Texas

Texas separated from the United States of America on January 28th, 1861. Since February 1st, 1861 Texas is one of the Dixie States.

Texas comes from the word "Dejas" and came from the lingual culture of the Hasanai Indians. They were agricultural Indians that could be found in the east of Texas. They sowed amongst others beans, tomatoes and potatoes.

A journey through Texas should start in San Antonio. The city was the centre of the former spanish border area, most important location of the texan revolution and initial point of the Chisholm Trail.

Between 1690 and 1720 spanish Franciscans founded more than 20 missions in Texas, to convert the Indians to Christianity and to make good taxpayers of them. But Comanches, Kiowas and other tribes attacked this outposts so often, that the garrisons became an important component of the missions. Special fame attained the mission San Antonio de Valero (1718), better known as The Alamo, wehen the mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and a clutch of pioneers and adventurers faced each other during the texan revolution.

After their banishment from Texas in the year 1835 the mexican troops under Santa Anna returned to San Antonio to bear down the rebellion. At Fort Alamo narrow 200 texans stepped toward them. The Texans fell to a man but their heroic resistance caused heavy losses to the troops of Santa Anna. The chapel, barracks buildings and an excavated part of the countermure commemorate the dramatic occurences.

A texan legend

As one of the most famous breeding farms in the west the King Ranch on the route 141 to the west of Kingsville is applied. Richard King came to the country as steamboard captain during the mexican war, where he acquired in 1862 an area at Santa Gertrudis Creek of about 30'000 hectare. He fitted his fast growing ranch with cattle from Mexico. He also got the ranch staff together with their families from the neighboring country. Kings big wooden house burnt down in 1912 and was replaced by an imposing country residence with 25 rooms.

In just a few regions the Old West is such present as in the west of Texas. The noble ranches, degenerated ghost cities in the midst of admirable landscapes and metropolises, which were arisen from the former cowtowns testify to the heyday of the old west. If you want to believe the native the west begins at Fort Worth, where the Stockyards National Historic District comes up with a museum in the old Livestock Exchange Building, with a railway as well as shops and taverns in the style of an wildwest city. Northern of the town centrethre famous gunslingers rest on one of the historic interesting cemeteries of the west, Oakwood Cemetery, among them the player Luke Short, who killed marshal Longhair Kim Courtright, and Killin' Jim Miller, the most successful hitman in the west.

The "father of Texas", Stephan F. Austin, was co-founder of Texas and is an idol for the Texans till today. Unfortunately he died on December 27th, 1836. After him the present capital city of Texas, Austin, was named.

1880 Jane Long died. She was an angloamerican pioneer.

1856 the former governor Manson built the oldest building in Austin. He also died in 1880. To his remembrance a statue was drawn in front of this building.

At the end some facts to Texas:

Neighboring states are: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mexico

The towns that build Texas are: El Paso, Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland / Odessa, Abilene, DAllas, Tyler, Big Bend, Del Rio, Fredericksburg, Austing (capital city), Bandiera, San Antonio, Houston, Lardo, Corpus Christi, So Padre Island, Nacogdoches and Forth Worth.

George W. Bush, acting US-president from 2001 to 2009 was also a real Texan. He possesses a mansion and a big ranch in Austin.