Texas is the 2nd largest state in the nation. Texas covers 268,820 square miles. Texas is 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan. Texas would be the 40th largest country after Zambia and Chile.

The Lone Star Flag	Republic of Texas	The Seal of Texas
Texas and the USA	Stephen F Austin	Santa Anna's Surrender

Houston has the largest population in Texas and the 3rd largest in the U.S.A.  San Antonio has the second largest population in the state and is the seventh largest in the U.S.A.

Dallas and Fort Worth, commonly referred to as the DFW Metro Area, is the fourth largest metro and Greater Houston area is fifth largest metro area in the nation.

Additional major cities include Austin and El Paso. Austin is the state capital of Texas and the second largest population for a state capital in the U.S.A.

Texas is nicknamed "The Lone Star State" in reference to the flag. The "Lone Star" can still be seen on the Texas state flag and on the Texas state seal.

The origin of Texas's name is from the Caddo word "Tejas," which means "friends" or "friendly".

Oil was discovered in the early 1900's at Spindletop Texas.
This launched an economic boom that hasn't slow down. The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC)
regulated oil prices until the 1980's. Since the RRC was removed as the controlling entity oil prices
have been all over chart. Prior to the new regulators gas was never higher than 36 cents a gallon.

In 2015, Texas was second on the list with the most Fortune 500 companies located in the state with a total of 54.  Texas is the leader in many industries, which includes including aerospace, agriculture, biomedical sciences, computers, electronics, energy, petrochemicals and many more. Texas is the leader for the entire the nation in export revenue since 2002. 

Texas is the largest exporter of cotton in the USA.

Texas has the most farms and the highest total acreage in the United States and is ranked #1 for income from total livestock and livestock products. Texas is ranked #2 for total agricultural revenue.  Beef cattle is $7.4 billion or 56.7 percent of Texas' annual agricultural cash receipts and is the largest single segment of Texas agriculture. Cotton is $1.9 billion, greenhouse nurseries are $1.5 billion, chicken is $1.3 billion with dairy products at $947 million.

Texas leads the nation in the production of cattle, horses, goats, sheep, mohair, wool, and hay.  The state grows significant amounts of cereal crops and produce. The Texas Gulf Coast has a large commercial fishing industry with shrimp and oysters playing a large part. With all it's mineral resources, Texas leads in creating crushed stone, cement, salt, lime, sand and gravel.

Texas, throughout the 21st century, has been plagued with serious drought conditions. This has cost the Texas billions of dollars in crops and livestock.  These dry conditions contributed to the recent brush fires in the panhandle which killed thousands of head of cattle.  The fire moved so fast, because of the high winds, that no one could get their cattle out of the way.

The Weather Channel says that Amarillo, Texas
is the windiest city in America with
an average wind speed of 13.6 mph.

Texas, with just over 27,000,000 people, has the 12 largest economy in the world.

Site Selection Magazine ranked Texas as the most business-friendly state in the nation. 
This was due largely because Texas's three-billion-dollar Texas Enterprise Fund and because Texas is
1 of 7 states that have No State income tax. Texas' state and local tax burdens rank 7th lowest nationally.

Texas has over 346,000 millionaires as of 2010.  This is the second largest number of millionaires in the USA.

There are 15 major rivers in Texas including the Rio Grande which is the largest, the Brazos, Colorado, the Pecos, and Red River with over 100 artificial lakes and several natural lakes.

People come from all over the country to hunt our wildlife especially the white tail deer.  Texas has has mule deer, quail, dove, duck, and goose hunting.

Wild feral hogs total near 3,000,000 as of 2015 and growing every year. So hunting hogs has become a hobby for many people.  The truth is these hogs are a plague and the state has it as a high priority to vastly reduce their population.  So far they have been unstoppable.

Ladybird Johnson helped to make Texas the largest gardener in the world. 
Texas state flower is the bluebonnet and Texas spreads over
60,000 tons of wildflower seeds each year along our Texas Highways.