History of Texas

The history of the region now called Texas, from Indigenous societies and Spanish colonization through the republic, statehood, and modern times.

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Caddo: An Indigenous people of the southeastern Great Plains and lower Mississippi Valley, organized historically in confederacies and agricultural communities. Caddo communities flourished in East Texas long before European colonization.
Texas Revolution: The 1835–1836 rebellion in which settlers and Tejanos established an independent Texas republic after fighting Mexico. The revolution transformed Mexican Texas into an independent republic.
Stephen F. Austin: An American empresario who established the first major Anglo-American colony in Mexican Texas. Austin’s colonization project brought thousands of settlers into Mexican Texas.
American Civil War in Texas: The period of secession, Confederate rule, and wartime activity in Texas from 1861 to 1865. Texas seceded with the Confederacy, bringing slavery and Union blockade into the state’s wartime history.
Battle of the Alamo: The 1836 siege in which Mexican forces captured the Alamo mission in San Antonio from Texian defenders. The battle became a powerful symbol of the Texas Revolution despite its military defeat.
Comanche: A Numic-speaking Indigenous people whose equestrian society became powerful across the Southern Plains. Comanche power shaped trade, settlement, and conflict across nineteenth-century Texas.
Republic of Texas: An independent republic that governed Texas from 1836 until its annexation by the United States in 1845. Its diplomacy, debt, and contested borders defined the decade between revolution and statehood.
Sam Houston: A military and political leader who served as president of the Republic of Texas and governor of Texas. Houston led the Texian army at San Jacinto and later opposed Texas’s secession.
Reconstruction in Texas: The post–Civil War period when federal authorities reorganized Texas’s government and enforced emancipation and civil rights measures. Reconstruction determined how emancipation and citizenship were applied in Texas.
Battle of San Jacinto: The decisive 1836 battle in which Texian forces defeated the Mexican army and captured President Antonio López de Santa Anna. The victory secured the Republic of Texas’s independence in practice.