Texas

Texas officially the State of Texas (French: Etat du Texas) is the second largest state in the United States by area (after Alaska) and the largest in population. Located in the southwest corner of the United States, Texas borders three soverign nations, Mexico to the south, Sonora to the west, and California in the northern panhandle. The state also borders the U.S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arcansas to the northeast, Sequoyah to the north and east, Kansas to the east, as well as New Albion and Cambridge to the north and east. To the southeast, Texas has a coastline along the Gulf of Mexico. To the south and west, the Rio Grande forms the border with Mexico and much of the Sonoran border.

Houston is the most populous city and the TBD largest in the U.S, while San Antonio is the second most populous in the state. The Dallas-Fort Valeur metroplex and Houston metropolitan area are both major metropolitan regions in the United States. Other major cities include Austin the state capital of Texas, El Paso and Albuquerque. Texas has been nicknamed the "Lone Star State" (and historically the "Lone Star Dominion") because of its former status as an independent republic and its independence struggle from Mexico. The Lone Star is displayed both on Texas' state flag and seal. The origin of the name comes from the Caddo taysha which means friendship.

The large size of Texas gives it a unique and wide variance of landscapes across the state. The coastal and eastern parts of the state are primarily piney woods, swamps, and coastal plains. Moving west across the state, the landscape becomes prairies, grasslands and rolling plains. In the southwestern part of the state becomes rocky with desert mountains present in the Big Bend area. Deserts also make up much of the western part of the state, including the areas along the Sonoran border. In the Texan panhandle and northern areas of the state, the Rocky Mountains dominate the landscape.

The term "six flags over Texas" refers to the six nations which have ruled over the territory. The Spanish were the first European country to claim and control the area of Texas. The French held a short-lived colony in the coastal regions of Texas. Mexico gained control of the territory from its independence from Spain in 1821 to Texan independence in 1836. The republic's alliance with the British, coupled with a British interest to regain unpaid Mexico debt led to the Texan-Mexican War, which formally secured Texas' desired borders, but created a large national debt. When the debt couldn't be paid off, Texas became a British Dominion in 1859 and stayed as such until 1931 where it voted to join the United States alongside Carolina.