Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Texas derives from the Caddo word taysha, meaning friend or allies, and was applied by Spanish explorers to the Hasinai Confederacy in the 18th century. Before European contact, three major Indigenous cultures thrived in the region, including the Ancestral Puebloans, the Mississippian mound builders, and Mesoamerican civilizations.
The newly elected Texian delegates signed a declaration of independence on the 2nd of March 1836, forming the Republic of Texas. Sam Houston commanded the Texian Army, which defeated Santa Anna's forces at the Battle of San Jacinto just weeks later.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of Texas was 31,290,831 as of the 1st of July 2024, an increase of 7.4 percent since the 2020 census. Texas is the second-most populous state in the United States after California and the only other U.S. state to surpass a total estimated population of 30 million people as of the 2nd of July 2022.
Oil production in Texas averaged three million barrels per day at its peak in 1972, and the state's refineries can process 4.5 million barrels of oil a day. As of the 1st of January 2021, Texas has proved recoverable petroleum reserves of about 21 billion barrels of crude oil, representing 44 percent of the known U.S. reserves.
Texas has three cities with populations exceeding one million, with Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas ranking among the 10 most populous cities of the United States. Two-thirds of all Texans live in major metropolitan areas such as Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.
Texas voters approved the Ordinance of Secession on the 23rd of February 1861, and joined the Confederate States of America on the 4th of March 1861. Sam Houston, the state's most notable Unionist, refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and was deposed from office.