It’s the sort of place that gets a hold of you and won’t let go. It’s enormous more than 268,000 square miles, larger than most nations, eclipsed only by Alaska in the United States. Home to more than 31 million people in 2024, it’s a booming, continuously expanding state. The nickname “Lone Star State” hails from its time as its own nation, the Republic of Texas, and you still get that sense of independence everywhere. It’s bordered by Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and four Mexican states, with a lengthy Gulf of Mexico shoreline that’s as active as it is beautiful. Let’s walk through five pieces of what makes Texas, well, Texas: its jaw dropping geography, deep Native American roots, early European adventures, the scrappy fight for independence, and its rise as a modern powerhouse.
1. A Land That’s Got It All
Picture Texas, and you’re imagining a place so big it feels like its own world. If it were a country, it’d be in the top 40 for size. The Rio Grande snakes along its southern edge, splitting Texas from Mexico. Up north, the Red and Sabine Rivers mark lines with Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The Panhandle sticks out like a thumb, and El Paso anchors the west. You’ve got everything here swampy coastal plains, rolling hills, wide open prairies, and deserts that stretch forever. The Gulf Coastal Plains are thick with pine forests, the Interior Lowlands have gentle hills, the Great Plains sweep through the Panhandle, and Far West Texas dazzles with mountains and sandy valleys.
Under the surface, Texas is built on rock from 1.6 billion years ago, with oil rich sediments stacked miles deep along the Gulf. You’ll spot salt domes in East Texas and ancient volcanic scars in Big Bend. Wildlife? Oh, it’s everywhere longhorns grazing grass, armadillos burrowing about, and bluebonnets blooming every spring. Texas has 590 species of birds, the highest of any state, so it’s a paradise for anyone with binoculars. Rivers such as the Brazos and Pecos keep things verdant, and more than 100 man made lakes fill in where nature left off.
2. The First Texans
Well before Texas was known by name, individuals inhabited this place intimately. Tribes such as the Caddo, Apache, Comanche, and Karankawa called this place home, each with their own practices. The Caddo cultivated along rivers such as the Red and Neches, establishing close knit communities. The Karankawa hunted and fished along the Gulf Coast. Out west, Jumano and Apache wandered the plains, speaking languages as diverse as the territory itself some Caddoan, some Atakapan, even strange ones like Tonkawa.
When the Europeans came rolling in, these tribes were catalysts. Some gave advice on how to grow corn or hunt deer, assisting strangers to survive. Others were less welcoming, fighting fiercely against intruders. By the 1830s, the U.S. Indian Removal Act sent many, such as the Caddo, north to present day Oklahoma. The Alabama Coushatta managed to hold on in settled regions, but the Comanche dominated the western plains until the late 1800s. Their tales from agriculture to warfare continue to resonate in Texas’s heart.
3. Europeans Stumble In
The first to chart Texas was Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519, drawing the Gulf Coast like a painter with a fresh canvas. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca washed up in 1528, one of the first to arrive, after a shipwreck. He encountered Native people and witnessed their rich lives, but also saw diseases brought from Europe exact a vicious toll. There were explorers such as Coronado who passed through in 1541, pursuing gold. It got ugly in 1685 when the Frenchman René Robert Cavelier de La Salle missed his target and constructed Fort Saint Louis on Matagorda Bay. It did not last long due to harsh weather and angry natives.
Spain feared France snooping around, so they established missions among the Caddo and established San Antonio in 1718 the first town. These frontier posts were not an easy thing to maintain, with distant supply lines and certain tribes not pleased with intruders. Once Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Texas was part of Coahuila y Tejas. They welcomed the settlers in large numbers, and men such as Stephen F. Austin brought in the “Old Three Hundred” on the Brazos River. By 1834, Texas counted 37,800 individuals, but the new population predominantly Americans didn’t always do things Mexico’s way, causing trouble.
4. The Fight That Made Texas
By the 1830s, Texas was a powder keg. American colonists resented Mexican laws, particularly the one prohibiting slavery. Things cooled in 1832 with the Anahuac Disturbances, a revolt about taxes that pitted Texians against Mexican rebels desiring less central authority. Meetings of 1832 and 1833 urged greater control over their own affairs. Then, in 1835, a fight at Gonzales started the Texas Revolution. Mexican President Santa Anna cracked down, destroying Texian warriors at the Alamo and Goliad. Those defeats drove people out in what’s known as the Runaway Scrape.
On March 2, 1836, Texians had enough and established the Republic of Texas. Sam Houston had a dramatic victory at San Jacinto, capturing Santa Anna and compelling an agreement to bring an end to the war. The new regulations of the Republic, however, doubled down on slavery and forced free Black people out, revealing the ugly aspect of the era. Two factions clashed: Mirabeau B. Lamar’s group desired Texas to remain independent and drive out Native tribes, and Houston’s faction advocated joining the U.S. and coexisting with locals. In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state, prompting the Mexican American War. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo solidified the Rio Grande as the border.
5. Texas Today: From Oil to Innovation
The 20th century made Texas a giant. The 1901 Spindletop oil gush outside Beaumont turned it all around, with three million barrels of oil per day being pumped by 1972. The Great Depression and Dust Bowl were tough, forcing people including many Black Texans up north for jobs. World War II ignited Texas, with new bases and factories opening up. Oil money flooded into schools, and Texas became a research center.
By the 1950s, Texas transitioned from cities to farms, along with a Sun Belt boom during the ’70s and ’80s. Hispanics became the largest minority group in 1990, and the Black population of Texas reached 3.9 million. Politically, Republicans gained control, but cities like Austin and Dallas remained blue. Companies poured in from California, and by 2019, Texas was the number one destination to relocate to. Hard times struck too COVID 19 in 2020 and a savage 2021 winter storm that knocked out millions of homes’ electricity illustrated the state’s vulnerabilities. But Texas continues to power ahead, blending its cowboy soul with technology and ideas grand.
Why Texas Remains Unforgettable
Texas is a place that stays with you. Its deserts, forests, and rivers fit its untamed past from Native tribes to revolutionaries to present day go getters. Longhorns wander, bluebonnets bloom, and the Lone Star spirit burns hot. Whether in the past or the future, Texas has a way of leaving you feeling part of something greater.
