East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language state of Texas Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and sixth largest United States metropolitan areas, respectively. Other major cities include El Paso and Austin—the.

According to the Handbook of Texas The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association . The original Handbook was the brainchild of TSHA President Walter Prescott Webb of The University of Texas history department. It was published as a two-volume set in 1952, with a, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River The Red River, or sometimes The Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers located in the United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. The Red River is the second largest river basin in the southern Great Plains in north central Lamar County Lamar County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 48,499. Its county seat is Paris. The county is named for Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas southwestward to east central Limestone County Limestone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 22,051. Its county seat is Groesbeck and then southeastward to Galveston Bay", though some separate the Gulf Coast area into a separate region.

This area includes all or parts of 49 counties, totaling almost 40,000 square miles (100,000 km²) and a population of almost 6 million. Another popular, somewhat simpler, definition defines East Texas as the region between Interstate 45 Interstate 45 is an intrastate Interstate Highway located entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It connects the cities of Dallas and Houston, continuing southeast from Houston to Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico as the western border linking Dallas and Houston, the Louisiana Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural, multilingual heritage, being so strongly influenced by an admixture of 18th century French, Spanish and African cultures that they are considered to be somewhat exceptional in the U.S. Before the American influx and statehood at the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of current border as the eastern border, the Oklahoma A major producer of natural gas, oil and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's border as the northern border, and Galveston Bay The bay has been historically important during Texas' history. The island of Galveston was home to eastern and coastal Texas' earliest major settlement and, during the later 19th century, it was Texas' largest city. The island's port, on the bay side, became one of the top ports in the U.S. During the 20th century as the oil boom in Texas took shores as the southern border.

Most of the region consists of the Piney Woods The Piney Woods is a terrestrial ecoregion in the Southern United States covering 54,400 square miles of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. These temperate coniferous forests are dominated by several species of pine as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers ecoregion An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna, and East Texas can sometimes be reduced to include only the Piney Woods. Houston Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city in the state of Texas. As of the 2009 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a population of 2.3 million within an area of 600 square miles (1,600 km2). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan is rarely regarded as a part of East Texas and is more closely associated with the Coastal Bend The Texas Coastal Bend refers to the flat area of land along the Texas coast. It is home to many cities including Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Port Lavaca, Galveston, Victoria, Beaumont, and Houston. The Coastal Bend includes the barrier islands of Texas and the Laguna Madre. According to the United States 2000 Census the Texas Coastal along the Gulf of Mexico; as has been the case for most of the city's recent history. At the fringes, towards central Texas, the forests expand outward toward sparser trees and eventually into open plains.

Geography

Climate is the unifying factor in the region's geography—all of east Texas has the humid subtropical climate A Humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and cool winters. This climate type covers a broad category of climates, and the term "subtropical" may be a misnomer for the winter climate typical of the Southeast, occasionally interrupted by intrusions of cold air from the north. East Texas receives more rainfall, 35 to 60 inches (890 to 1,500 mm), than the rest of Texas.^[1] In Houston the average January temperature is 50.4 °F (10.2 °C) and the average July temperature is 82.6 °F (28.1 °C), however Houston has slightly warmer winters than most of East Texas due to its proximity to the coast.

All of East Texas also lies within the Gulf Coastal Plain The Gulf Coastal Plain extends from the Florida Parishes of Louisiana over most of Mississippi, some of western Tennessee and Kentucky, the southwestern 2/3 of Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle and Southern Texas. Its southern boundary is the Gulf of Mexico and its western boundary the drop into the Mississippi embayment. On the north it, but with less uniformity than the climate with rolling hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of scarp slope without a well-defined summit . A hillock is a small hill in the north and flat coastal plains A coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in western South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity. The Gulf Coastal Plain of North America extends northwards in the south. Local vegetation also varies from north to south with the lower third consisting of the temperate grassland extending from South Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of, or beginning at, San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande River, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 3.7 million. The southern portion of this region is often referred to as the Rio Grande Valley. The to South Louisiana The Port of South Louisiana is the largest volume shipping port in the Western Hemisphere and 9th largest in the world. It is the largest bulk cargo port in the world. The upper two-thirds of the region dominated by temperate forest Categories: Biomes | Ecosystems | Forests known as the Piney Woods The Piney Woods is a terrestrial ecoregion in the Southern United States covering 54,400 square miles of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. These temperate coniferous forests are dominated by several species of pine as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers, which extends over 23,500 square miles (61,000 km²). The Piney Woods are part of a much larger region of pine See Pinus classification for complete taxonomy to species level. See list of pines by region for list of species by geographical distribution-hardwood Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen forest that extends into Louisiana Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural, multilingual heritage, being so strongly influenced by an admixture of 18th century French, Spanish and African cultures that they are considered to be somewhat exceptional in the U.S. Before the American influx and statehood at the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of current, Arkansas The name "Arkansas" derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word "akakaze" meaning "land, and Oklahoma A major producer of natural gas, oil and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's. The Piney Woods thins out as it nears the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is the eleventh largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and.

The Sabine River The Sabine River is a river, 555 miles (893 km) long, in the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. In its lower course, it forms part of the boundary between the two states and empties into Sabine Lake, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico. The river formed part of the United States-Mexican international boundary during the early 19th century. The upper and Trinity River The Trinity River is a 710-mile long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. Its headwaters are separated from the Red River basin by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River are the major rivers in East Texas, but the Brazos River The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers . The Brazos is the longest river in Texas and the 11th longest river in the United States at 2060 km (1280 miles) from its source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 116,000 km² (44,800 sq mi) drainage and Red River The Red River, or sometimes The Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers located in the United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. The Red River is the second largest river basin in the southern Great Plains also flow through the region. The Brazos cuts through the southwest portion of the region while the Red River forms its northern border with Oklahoma A major producer of natural gas, oil and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's and a portion of Arkansas The name "Arkansas" derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word "akakaze" meaning "land. In East Texas and the rest of the South, small rivers and creeks collect into swamps called "Bayous A bayou is a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, particularly the Mississippi River region, with the state of" and merge with the surrounding forest. Bald cypress Taxodium distichum is a species of conifer native to the southeastern United States and Spanish moss Spanish moss is a flowering plant that grows upon larger trees, commonly the Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) or Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the southeastern United States are the dominant plants in bayous. The most famous of these bayous are Cypress Bayou Cypress Bayou is the name applied to a series of wetlands at the western edge of Caddo Lake, in and around Jefferson, Texas, making up part of the largest Cypress forest in the world. The bayou is divided into three areas—each part of the watershed of a small river or creek—Little Cypress, Big Cypress, and Black Cypress. The features had been and Buffalo Bayou Buffalo Bayou is a main waterway flowing through Houston, in Harris County, Texas, USA. It begins on the west side of the county near Katy, Texas and flows approximately 53 miles east to the Houston Ship Channel and then into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way the bayou receives several significant tributary bayous, such as White. Cypress Bayou surrounds the Big, Little, and Black Cypress rivers around Jefferson Jefferson is an historic city in Marion County in northeastern Texas, United States. The population was 2,024 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Marion County, Texas, and is situated in East Texas. The city is a tourism center, with popular attractions including: Jay Gould's railroad car, the Sterne Fountain, Excelsior House, the House. They flow east into Caddo Lake Caddo Lake is a 25,400 acres (103 km2) lake and wetland located on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana. The lake is named after the Southeastern culture of Native Americans called Caddoans or Caddo, who lived in the area until their expulsion and the adjoining wetlands cover the rim and islands of the lake. Most of Buffalo Bayou was cleared to create the Houston Ship Channel The Houston Ship Channel, located in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area, is part of the Port of Houston — one of the United States's busiest sea ports, the remaining portions of Buffalo Bayou Buffalo Bayou is a main waterway flowing through Houston, in Harris County, Texas, USA. It begins on the west side of the county near Katy, Texas and flows approximately 53 miles east to the Houston Ship Channel and then into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way the bayou receives several significant tributary bayous, such as White are in Downtown Houston Downtown Houston is the largest business district of Houston, Texas, United States. Downtown Houston, the city's central business district, contains the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is an extensive network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to many fast food.

Outside of the Greater Houston Greater Houston is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is situated in Southeast Texas, just west of the Golden Triangle area the average population density is around 18–45 per mi² (7–12 per km²), with the population density near the Big Thicket dropping below 18 people per mi². East Texas's population is centered around Beaumont Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 113,866 at the 2000 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the Gulf Coast/Port Arthur Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area of the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 57,755 at the 2000 census/Orange in Southeast Texas, Lufkin/Nacogdoches in Deep East Texas, and Tyler, Longview/Marshall, and Texarkana in Northeast Texas. At its western edge, East Texas overlaps with Central and North Texas; so cities like Bryan/College Station, Corsicana, and Greenville may be included in liberal definitions of East Texas. Only eight miles from the Texas border, Shreveport, Louisiana, is considered the economic and cultural center for the Ark-La-Tex, the area where Arkansas, Louisiana, and East Texas meet.

Culture

East Texas is often considered the westernmost extension of the Deep South, and is culturally connected to the rest of the Southern United States more than the other regions of Texas. The Museum of East Texas was opened in Lufkin in 1976 under the name the Lufkin Historical and Creative Arts Center.^[2]

Deep East Texas

Deep East Texas is a subregion of East Texas. According to the Deep East Texas Council of Governments the region consists of the following twelve counties: Angelina, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, and Tyler. Many structures in these counties were heavily damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Rita.

The "Deep" designation comes from the similarity to East Texas (it is similar in culture and geography, being highly forested), but with a location "deeper" (i.e., further east and away from the gulf coast) than the rest of East Texas.

