 Houston
Texas, largest state in the coterminous United
States. It is located in the S Central part of the country and is
bounded by Oklahoma, across the Red R. except in the Texas panhandle
(N); Arkansas (NE); Louisiana, across the Sabine R. (E); the Gulf
of Mexico (SE); Mexico, across the Rio Grande R. (SW); and New Mexico
(W).
Area, 267,338 sq mi (692,405 sq km).
Pop. (2000) 20,851,820, a 22.8% increase since the 1990 census.
Capital, Austin. Largest city, Houston.
Nickname, Lone Star State.
Motto, Friendship. State bird, mockingbird.
State flower, bluebonnet.
State tree, pecan.
Texas
is roughly spade shaped. The vast expanse of the state contains great
regional differences (the distance from Beaumont to El Paso is greater
than that from New York to Chicago).
Mineral resources compete with industry for primary economic importance in Texas. The state is the leading U.S. producer of oil, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids, despite recent production declines. It is also a major producer of helium, salt, sulfur, sodium sulfate, clays, gypsum, cement, and talc.
Texas
manufactures an enormous variety of products, including chemicals
and chemical products, petroleum, food and food products, transportation
equipment, machin ery,
and primary and fabricated metals. The development and manufacture
of electronic equipment, such as computers, has in recent decades
become one of the state's leading industries; the area around Dallas-Fort
Worth has become known as “Silicon Prairie,” a name now also extended
to Austin and its suburbs. Agriculturally, Texas is one of the
most important states in the country. It easily leads the nation in
producing cattle, cotton, and cottonseed. Texas also has more farms,
farmland, sheep, and lambs than any other state.
 The
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is in the Houston
area. Other places of interest in the state include Big Bend National
Park,Guadalupe Mountains National Park , Amistad and Lake Meredith
national recreation areas, Padre Island National Seashore, San Antonio
Missions National Historical Park, and Arkansas National Wildlife
Refuge, winter home of the whooping crane. Austin is the
capital; Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio are the largest cities.
Among the many institutions of higher learning in Texas are the University of Texas, mainly at Austin, but with large branches at Arlington, El Paso, and the Dallas suburb of Richardson.
*Information from Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition |