Texas
state of the United States of America
Texas ( TEK-səss) is a state in the United States. Located in the south-central part of the country, it borders Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. It also borders Mexico along the Rio Grande, and has a coastline on the Gulf of Mexico. Covering 268,596 square miles (695,660 km2) and with an estimated population of over 31.7 million residents in 2025, it is the second-largest state by both area and population. Texas is nicknamed the "Lone Star State" for the single star on its flag, symbolic of its former status as an independent country, the Republic of Texas.
Spain was the first European country to claim and control Texas, followed by brief French colonization. The territory became part of Mexico after its independence from Spain in 1821. Increasing tensions between settlers and the Mexican government culminated in the Texas Revolution, which included the Battle of the Alamo, and led to the establishment of the independent Republic of Texas in 1836. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, which helped spark the Mexican–American War. Texas remained a slave state until the American Civil War, during which it seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States.
The public source identifies “Texas” as state of the United States of America. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Texas, state and United.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Texas”, the useful work is to connect “state of the United States of America” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1439. VIAF identifies the subject as 152620751. The Library of Congress control number is n80129616. Authority coordinates are 31.000, -100.000. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 1821, 1836 and 1845.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Texas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Texas primary sources, Texas archive and Texas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Texas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.