Texas historical timeline

History

Six flags is the shorthand and it is accurate: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy and the United States have each claimed all or part of the place, and each left buildings a visitor can stand in -- the missions of San Antonio and El Paso, the Alamo, the 1888 Capitol in Austin, the Stockyards, the Spindletop museum, Mission Control. The name is older than any of them: táyshaʼ, "friends", in the Caddo language of the Hasinai.

Chronology

c. 8000 BC People are living in Texas more than 10,000 years ago; by the time the Spanish arrive the region holds Caddoan, Atakapan, Athabaskan, Coahuiltecan and Uto-Aztecan speakers -- Caddo farmers in the east, Karankawa on the coast, Jumano and Puebloan peoples on the Rio Grande, Apache in the interior, and later the Comanche.
1519 Alonso Álvarez de Pineda maps the Gulf coast for Spain; from 1528 Cabeza de Vaca and three companions spend six and a half years among the native peoples as slaves and traders; the Coronado Expedition crosses the Llano Estacado and Palo Duro Canyon in 1541.
1681 The first European settlement is founded on the upper Rio Grande near El Paso by refugees from the Pueblo Revolt; La Salle plants a French colony at Matagorda Bay in 1685 that dies within three years, and Spain answers with missions in East Texas from 1690 and 1716 and the mission and presidio of San Antonio in 1718, chartered as the first civil settlement in 1731 by families from the Canary Islands.
1821 Mexico's independence makes Texas part of Coahuila y Tejas; American settlers pour in until by 1834 some 30,000 Anglos outnumber 7,800 Mexican-born Texans, with nearly 5,000 enslaved people among them despite Mexico's abolition of 1829.
1836 The revolution begun at Gonzales in October 1835 declares independence on 2 March; the Alamo falls on 6 March after a 13-day siege in which Bowie, Travis and Crockett die with nearly all the garrison; Sam Houston wins at San Jacinto on 21 April, and the Republic of Texas lives from 1836 to 1846 with Galveston, Houston and then Austin as capitals.
1845 Annexation as the 28th state sparks the Mexican–American War and fixes the Rio Grande border in 1848; the Compromise of 1850 draws the present boundaries. Texas secedes in 1861, fights the last battle of the Civil War at Palmito Ranch, and on 19 June 1865 General Granger's order at Galveston frees 250,000 enslaved people -- Juneteenth.
1876 The railroads reach Fort Worth and make its Stockyards the cattle capital; the Capitol rises in Austin from 1882 to 1888, paid for with three million Panhandle acres that become the XIT Ranch; on 8 September 1900 the Galveston hurricane kills at least 8,000 people, the deadliest natural disaster in American history, and investment turns to Houston.
1901 On 10 January the Spindletop gusher near Beaumont blows 100,000 barrels a day for nine days, founds Gulf Oil and Texaco and leads the United States into the oil age; production peaks at three million barrels a day in 1972; Houston's ship channel opens in 1914 and the city becomes the state's largest by 1930.
1963 NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center opens in Houston in September and controls every American human spaceflight from Gemini 4 on, earning the city the name Space City in 1967; on 22 November President Kennedy is assassinated in Dealey Plaza, Dallas; DFW airport opens in 1974 and becomes the second-busiest in the world.
2017 Hurricane Harvey drops 60.58 inches of rain and costs $125 billion; Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 leaves over three million Texans without power at a cost put above $195 billion; by 2022 Hispanics are the largest share of a population that passes 31 million, and the economy the eighth-largest in the world if it were a country.

What survived, and how

The missions survived because the Franciscans built in stone and the Depression rebuilt them; the Alamo because the state bought its chapel; the Longhorn because the Forest Service saved a herd in 1927; the German dialect because the Hill Country was remote; Galveston because it raised the whole island behind a seawall and rebuilt; the whooping crane because a refuge was drawn around its winter marsh in 1937. The Karankawa and Coahuiltecan peoples did not survive as nations; the Caddo and Comanche did, in Oklahoma.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — Located in the south-central part of the country, it borders Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. It also borders Mexico along the Rio Grande, and…, The economy of Texas is highly diversified with major industries including energy, agriculture, technology, manufacturing, and aerospace. It has the…, By 1834, the population had grown to about 37,800 people, with only 7,800 of Mexican descent, The newly elected Texian delegates to the Convention of 1836 quickly signed a declaration of independence on March 2, forming the Republic of Texas, The Compromise of 1850 set Texas's boundaries at their present position, During this time, Black people comprised 30 percent of the state's population, and they were overwhelmingly enslaved, The final battle of the Civil War was fought at Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas, and saw a Confederate victory. Juneteenth commemorates the…, The fortunes of the state would turn around in 1901, with discovery of the first major oil well in Texas, on January 10th 1901, Oil production averaged three million barrels per day at its peak in 1972, In 1940, Texas was 74% White, 14.4% Black, and 11.5% Hispanic, By 1990, Hispanics and Latino Americans overtook Blacks to become the largest minority group. Texas has the largest Black population with over 3.9 million, During February 13–17, 2021, the state faced a major weather emergency as Winter Storm Uri hit the state ... Over 3 million Texans were without power and…, The 1900 Galveston hurricane subsequently devastated that city, killing a number estimated at from 8,000 to 12,000 in the deadliest natural disaster in U.S.…, In 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused a landfall in Rockport as a Category 4 Hurricane ... Harvey ultimately became the costliest hurricane worldwide, causing an…, There is no substantial physical barrier between Texas and the polar region, and although rare, it is possible for arctic or polar air masses to penetrate…, In 2015, Texas had 4.7 million foreign-born residents, about 17% of the population ... The major countries of origin for Texan immigrants were Mexico (55.1%…, At the 2020 census, the racial and ethnic composition of the state was 42.5% White (39.8% non-Hispanic White), 11.8% Black, 5.4% Asian, 0.3% American Indian…, As of 2022, Hispanics and Latinos of any race replaced the non-Hispanic White population as the largest share of the state's population. Texas has the…, At the 2020 American Community Survey's estimates, 64.9% of the population of Texas spoke only English, while 35.1% spoke a language other than English, At the census of 2010, 65.8% (14,740,304) of Texas residents age 5 and older spoke only English at home, while 29.2% (6,543,702) spoke Spanish, 0.8 percent…, At the 2020 Association of Religion Data Archives study, there were 5,905,142 Catholics in the state, Being part of the strongly, socially conservative Bible Belt, Protestants as a whole declined to 47% of the population in the 2020 study by the Public…, Evangelical Protestants were 31% of the population in 2014, and Baptists were the largest Evangelical tradition (14%), In 2014, 18% of the state's population were religiously unaffiliated, Since 1980, San Antonio has evolved into 'The Tejano Music Capital Of The World', A program to re-establish a nesting beach for Kemp's ridley sea turtles on Padre Island was begun in 1978, On July 5, 2015, the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, along with the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site…, Founded by Franciscan friars, this [Concepción] is the best preserved of the Texas missions, In October 2013, the Mission Reach Ecosystem Restoration and Recreation project was completed, adding 15 miles of hiking, biking, and paddling trails to the…, The mission was founded ... on February 23, 1720, because Mission San Antonio de Valero had become overcrowded, A new church, which is still standing, was constructed in 1768 from local limestone, The Rose Window was sculpted in 1775 and is an example of Baroque architecture in America., The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United…, In 1724, after remnants of a Gulf Coast hurricane destroyed the existing structures at Misión San Antonio de Valero, the mission was moved to its current…, The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican…, Some immigrants had brought large numbers of slaves with them, so that by 1836, there were approximately 5,000 enslaved persons in a total non-native…, The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion by Anglo-American immigrants as well as Hispanic Texans (known as Texians and…, Mexico had officially abolished slavery in 1829, but had made an exemption for Texas, By 1834, an estimated 30,000 Anglos lived in Coahuila y Tejas, compared to only 7,800 Mexican-born residents. By the end of 1835, almost 5,000 enslaved…, The Republic of Texas, or simply Texas, was a short-lived sovereign country in North America from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, Major fighting ended on April 21, 1836, with the Treaties of Velasco that ended the fighting and secured Texas' independence. The Mexican Congress refused…, In 1824, the sparsely populated territories of Texas and Coahuila were joined to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas., Indigenous people lived in what is now Texas more than 10,000 years ago, In 1519, the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas found the region occupied by numerous Native…, Between 1528 and 1535, four survivors of the Narváez expedition, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico, spent six and a half years in Texas as…, In 1716, four missions and a presidio were established in East Texas, Alarcón led a group of 72 people, including 10 families, into Texas in April 1718, where they settled along the San Antonio River., It is the seventh-most populous city in the United States, the second-most populous city in Texas (after Houston) ... with a population of 1.43 million at…, A Spanish mission and colonial outpost was founded there in 1718, and San Antonio became the first chartered civil settlement in present-day Texas in 1731, San Antonio is home to five 18th- century Spanish frontier missions, including The Alamo and those preserved in San Antonio Missions National Historical…, Under the leadership of Juan Leal Goraz, the group [of Canary Islanders] marched overland from Veracruz to the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, where they…, German immigrants founded smaller surrounding towns such as New Braunfels, Castroville, Boerne, Comfort, Fredericksburg, and Bulverde, In September 1921, a disastrous flood along the San Antonio River took 51 lives, No major plans came into play until 1929, when San Antonio native and architect Robert Hugman submitted his plans for what would become the River Walk, in May 2011, the River Walk was extended by several miles to extend from Downtown to Mission Espada, it is the ninth-most populous city in the United States and third-most populous city in Texas, with a population of 1.3 million at the 2020 census. Along…, Two years later, in 1841, he returned to establish a permanent settlement named Dallas, On November 22, 1963, United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Dealey Plaza ... is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is sometimes called the 'birthplace of Dallas', and was the…, Since 1989, more than six million people have visited the museum., Fort Worth's population was estimated to be 1,028,117 in 2025, making it the 10th-most populous city in the United States, The city of Fort Worth was established in 1849 as an army outpost on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River. Fort Worth has historically been a center of the…, In 1876, the Texas and Pacific Railway finally was completed to Fort Worth, stimulating a boom and transforming the Fort Worth Stockyards into a premier…, It holds a former livestock market which operated under various owners from 1866, Fort Worth Union Stockyards opened for business on January 19, 1890, covering 206 acres, Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. With a population of 961,855 at the 2020 census, it is the 12th-most populous city in the U.S., Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it has been one of the fastest-growing large cities in the United States since 2010, In 1839, the site was chosen, and briefly incorporated under the name 'Waterloo', Designed in 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, it was constructed from 1882 to 1888, The Texas Legislature recognized the Mexican free-tailed bat as the 'Official Flying Mammal' of the State of Texas in 1995, In the early 20th century, bat guano was Texas' largest mineral export, before oil., After being pushed to the brink of extinction by unregulated hunting and loss of habitat that left just 21 wild (and two captive) cranes by 1941, the…, established by Executive Order 7784 on 31 December 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Texas Longhorn is an American breed of beef cattle, characterized by its long horns, which can span more than 8 ft from tip to tip. It derives from…, in 1927, the breed was saved from near extinction by enthusiasts from the United States Forest Service, In 1995, the Texas Legislature designated the Texas Longhorn as the state large mammal., The first European explorers to discover the canyon were members of the Coronado expedition, under the Spanish crown, who visited the canyon in 1541., Significant floods occurred in 1978, 1987, 1998, 2002, and 2025., Spanish conquistador Francisco Coronado, the first European to traverse this 'sea of grass' in 1541, The Port of Galveston was established in 1825 by the Congress of Mexico following its independence. The city was the main port for the fledgling Texas Navy…, The 1900 Galveston hurricane ... was a catastrophic tropical cyclone that became the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United States ... it…, Hurricane Harvey was a powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing widespread flooding and…, Harvey was the costliest natural disaster recorded in Texas at the time, until it was surpassed in February 2021 by a severe winter storm that crippled the…, Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate…, By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas., On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop struck oil ('came in'). The Spindletop gusher blew for 9 days at a rate estimated at 100,000 barrels of oil per…, With the discovery of oil at Spindletop, Beaumont's population more than tripled in two months from 9,000 in January 1901 to 30,000 in March 1901, The economy of the State of Texas is the second largest by GDP in the United States after that of California. It has a gross state product of $2.769…, The state ranked as the eighth-largest economy, were it among sovereign nations of the world, by nominal GDP, ahead of Canada, South Korea, Russia, and…, officially opened its doors in September 1963 ... earning it the official nickname 'Space City' in 1967, In June 2019, the restored Apollo Mission Control Center was opened for tourists, The visitor center has been the adjacent Space Center Houston since 1994, The center opened in 1992, In 2025, a new attendance record was set with 2,735,695 people. The event is 20 days long, Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932, The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying…, Big Tex, a tall cowboy statue, has been its symbol since his introduction in 1952, The State Fair of Texas is the only fair in the United States to include a full auto show, dating back to 1913., Fiesta San Antonio (or simply Fiesta) has been since its 1891 inception an annual festival held in April in San Antonio, Texas ... The festival, also known…, Future Fiesta dates: April 24-May 4, 2025, April 16–26, 2026, April 15–25, 2027, Southside Market & Barbeque, opened in 1886, is the oldest barbecue restaurant in Texas still in operation, The Central Texas pit-style barbecue was established in the 19th century along the Chisholm Trail in the towns of Lockhart, Luling, and Taylor. European…, Some of the earliest recorded Texas wines were produced by Spanish missionaries in the 1650s near El Paso. Texas ranked as the fifth largest wine producing…, The Texoma region is where renown 19th century viticulturist Thomas Volney Munson established vineyards to discover grafting Vitis vinifera grapevines onto…, The oldest winery Val Verde Winery was founded in 1883, Wine Enthusiast magazine named the Texas Hill Country as one of the 10 best wine travel destinations in 2014, Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia, In 1971, Minimalist artist Donald Judd moved to Marfa from New York., Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, US. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who…, DART began operating the first light rail system in the Southwest United States in 1996, DART maintained the only light rail system in Texas until METRORail opened in Houston in 2004, DART rail began operation in 1996 ... It was the longest light rail system in the United States until 2023 (September 2026).