Spain was the first European country to claim and control the area of Texas. The term ' six flags over Texas' is a colloquial term used in reference to the nations that have ruled over the territory. Traveling from east to west, terrain ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, to the desert and mountains of the Big Bend. Most population centers are in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests, and the coastline. southwestern deserts, less than ten percent of Texas's land area is desert. Although Texas is popularly associated with the U.S. ĭue to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes common to both the U.S.

The origin of Texas's name is from the Caddo word táyshaʼ meaning 'friends'. The Lone Star can be found on the Texas state flag and the Texas state seal. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State for its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U.S., and El Paso. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are, respectively, the fourth- and fifth-largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the U.S., while San Antonio is the second most populous in the state and seventh-largest in the country. Texas shares borders with the states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south and southwest and has a coastline with the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast.

state by both area (after Alaska) and population (after California).

At 268,596 square miles (695,660 km 2), and with more than 30 million residents in 2023, it is the second-largest U.S. Texas ( / ˈ t ɛ k s ə s/, also locally / ˈ t ɛ k s ɪ z/ Spanish: Texas, Tejas ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States.

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