Texas (/ˈtɛksəs/ (help·info)), is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is nicknamed the Lone Star State. Austin is the state capital. Texas, the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spans 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2) and has a growing population of 23.9 million. Houston is the state's largest city and fourth largest in the United States, while the Dallas/Fort Worth area ranks as the largest metropolitan statistical area in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States.
Traveling east to west, the landscape of Texas gradually evolves from that of the Deep South into that of the desert Southwest, going from piney woods to semi-forests of oak and cross timbers, into rolling plains and prairie, then finally to desert in the Big Bend. These wide open spaces of the Texas prairie have lent currency to the phrase that "everything is bigger in Texas".[7] Due to its long history as a center of the American cattle industry, Texas is associated throughout much of the world with the image of the cowboy.
Historically and culturally, Texas has close ties to the American South. However, with its Spanish and Mexican roots, it can also be classified as a Southwestern state. While residents acknowledge these categories, many claim an independent "Texan" identity superseding regional labels.
Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. Mexico owned the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence becoming an independent Republic. In 1845 it joined the United States as the 28th state. The state's annexation helped set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican-American War in 1846 and the U.S. Civil War.
In the early 1900s, oil discoveries initiated an economic boom in the state. Texas has since economically diversified. It has a growing base in high technology, biomedical research and higher education. The state's gross state product is the second-highest in the nation.
Texas is located at the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. It is in the south-central part of the United States of America. The state has been categorized as part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.
The Rio Grande, Red River and Sabine River form natural state borders, Oklahoma on the north, Louisiana and Arkansas on the east, & the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south. The state's Texas Panhandle has an eastern border with Oklahoma at 100° W, a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a western border with New Mexico at 103° W. El Paso lies on the state's western tip at 32° N and the Rio Grande.[45]
Texas' size and unique history, makes its regional affiliation debatable. Depending on the source, it can be fairly considered either or both a Southern or Southwestern state. The vast geographic, economic, and cultural diversity within the state itself prohibits easy categorization of the whole state into a recognized region of the United States. The East, Central, and North Texas, regions have a stronger association with the American South than with the Southwest. Others, such as far West Texas and South Texas share more similarities with the latter.
Source: Wikipedia