Native Americans were Texas' first inhabitants. Before the Spanish arrived, there were about 30,000 Native Americans from 12 tribes living in what is now Texas. Those tribes included the Caddo, Wichita, Jamanos, Apache, Atakapans and Tiguas. Other tribes migrated into Texas later, including the Comanche and the Kiowa. There are only three reservations in Texas, on which the Tiguas, Alabama-Coushatta and the Kickapoo tribes reside.

Spain laid claim to the area now known as Texas in the 1600s. In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and the Mexican government claimed Texas as Mexican territory. The government offered free land to anyone willing to work and live in Texas. Between 1820 and 1835, approximately 25,000 Americans streamed into the region. Less than six months after Texas joined the Union as the 28th state, on December 29, 1845, the Mexican War erupted in a dispute over the Texas boundary. Following the war, which the United States won, the Rio Grande became the border between Texas and Mexico.

Texas and the other southern states supported slavery; the northern states had outlawed it, which created a profound cultural and economic estrangement. As a result, in early 1861, 11 southern states began to secede from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. In April 1861 at Fort Sumter, the Confederacy and the Union commenced to fight, which was the start of the Civil War. Texas was the site of the war's final skirmish -- the Battle of Palmito Ranch.

Following the war, Northern sympathizers, the Radicals, rose to power in Texas politics. At this time the Ku-Klux Klan also became powerful. The period was known as the Reconstruction era. Texas was ruled by a military government, an appointed governor and three governors elected by the Radicals. Congress readmitted Texas to the Union on March 30, 1870.

Today, Austin is the state capital. The capitol building, completed in 1888, is built of pink granite. The edifice is the largest in gross square footage of all the state capitols, second only to the National Capitol in Washington, D.C. The dome rises to nearly 310 feet. The capitol is designated a National Historic Landmark.

The U.S. Census reported more than 21,700,000 Texas residents in 2002. Only California has more people. Texas is home to five of the 30 largest cities in the U.S. -- Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth. The state has 254 counties, the most of any state.

Texans elect two U.S. Senators, 32 U.S. Representatives, 31 State Senators and 150 State Representatives. The voters also elect three members of the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the state's oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline and rail safety, surface mining, and safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry.

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