"Deep" also refers to the cultural and social characteristics of the area and is considered synonymous to "The Big Thicket," an allusion to the dense growth of underbrush in the "piney woods." It was the earliest area of Texas to be settled by Anglo-Americans (and one of the last to submit to law enforcement—by the governments of Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, state of Texas or the United States.) Renegade clans controlled local governments, especially in Shelby County, well into the first quarter of the 20th century.^{[citation needed]}

The area contains two of the oldest towns in Texas; Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, dating from 18th century, and San Augustine, the oldest "Anglo" settlement in Texas, dating from the 1820s. Prior to the Texas War of Independence, settlement was generally prohibited by the Spanish and later Mexican governments, but neither government was able to exert control or law enforcement in the area. As a consequence, the "Big Thicket" became a refuge for criminals fleeing the United States and hiding out in a "no man's land" in the pine thickets.

Economy

In the decades leading to 2009, crude oil production in the East Texas Oil Field, the largest oil field in the United States, decreased. In turn, the number of high-paying jobs for uneducated workers also decreased. Many small towns had closed cafés and gas stations, some of which were replaced with cash loan shops and pawn shops.^[3]

Paul Knight of the Houston Press in a 2009 article that "some say [natural gas] has surpassed crude as king in East Texas."^[4]

Crime

In the years before 2009, methamphetamine usage increased in East Texas, resulting in increased levels of thievery.^[3] More cattle rustling occurs in East Texas than in any other region of Texas. In 2008, American newspapers reported an increase of cattle rustling in East Texas. Theft from oil drilling sites has also occurred in East Texas.^[4]

Paul Knight of the Houston Press said in a 2009 article that some people blamed the development of the artificial Cedar Creek Lake, which opened in 1965, and development of the area surrounding the lake for the initial influx of crime and recreational drugs into the region. Carroll Dyson, a retired pilot and Henderson County resident interviewed by the Houston Press, said in 2009 that the lake attracted "white flight" from metropolitan areas.^[3] Dyson added, "When all your rich people from Dallas and Houston move out here, the thieves are just drawn to them. Thieves are just wired that way. You used to not have to lock your door in Henderson County." Ray Nutt, the sheriff of Henderson County, said in the same article that when the lake first opened, there was no zoning and "a lot of elderly people bought a mobile home and moved in; it was nice. Then they passed away and family members sold them off or just let them go down." Nutt added that the area around the lake has "a lot of good people," yet it is also where "a lot of criminals tend to flow."^[4]

Knight said that Danny Seeders is "perhaps the most famous thief" in the era leading to September 2009. In the 1990s Seeders operated a legitimate golf ball recovery business, while at the same time, along with family members and friends, he burglarized businesses in East Texas; he mostly targeted businesses in Polk County. After being captured, sentenced to seven years in prison, and released, Seeders resumed his stealing spree. Before he was arrested for a second time in 2005, he and his allies had taken $750,000 in four years. Therefore the arrest of Seeders was one of the largest "business burglary rings" in Texas's history. A detective who had investigated the Seeders case told D Magazine "That's what's so sad about this; they could have made a good enough living, but it just wasn't in them."^[4]

See also

• List of geographical regions in Texas
• List of Texas regions

References

1. ^ "Weather." Handbook of Texas. Retrieved on September 28, 2009
2. ^ "Museum of East Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/MM/klmwv.html. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Knight, Paul. "Superthief." September 22, 2009. 1. Retrieved on September 28, 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Knight, Paul. "Superthief." September 22, 2009. 2. Retrieved on September 28, 2009.

Books

• CHINQUA WHERE? The Spirit of Rural America, 1947-1955, ISBN 978-0972965507 by Fred B. McKinley.
• Black Gold to Bluegrass: From the Oil Fields of Texas to Spindletop Farm of Kentucky, ISBN 157168946X by Fred B. McKinley and Greg Riley.
• Gone to Texas: Genealogical Abstracts from The Telegraph and Texas Register 1835-1841, compiled by Kevin Ladd.
• The EAST TEXAS SUNDAY DRIVE Book, by Bob Bowman ISBN 1-878096-00-1.
• Wild Flowers of the Big Thicket, East Texas, and Western Louisiana, by Geyata Ajilvsgi ISBN 0-89096-065-8.
• Two centuries in East Texas: A history of San Augustine County and surrounding territory from 1685 (Hardcover)by George Louis Crocket (Author)ASIN: B00089CVW8.
• "Poet o' the Pines", by Milton Watts - site.

External links

• East Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
• East Texas Historical Association
• Sights of Interest in East Texas
• 1840 Map of East Texas From Texas Tides
• Texas Heritage Society

Categories: Regions of Texas

See Also:

• Southeast Texas: Encyclopedia
• Northeast Texas: Encyclopedia
• Cities In Texas
• County Seats In Texas
• Texas: Encyclopedia

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