The Texas PortalTexas (Spanish: Texas or Tejas [ˈtexas]) is the second most populous and second largest state by area of the 50 states in the United States of America. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares borders with the other U.S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas to the southwest, along with the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest United States metropolitan statistical areas, respectively. Other major cities include Austin (the state capital) and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify Texas as a former independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. The "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state flag and on the Texan state seal. The origin of the state name, Texas, is from the word, "Tejas", which means 'friends' in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes that resemble both the American South and Southwest. Although popularly associated with the Southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas' land area is desert. Most of the population centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests, and the coastline. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, and finally the desert and mountains of the Big Bend. Texas history ...
Selected articleHemisFair '68 was the first officially designated world's fair held in the Southwest United States. San Antonio, Texas, hosted the fair from April 6 through October 6, 1968. More than 30 nations hosted pavilions at the fair. The fair was held in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio. The theme of the fair was "The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas". The official world's fair sanctioning body, the Bureau International des Expositions, accredited HemisFair '68 on November 17, 1965. The venture, which had an announced cost of $156 million, was financed by a combination of public and private funding. The fair was built on a 96.2-acre site on the southeastern edge of downtown San Antonio. The site was acquired mainly through eminent domain, and many structures were demolished and moved, in what was considered a blighted area, to make room for the fair. The project was partially developed with federal urban renewal funds. The San Antonio Conservation Society recommended that 129 structures on the site be preserved, but on August 9, 1966, an agreement was made to save only 20 existing structures that would be incorporated into the fair site. Overall, only 24 structures were saved. Selected biographyClaudia Alta Taylor Johnson, known commonly as Lady Bird Johnson, (born December 22, 1912), is the widow of Lyndon B. Johnson and was First Lady of the United States from 1963-1969. She was born in Karnack, Texas to Minnie Patillo-Taylor (1868-1918) and T.J. Taylor. Her nickname of "Lady Bird" originated while she was an infant. A nursemaid commented on her, "She's as pretty as a ladybird." She graduated from Marshall Senior High School in Marshall, Texas and studied journalism and art at St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls and the University of Texas at Austin. She married Lyndon Baines Johnson on November 17, 1934 at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas. They had two daughters, Lynda Bird Johnson, wife of Charles S. Robb, and Luci Baines Johnson, who married Pat Nugent and Ian Turpin. Texas newsThings you can doSelected pictureCredit: User:JimIrwin Texas state population density map based on Census 2000 data. Spotlight cityAustin is the state capital of Texas and the county seat of Travis County. Situated in the region of Central Texas, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 16th-largest in the United States. As of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate, Austin had a population of 690,252. The city is the core cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area with a population of 1.4 million. The first documented settlement of current-day Austin occurred in 1835, and the site was named Waterloo in 1837. In 1839, Mirabeau B. Lamar renamed the city in honor of Stephen F. Austin. Its original name is honored by local businesses such as Waterloo Ice House and Waterloo Records. State symbols
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