Short answers, pulled from the story.
Houston was founded by land investors on the 30th of August 1836 at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, a point now known as Allen's Landing. It is named after Sam Houston, the former general who was president of the Republic of Texas and won Texas's independence at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Houston had a population of 2.3 million at the 2020 census, making it the most populous city in Texas and the fourth-most populous in the United States. The Greater Houston metropolitan area holds 7.8 million residents.
Houston is the largest U.S. city without formal zoning regulations because voters rejected efforts to separate residential and commercial land in referendums in 1948, 1962, and 1993. Land use regulations such as mandatory lot sizes and parking requirements have played a role similar to zoning instead.
Hurricane Harvey stalled over southeastern Texas in late August 2017, dropping over 50 inches of rain in some areas and breaking the national rainfall record. Damage for the Houston area was estimated at up to 125 billion dollars and the death toll exceeded 70 people.
Houston is known worldwide for its energy industry, particularly oil and natural gas, as well as biomedical research and aeronautics. It has the second-most Fortune 500 headquarters of any U.S. municipality within its city limits, and its metro area GDP reached 633 billion dollars in 2022.
Houston received the official nickname Space City in 1967 because it is the location of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, which is home to the Mission Control Center. NASA established the facility as the Manned Spacecraft Center in 1961.
Houston is a majority-minority city and has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse major city in the United States. A 2012 Kinder Institute report found Greater Houston the most ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the country, ahead of New York City.