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Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Arlington, Waco, Tyler, Beaumont, Spring, Irving, Midland, Abilene, Garland, Killeen, Longview, Odessa, Plano, Conroe, Denton, Huntsville, Laredo, Pasadena, Wichita Falls, Bryan, Humble
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Spanish explorers, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, were the first to visit the
region in the 16th and 17th centuries, settling at Ysleta
near El Paso in 1682. In 1685, sieur de la Salle established
a short-lived French colony at Matagorda Bay.
Americans, led by Stephen F. Austin, began to settle along
the Brazos River in 1821 when Texas was controlled by
Mexico, recently independent from Spain.
In 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain, beginning a
series of politically turbulent years. Under the Mexican
Constitution of 1824, Texas was joined politically to the
state of Coahuila, giving Texas a minority voice in its
government. In 1836, following a brief war between the
American settlers in Texas and the Mexican government, the
Independent Republic of Texas was proclaimed with Sam
Houston as president. This war was famous for the battles of
the Alamo and San Jacinto. On March 2, 1836, 41 delegates to
the first Constitutional Convention adopted Texas'
Declaration of Independence, beginning the transition to
becoming an independent republic. The period ended 50 days
later, on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto,
where the Texas Army defeated the Mexican Army led by
General Santa Anna.
Texas remained a republic for almost a decade until
annexation by the United States in 1845. After Texas became
the 28th U.S. state in 1845, border disputes led to the
Mexican War of 1846–48. Texas remained a state until 1861
when it seceded from the Union to become part of the
Confederacy. Texas was readmitted to the United States in
1870.
Texas can claim that "Six Flags" have flown over its soil:
the Fleur-de-lis of France, and the national flags of Spain,
Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States of America
and the Confederate States of America.
Native American tribes who once lived inside the boundaries
of present-day Texas include Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo,
Comanche, Cherokee, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita. Currently,
there are three federally recognized Native American tribes
which reside in Texas: the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas,
the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, and the Ysleta Del
Sur Pueblo of Texas.
On November 6, 1528 shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Álvar
Núñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first known European to set
foot on Texas. A member of the Narváez expedition, he was
later enslaved by a Native American tribe of the upper Gulf
coast, and explored what are now the U.S. state of Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona on foot from coastal Louisiana to
Sinaloa, Mexico, over a period of roughly six years. He
returned to Europe in 1537, where he wrote about his
experiences in a work called La relación ("The Tale").
Prior to 1821, Texas was part of the Spanish colony of New
Spain. Moses Austin managed to buy land from the Spanish
government in Texas. Moses purchased it with the help of
Baron Felipe de Bastrop who presented the land scheme to the
royal governor of Texas Antonio de Martinez. The governor
passed along the favorable idea to his superior Commandant
General of the Eastern Interior Province Joaquin de
Arredondo. Moses was granted 200,000 acres (800 km²) of land
of his choice.
After Mexican independence in 1821, Texas became part of
Mexico and in 1824 became the northern section of Coahuila y
Tejas. On 3 January 1823, Stephen F. Austin began a colony
of 300 American families along the Brazos River in
present-day Fort Bend County and Brazoria County, centered
primarily in the area of what is now Sugar Land. This group
became known as the "Old Three Hundred." The "Conventions"
of 1832 and 1833 responded to rising unrest at the policies
of the ruling Mexican government.
In 1835, Antonio López de Santa Anna, President of Mexico,
proclaimed a unified constitution for all Mexican
territories, including Texas. North American settlers in
Texas announced they intended to secede from Mexico rather
than give up their "right" to slavery, which Mexico had
abolished. Other policies that irritated the Texians
included the forcible disarmament of Texian settlers, and
the expulsion of illegal immigrants from the United States
of America. The example of the Centralista forces'
suppression of dissidents in Zacatecas also inspired fear of
the Mexican government.
On March 2, 1836, the "Convention of 1836" signed the Texas
"Declaration of Independence," declaring Texas an
independent nation. On April 21, 1836 the Texans won their
independence when they defeated the Mexican forces of Santa
Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. A factor in the defeat of
Santa Anna's army at San Jacinto was the time the Texas Army
got to gather itself, thanks to a small group of brave men
at The Alamo and General Sam Houston's strategy of giving up
land until he had properly trained his army. Santa Anna
himself passed into captivity, and on May 14, Republic of
Texas officials and General Santa Anna signed the treaty of
Velasco.
Later in 1836, the Texans adopted a constitution that
formally legalized slavery in Texas. The Republic of Texas
included all the area now included in the state of Texas,
although its self-proclaimed western and northwestern
borders extended as far west as Santa Fe and as far
northwest as present-day Wyoming, respectively.
In 1845, Texas was admitted to the United States as a
constituent state of the Union. Annexation was mutually
beneficial to Texas and the United States. Texas was in a
very susceptible position following independence, with a
weak government, little industry, and minimal
infrastructure. The U.S. could not allow such a tenuous
nation to sit right on its border. Texas also lay partially
in the way of the U.S. expansion to the Pacific, and its
"Manifest Destiny". The major stumbling block of annexation,
besides the potential for war with Mexico, was the fact that
Texas was a slave state and potentially would tip the
balance between free and slave states due to its huge size.
Some southerners were pushing for the ability to divide
Texas into multiple states, thereby increasing the number of
slave states even more. A compromise was reached in that if
Texas were divided, any states north of the Missouri
Compromise would be free states.
Some confusion has arisen over the annexation of Texas.
Texas was admitted to the Union via a 'Joint Resolution for
Annexing Texas to the United States' on March 1, 1845. Prior
to the resolution there were several efforts to arrive at a
formal annexation treaty. These efforts failed due to the
ongoing struggle between 'slave', and 'free' states. Due to
the requirement of the US Constitution (Article II, Section
2) that all treaties be approved by 2/3rds of the Senate, a
formal treaty was thus blocked. President John Tyler
suggested that annexation be accomplished by the 'Joint
Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States' as it
required only a simple majority of members from each chamber
of the US Congress for passage.
During the Civil War, Texas seceded from the Union and
joined the Confederate States of America. In 1870, the
United States Congress readmitted Texas into the Union.
Texans pride themselves in a history of tradition, yet
seeking new social and technological developments along the
way. Round Rock is the headquarters of Dell and the
surrounding area is known as "Silicon Hills", Dallas is a
famously cosmopolitan metropolis and the birthplace of the
integrated circuit, Houston is a leader in the oil industry,
and cultures of San Antonio and El Paso retain their Mexican
heritage while Fort Worth maintains its western heritage.
The state tourism slogan is "Texas: It's like a whole other
country."
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