Texas

I

Introduction

Texas, one of the southern states of the United States, bordered on the north by Oklahoma; on the north-east by Arkansas; on the east by Louisiana; on the south-east by the Gulf of Mexico; on the south-west by Mexico; and on the west by New Mexico. The Red River forms part of the northern boundary, the Sabine River forms part of the eastern boundary, and the Rio Grande forms the border with Mexico.

Texas entered the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. Two 20th-century US presidents—Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson—were born in Texas. In the 19th century the Texas economy was based on cattle breeding, cotton growing, and other agricultural activities. After 1900 oil and natural gas production became very important, and the state also developed a diversified manufacturing sector. In the early 1990s Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio were the state’s largest cities and among its numerous important commercial and industrial centres. The state’s name is derived from tejas, the mid-16th-century Spanish rendering of a Caddo Native American term meaning “friends”; it was adopted and spelled as Texas when the area was organized as the Republic of Texas in 1836, the year it became independent of Mexico. Texas is known as the “Lone Star State” (after the single star on its flag).

II

Land and Resources

With an area of 692,244 sq km (267,277 sq mi), Texas is the second-largest state in the United States. The extreme dimensions of the state are about 1,290 km (800 mi) from north to south and about 1,240 km (770 mi) from east to west. Texas has a coastline of about 591 km (367 mi) along the Gulf of Mexico; Galveston, Matagorda, and Padre islands lie offshore.

A

Physical Geography

Texas can be divided into four major land regions: the Basin and Range, the Great Plains, the Osage Plains, and the West Gulf Coastal Plain.

The Basin and Range Region is in western Texas, bounded by the Pecos River in the east and the Rio Grande in the west. It comprises isolated mountains rising from high plains. The Great Plains cover much of central Texas as well as most of the Texas Panhandle in the north. They vary in elevation from about 215 m (700 ft) in the east to more than 1,219 m (4,000 ft) in the Llano Estacado (Staked Plain), along the New Mexico border.

The Osage Plains extend south from Oklahoma into the south-central part of Texas. Fertile black soils make this a favoured farming belt for cotton, grain, and livestock. The West Gulf Coastal Plain comprises approximately the eastern two fifths of Texas. This is a low, flat area ranging in elevation from sea level to about 300 m (1,000 ft).

Principal rivers are the Rio Grande (the major river of Texas, which forms the border between the state and Mexico) and the Nueces, Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, Neches, Canadian, and Red rivers. Texas has numerous artificial lakes formed by dams on rivers. Lake Texoma, Wright Patman Lake, Lake Tawakoni, and Lake O’ the Pines are in the north-east.

B

Climate

The Texas climate ranges from near tropical in the lower Rio Grande Valley to semi-arid in the south-west and Panhandle. Most of Texas is within the humid subtropical climate zone. The recorded temperature in Texas has ranged from -30.6° C (-23° F), in 1899 at Julia in the north and in 1933 at Seminole in the north-west, to 48.9° C (120° F), in 1936 at Seymour in the north.