The 28th state admitted to the US was Texas on December 29th,1845. Known as the "Lone Star State", Texas uses this name as a tribute to the Lone Star flag that was adopted in 1836 after Texas became independent from Mexico. It was ten years of independence that ended when the Texas republic accepted annexation to the US. The Alamo is a sacred place for Texans. It was part of a Spanish mission in San Antonio that was attacked on March 6, 1836. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led an attack against 200 Texan volunteers. The Alamo was under siege for 13 days, and claimed the lives of over 600 Mexican soldiers and many hundreds of Texans. Texas won independence and captured Santa Anna in the name of freedom. Texas is the location of the worst natural disaster in US history. On September 8th, 1900 in Galveston, a hurricane hit and around 8,000 people were killed. It is still referred to today as the "Great Storm". The capital of Texas is Austin. The Texas motto is "friendship", the state bird is the Northern Mockingbird, the state flower is the Bluebonnet, and the state tree is the Pecan.
Indigenous people have lived in Texas for more than 14,000 years. Early Native American tribes of the Atakapa, Karankawa, Mariame, and Akokisa lived along the Texas Gulf Coast. They were able to fish, hunt, gather, and farm, and would venture inland little by little. The first to arrive on the Texas shore near Galveston Island in 1528 was the Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. He encountered the Karankawas, who fed and sheltered him and his friends. The Spanish stole from the Natives and they fought frequently. This relationship ended after almost a decade with an attack by the Karankawas on the Spanish. They killed everyone except for the children, who were adopted by the tribe. The first Spanish missions were established in the 1680's in the New Mexico area. These missions spread to East Texas in the name of God in the 1690's, and founded San Antonio in 1718. Following the Revolutionary War and the War of Mexican Independence, a new Mexican government started allowing US settlers to claim land. They multiplied and eventually started populating the area, causing issues with the New Mexican government. The Texas Revolution eventually took place so that the state could become an independent nation in 1836. It was unable to defend itself alone from Mexican troops, so Texas eventually decided to join the union in 1845. Today, Native Americans have been given the National Historic Preservation Act and Graves Protection and Repatriation Act so that sacred land is not used in projects or activities that could cause adverse effects. There are artifacts and sacred sites all over the state that hold historical significance, and these acts are in place to help preserve the state's rich history.
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