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Texas is an American state. It borders Bayuk and Arkansas to the east, Oklahoma and the states that were once part of the Midlands colony to the north and finally New Mexico to the West.
History[]
Alabama, Apache, Atakapa, Caddo, Comanche, Choctaw, Coushatta, Jumano, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita people all lived in Texas prior to European contact. Some of these people resisted Spanish rule while others hispanicised and helped colonists.
At first the Spanish explored the coastal areas but ignored the interior because of it's harsh climate and terrain. France established a short lived colony in the area. The Spanish saw the French as a threat so they tried to establish a stronger presence in east Texas, this project failed due to native resistance. Distance, climate and hostile natives led to Texas being very thinly populated, this continued even when the Mexicans ruled Texas.
Americans (English Southerners and Appalachian Scots) and Filipinos started to settle in Texas. Texans revolted against Spanish rule and they became part of Mexico.
Mexican authorities believed that more Euro-American settlers would stimulate the economy and create a buffer between Comanche territory and central Mexico. Many of the Americans brought slaves with them and this was illegal in Mexico, so the Mexicans banned American immigration and made an effort to stop people from crossing the border illegally.
The Texans took advantage of the unrest in Mexico city to declare independence, the president of Mexico, Santa Anna, sent a military force to crush the rebellion. Texas won the battles of Gonzales and San Jacito but lost at the Alamo. Free blacks were expelled and the Comanche revolted against Texas, which was now on the brink of civil war.
Although Hispanic Texans had participated in the rebellion against Mexican authority they were effectively betrayed. Texans forced or coerced Latinos into giving up their land so they could be transformed into plantations. Norteños found themselves living in segregated urban areas and along the border with Mexico. Those who resisted were called bandits and arrested. Lynchings of Norteños and Mexicans started in 1855 and continued into the 1900s. Juan Cortina revolted due to these in 1859 and was defeated in 1861.
After independence the Kingdom of Belgium wanted to establish colonies in the new world, the believed that Texas would be perfect. They settled people in the country, funded infrastructure projects and had considerable influence. Belgium fought both Mexico and the Comanche but lost both.
The Texans soon realised that they could not depend on Belgium, so they turned to the US. American abolitionists didn't want Texas to throw off the balance between free and slave states. But President Polk, being an expansionist, accepted Texas' inclusion into the USA.
The now disputed US-Mexico border led to the Mexican-American war in 1846.
New immigrants tamed the wild cattle of the plains and became the first cowboys.
Texas seceded from the Union to join the confederacy in 1861.
Texas was never as dependent on slavery as other confederate states so abolition didn't destroy the economy. After reconstruction ended Texas experienced an oil boom.
Geography[]
Economy[]
Government[]
Demographics[]
Approximately 12,075,000 people (≈42%) in Texas have Spanish ancestry. They are the oldest non-native group in the state and have been the majority at several points in history.
Old Stock Americans number around 9,510,970 people. They are mostly descended from English and Scottish settlers in early colonial America who moved west over the centuries.
Some Irish fleeing the potato famine were invited by the Mexican government to settle in Texas, mostly to replace the rowdy Anglo-Americans with Catholic Europeans. There are 2,088,000 Irish Texans today.
Germans first started moving to Texas when it was still Mexican, but continued up until the 1880s. A unique dialect of German developed around this time. Over 2,000,000 Texans claim to have German ancestry.
The 1,870,500 Black Texans are descendants of slaves that were freed after the civil war. There were 200,000 slaves in Texas in 1865. Some formed self sufficient communities or moved to growing urban centres, many more migrated to the North or Liberia.
People from throughout Italy moved to Texas when it was under Spanish rule. After independence and American acquisition, Italians continued to move to Texas as vineyard owners, miners, farmers and construction and railroad workers. Exactly 441,256 Texans claim Italian decent.
Scandinavian Texans are mostly the descendants of Scandinavian Americans from other states that chose to settle in Texas. Precisely 359,360 Texans claim to have Scandinavian ancestry.
Of the 245,981 Indian Texans almost all are Sikh Punjabis whose ancestors moved to Texas as agricultural workers.
The first Polish in Texas settled in French territory. Most Polish were just refugees fleeing the partition who saw large Catholic agricultural communities of Irish and German settlers in central Texas and chose to move in with them. There are 228,309 Polish Texans.
Czechs, along with Germans, were largely abolitionist and they faced persecution by the Confederate government for this. 187,729 Czech people live in Texas today.
Chinese workers were sent to Texas to rebuild railroads that had been damaged by the Civil war. Approximately 150,000 Chinese live in Texas.
Humans have lived in Texas for approximately 37,000 years. The Apache, Comanche, Tonkawa and Wichita were the major tribes by the time of European contact. The Caddo mound-builders were Hispanicised and converted to Catholicism, as were the Coahuiltecans. Tlaxcalan people were imported to Texas from farther South in Mexico, they remain today. The independent Texas government drove the Cherokee, Kiowa, Comanche, Tonkawa, Wichita and the Caddo to Oklahoma and the Apache to Mexico, a policy continued by the Americans. The government soon turned to the reservation system. There are 141,425 Aboriginals in Texas today.
The first Jews in Texas were Spanish Conversos, although many more are Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to Texas from Central Europe, especially Germany. Around 108,000 Texans are Jewish.
The first Arabs in Texas were Syrian members of the US Camel Corps. Most were Lebanese immigrants from the Ottoman Empire. The vast majority are Christian. There are 29,518 Arabic speakers in the state.
In 1903, the Japanese government sent rice and settlers to the Gulf Coast to increase local agricultural productivity. The population increased as Japanese people fled anti-Asian sentiment of the West Coast. A total of 15,172 people claimed to be Japanese on the census.
Total population: 29,451,220