, and Texas Southern University .

Private universities

The best-known private universities are Rice University , Southern Methodist University , Baylor University and Texas Christian University .

Other colleges are included in the list of universities in Texas .

State symbols

National flag of Texas

The first national flag of Texas served as the "civil flag" since November 1835. It featured the national colors of Mexico with the inscription "1824" (year of the Mexican constitution). The alleged national flag from March 1836 - blue, with a white star and the letters T E X A S arranged in a circle - is a forgery.

State song

"Texas, our Texas" has been the state song since 1929.

State flower

The lupine species Bluebonnet ( Lupinus texensis ) has been the state flower of Texas since 1901 .

State bird

Since 1927 is the Mockingbird (Mockingbird) state bird.

State tree

The pecan tree has been a state tree since 1919 . Its nuts are used in a variety of ways in Texan cuisine.

State dog

Since 2005, the Blue Lacy State Dog has been Texas.

State music

Since 2011, Western Swing has been the " official State Music of Texas " based on a resolution by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Texas .

literature

  • Roy R. Barkley, Mark F. Odintz (Eds.): The Portable Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association, Austin 2000, ISBN 978-0-87611-180-2 .
  • Randolph B. Campbell: Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State. Oxford University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-19-513842-2 .
  • David O'Donald Cullen, Kyle G. Wilkison (Eds.): The Texas Right: The Radical Roots of Lone Star Conservatism. Texas A&M University Press, College Station 2014, ISBN 978-1-62349-029-4 .
  • JR Edmondson: The Alamo Story. From History to Current Conflicts. Republic of Texas Press, Plano (Texas) 2000, ISBN 1-55622-678-0 .
  • Dieter Haller: Lone Star Texas. Ethnographic notes from an unknown country. Transcript, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-89942-696-0 .
  • William Wilmon Newcomb: The Indians of Texas: from prehistoric to modern times. 11th edition. University of Texas Press, Austin 1995, ISBN 0-292-78425-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. Candidates are accepted if they have won either 10% in at least two states or an elector
  2. due to the reconstruction
  3. due to the secession
  1. ^ Density Using Land Area
  2. Phillip L. Fry: Texas, Origin of Name. In: The Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), 1999 ff, accessed April 25, 2009., TSHA Online - A Digital Gateway to Texas History
  3. Climate in Texas , transamerica.org, accessed November 28, 2018
  4. ^ Soils of Texas . Texas Almanac, accessed November 28, 2018
  5. David J. Murrah: Llano Estacado - Treasure Trove. In: The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. 5 (September 1993), p. 13
  6. ^ The Llano Estacado
  7. ^ US Census Bureau _ Census of Population and Housing . Retrieved February 28, 2011
  8. Extract from Census.gov . Retrieved February 28, 2011
  9. Excerpt from factfinder.census.gov.Retrieved February 28, 2011
  10. US Census Bureau
  11. Minority population surging in Texas. Nonwhites now more than 50 percent of state's population , MSN
  12. USA: States and Major Cities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved February 8, 2018 .
  13. ^ Age and Sex - Texas
  14. ^ Texas Selected Social Characteristics
  15. Denominational Groups, 2000 (Denominational Groups, 2000)
  16. The Most Populous Counties and Incorporated Places in 2010 in Texas: 2000 and 2010. ( Excel file) United States Census Bureau , accessed May 30, 2017 .
  17. ^ Kickapoo History
  18. ^ Website of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo .
  19. For a list of recognized tribes by state, see Federal and State Recognized Tribes , as of March 2009.
  20. There are also twelve tribes fighting for recognition: The Arista Indian Village , Atakapas Ishak Nation of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana , Blount Band of Apalachicola Creek Indians , Comanche Penateka Tribe , Creek Indians of Texas at Red Oak , Jumano Tribe (West Texas) (formerly The People of LaJunta (Jumano / Mescalero) ), Lipan Apache Band of Texas , Pamaque Clan of Coahuila y Tejas Spanish Indian Colonial Missions , Tap Pilam: The Coahuiltecan Nation , Tribal Council of the Carrizo / Comecrudo Nation of Texas , United Mascogo Seminole Tribe of Texas , The Yanaguana Bands of Mission Indians of Texas .
  21. ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 78.
  22. ^ Andreas Reichstein: The Texan War of Independence: 1835–36. Causes and effects . Berlin: Reimer 1984. p. 142 ff.
  23. ^ Ordinance of Secession ( Memento of April 4, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) in full
  24. See footnote 80 in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress , 41st Congress ( Memento of August 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) ( Directory of members of the 41st Congress ; PDF, 80 kB)
  25. Texas Annexation Questions and Answers : “ In fact, Texas received no special terms in its admission to the Union. Once Texas had agreed to join the Union, she never had the legal option of leaving, either before or after the Civil War. ”(Accessed November 19, 2009)
  26. John E. Roemer, Woojin Lee, Karine Van der Straeten: Racism, Xenophobia, and Distribution: Multi-issue Politics in Advanced Democracies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 0-674-02495-8 , p. 6.
  27. US Census Bureau: Health Insurance ( Memento December 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  28. 2020 Election Forecast Predictions. 270towin.com, accessed March 10, 2019.
  29. Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections. Retrieved December 8, 2018 .
  30. Facts about the Death Penalty (PDF; 2.1 MB) at the Death Penalty Information Center, cf. Texas also carries out the death penalty despite protests , in: Spiegel online , August 23, 2007.
  31. Attractions in Texas
  32. ^ A b US Department of Commerce, BEA, Bureau of Economic Analysis: Gross domestic product (GDP) by state (millions of current dollars). Retrieved August 27, 2017 (American English).
  33. ^ Unemployment Rates for States. Retrieved January 8, 2018 .
  34. Texas Wind Energy (October 19, 2016).
  35. a b Wind Energy in Texas. In: awea.org> State Facts Sheets. American Wind Energy Association AWEA, accessed October 3, 2020 .
  36. ^ Tonnage of Top 50 US Water Ports, Ranked by Total Tons. United States Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 19, 2017 (American English).
  37. ^ State Symbols USA: Western Swing - Texas State Music

Web links

Commons : Texas  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files
Wikivoyage: Texas  Travel Guide

Coordinates: 31 ° 40 ′  N , 99 ° 27 ′  W