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Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes that resemble both the American Southeast and the Southwest. Although Texas is popularly associated with the Southwestern deserts, less than 10% of the land area is desert. Most of the population centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests, and the coastline. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, and finally the desert and mountains of the Big Bend. Due to its long history as a center of the American cattle industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy.

Historically and culturally, Texas is usually considered part of the American South. However, with its Spanish and Mexican roots, and the physical characteristics west of a Fort Worth to the Corpus Christi line, it can also be classified as part of the American Southwest. While residents acknowledge these categories, many claim an independent "Texan" identity superseding regional labels.

The term "six flags over Texas" came from the several nations that had rule over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France held a short-lived colony in Texas. Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845 it joined the United States as the 28th state. The state\'s annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. Texas delared its secession from the United States in early 1861, joining the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. After the war and its restoration to the Union, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation.

In the early 1900s, oil discoveries initiated an economic boom in the state. Texas has since economically diversified. Today it has more Fortune 500 companies than any other U.S. state. With a growing base of industry, the state is a leader in many, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace, and biomedical sciences. It leads the nation in export revenue and has the second-highest gross state product.

Economy of Texas

The economy of Texas is one of the largest growing economies in the United States. In 2006, Texas was home to six of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list and 56 overall, more than any other state.  Texas has an economy that was the second largest in the nation and the 15th largest in the world based on GDP (nominal) figures. As the largest exporter of goods in the United States, Texas currently grosses more than $100 billion a year in trade with other nations.

In 2008, Texas had a gross state product of $1.245 trillion, the second highest in the U.S.[3] The Gross state product per capita as of 2005 was $42,975.

Texas had the second largest workforce in the United States, with almost 11 million civilian workers. The lack of personal income tax as well as the largely undervalued real estate throughout Texas has led to large growth in population. Since the 2003 legislature the Governor\'s office has made economic development a top priority.

Much economic activity in Texas is regional. For example, the timber industry is important in East Texas\'s economy but a non-factor elsewhere. Houston, the state\'s largest urban economic enclave stands at the center of the petrochemical, biomedical research trades, shipping, and aerospace (particularly NASA). Dallas/Fort Worth houses the state\'s predominant defense manufacturing interests and the expansive information technology labor market. West Texas and the panhandle is dominated by ranching and the petroleum industry.[citation needed]

Texas\'s growth can be attributed to the availability of jobs, the low cost of housing, the lack of a personal state income tax, the quality of higher education, low taxation and limited regulation of business, a central geographic location, a limited government, favorable weather, and plentiful supplies of oil and natural gas. There are currently 35 billionaires residing in Texas today. Dallas has 27 billionaires, the most of any city in Texas.[citation needed]

Texas has the highest number of Fortune 500 company headquarters in the United States, fifty-eight. This has been attributed to both the growth in population in Texas and the rise of oil prices in 2005. Houston has the second highest number of Fortune 500 companies in the US, second to New York.

Agriculture

Texas is a productive agricultural state with the most farms both in number and acreage in the United States. Texas leads the nation in number of cattle, which usually exceed 16 million head. The sprawling 320,000 deeded acre (1,200 km²) La Escalera Ranch, located 20 miles (32 km) south of Fort Stockton, Texas, is one of the largest cattle ranches in the Southwestern United States.

The state also leads nationally in production of sheep and goat products. Texas is king of cotton leading the nation in cotton production, its leading crop and second-most-valuable farm product. Texas is a leader in cereal crop production. The state is a large produce growing state especially with watermelons, grapefruits and cantaloupes.

Aeronautics

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is in Houston. It is an important center in the Aeronautics industry.

The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, located nearly equidistant from downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, is the largest airport in the state, the second largest in the United States, and fourth largest in the world. In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest in the state, third busiest in the United States, and sixth busiest in the world. The airport serves 135 domestic destinations and 40 international. DFW is the largest and main hub for American Airlines, the world\'s largest in terms of total passengers-miles transported and passenger fleet size.

Texas\'s second-largest air facility is Houston\'s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Downtown Houston has the headquarters of Continental Airlines, which has Bush Airport has its largest hub. IAH offers service to the most Mexican destinations of any U.S. airport. IAH currently ranks second among U.S. airports with scheduled non-stop domestic and international service.

American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth, is the second largest airline in the United States by number of passengers carried domestically per year; the largest, Southwest Airlines, is based in Dallas.

Defense

Military Facilities

Texas is home to two of the United States Army\'s largest facilities (in terms of geographic size), Fort Hood in Central Texas near Killeen and Fort Bliss near El Paso. In addition, Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio is home to the Brooke Army Medical Center, one of the Army\'s major hospitals and its only burn facility.

The United States Air Force operates several bases in the state – Sheppard (Wichita Falls), Dyess (Abilene), Goodfellow (San Angelo), Laughlin (Del Rio), and Lackland and Randolph (San Antonio).

The United States Navy operates Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth (the former Carswell Air Force Base facility) as well as NAS Corpus Christi and NAS Kingsville.

Defense Contracting

Texas (specifically the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex) has a large number of defense contractors with sizable employment in the state.

Two divisions of Lockheed Martin have their divisional headquarters in the DFW area – Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth (where the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the largest Western fighter program, is manufactured, as well as its successor, the F-35 Lightning II and the F-22 Raptor) and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Grand Prairie.

Fort Worth is also the home of Bell Helicopter Textron, which manufactures several helicopters for the military, including the V-22 and the H-1, on which final assembly is performed in Amarillo. Furthermore, three major defense service contractors (DynCorp, AECOM, and Computer Sciences Corporation) have substantial operations in Fort Worth.

Other major defense contractors with DFW presence include Vought Corporation (headquarters in Dallas; facilities in Dallas and Grand Prairie), Raytheon (plants in Garland, Dallas, and McKinney), L-3 Communications (plants in Arlington, Carrollton, and Greenville; also has a facility in Waco), BAE Systems (facility in Fort Worth), DRS Technologies (Dallas and Mineral Wells), EDS and Perot Systems (Plano), Alliant Techsystems (facility in Fort Worth), and Elbit Systems (facility and US headquarters in Fort Worth). The Defense Contract Audit Agency maintains its Central Region office in Irving.

Outside the DFW area, KBR (the former Halliburton subsidiary) maintains its headquarters in Houston, while the Southwest Research Institute is located in San Antonio.

Computer technology

Texans pride their state\'s history, but they also seek new social and technological developments. The Austin area is often nicknamed "Silicon Hills". Dell\'s headquarters is located in the city\'s suburb, Round Rock. Dallas is the birthplace of the integrated circuit. The North Dallas area is called the "Telecom Corridor" for the area\'s high concentration of Information Technology companies such as Texas Instruments and EDS. In addition, Harris County-based Compaq, was once the world\'s largest computer companies. After Compaq\'s merger with Hewlett-Packard, the new owner currently employs more employees in the Houston area, than anywhere else in the world.

Energy

Texans consume the most energy in the nation both in per capita and as a whole. Since 2002, Texas has operated under a mostly deregulated electricity market (however, areas where electricity is provided by either a municipality or a utility cooperative are not always subject to deregulation).

The known petroleum deposits of Texas are about 8 billion barrels (1.3×109 m3), which makes up approximately one-third of the known U. S. supply. Texas has 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m3) of proven crude oil reserves. As wells are depleted in the eastern portions of the state, drilling in state has moved westward.

Several of the major oil companies have headquarters in Texas, including ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil (Houston), Exxon-Mobil (Irving), and Tesoro and Valero (San Antonio).

Texas is a global leader in the energy industry and Houston is the energy capital of the world. Since 2003, Texas state officials have created various initiatives like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to develop the economy of Texas. Texas is a leader in alternative energy sources, producing the most wind power of any state, as well as small solar powered efforts and the experimental installation of wave-powered generators. Texas also is home to many of the world\'s largest oilfield services firms including Haliburton, Schlumberger and Dresser. The state has a number of pipeline operators, such as El Paso and Dynegy, along with diversified energy firms such as TXU and Reliant Energy.

Tourism

Texas has a large tourism industry. The state tourism slogan is "Texas: It\'s like a whole other country", a nod to Texas\'s diversity and history. Tourists might enjoy San Antonio and El Paso\'s Hispanic culture, or Fort Worth western attractions. Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Padre Island are some of the popular Texas resort areas located on the Gulf of Mexico. Houston is Texas\' leading convention city. Dallas is also one of the nation\'s leading convention cities. Houston was the first city in Texas awarded with a CityPass.

Entertainment

Texas is a top filmmaking state. Austin is now one of the leading filmmaking locations in the country. The exteriors for the popular soap opera Dallas were filmed on Southfork Ranch, a location near Plano, Texas. From 1995 to 2004, more than $2.75 billion was spent in Texas for film and television production.

The Texas Film Commission was founded for free services to filmmakers, from location research to traveling. Also many Hollywood studios are relocating parts of their production divisions to the Austin and Dallas areas.

The media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications is based in San Antonio, Texas. Pi Studios and Timegate Studios are based in the Houston area. Blockbuster Video and Cinemark Theatres are also based in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

Healthcare

Healthcare is a growing industry in the state of Texas. The Texas Medical Center, located in southwest Houston, is the largest medical center in the world. It is home to The University of Texas Health Science Center which trains medical students and residents and includes The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, a global leader of cancer research and treatment. The medical complex also hosts a private medical college, The Baylor College of Medicine, which is rated as one of the top medical schools in the nation.

The University of Texas medical system[29] has additional branches in Dallas, San Antonio, and Galveston. The South Texas Medical Center in San Antonio with nearly 27,000 employees has a $14.3 Billion economic impact on the state of Texas. In addition to these facilities, the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Texas A&M Health Science Center, and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock and El Paso provide the state with a total of nine centers of medical research.

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