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Celebrating Texas
text pages 44-69
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SECTION 1
1. Physical Geography – the physical features of the
earth’s surface. (What does the earth look
like…mountains, plains, oceans, vegetation, climate,
etc..) Plains (a wide area of flat or gently rolling
land) are also part of our physical geography.
2. Human Geography – the features of the earth that is
created or changed by humans. (What humans do
such as farming, mining, building, digging ditches,
creating a hill to jump over on a 4-wheeler, etc…)
People who study human geography also analyze
transportation and settlements (a place where
people live) and other things people have created.
What kind of climate does Texas have?
Since Texas is in the middle
latitudes, it has hot summers and
cool winters. As you would expect,
winters are colder in the
northwestern part of the state known
as the Panhandle. Winters
are milder in South Texas.
Rivers are important to Texas.
*Much of the Texas border is made up of three rivers:
Rio Grande – separates Texas and Mexico
Sabine River – separates Texas and Louisiana
Red River – separates Texas and Oklahoma
The Pecos River is an important tributary (a
stream that flows into a larger stream or
other body of water) of the Rio Grande.
The Pecos River provides irrigation water
for farms in New Mexico and Pecos, Texas.
SECTION 2
The Four Regions of Texas
Natural regions are determined by physical geography
features such as landforms, climate, and vegetation.
The four regions are:
Coastal Plains
North Central Plains
Great Plains
Mountains and Basins
All three of
these regions
can be
divided into
subregions (a
smaller
division of a
geographic
region)
Coastal Plains
• Includes about 1/3 of Texas
• Home to more people than any other
part/region of Texas
• About 2 out of every 3 Texans live in the
Coastal Plains
• WE live in the Coastal plains
• The Coastal Plains are divided into 5
subregions:
-Piney Woods
-Post Oak Belt
-Gulf Coast Plain
-Blackland Prairie
-South Texas Plain
SUBREGIONS OF TEXAS
Coastal Plains and its Subregions
North Central Region and its Subregions
SUBREGIONS OF TEXAS
North Central Region and its Subregions
•Rolling plains
Brush, scattered grasses
l
•Covered by small oak and mesquite trees
•North Central Region is divided into 3
subregions:
Grand Prairie
Cross Timbers
Rolling Plains
Great Plains Region and its Subregions
Great Plains Region and its Subregions
Great Plains Region is divided into 3 subregions:
1. Llano Basin: -nearly center of Texas
-made up of granite (pink in color) and hard rock
that is formed when molten rock cools slowly under
the earth’s surface -mesquite, live oak, and post
oak trees -short grasses
2. Edwards Plateau: -primarily of limestone
-caves and underwater streams -Edwards Aquifer
(San Antonio’s water supply) is in this subregion
3. High Plains: -major farming area
-dry climate
-elevation ranges from 3,000-4,000 feet
Mountains and Basins Region
Mountains and Basins Region
• Tall mountains separated by large basins
(closed valleys)
• Forests on mountains
• Lower elevations (basins) are deserts with
cactus, short grasses, and shrubs
• Very little rain
• Contains the HIGHEST POINT IN TEXAS:
Guadalupe Peak ~ 8,751 feet
www.utpb.edu/.../ Links/basin_range.htm
www.usa-reise.de/planung/ hdb-guadalupe-mounta...
• Learning to identify different regions in Texas
can be difficult.
• The Balcones Escarpment is important because
it divides the lowest parts of Texas from the
higher areas. (East and south are lower and
flatter, while the land west of the Balcones
Escarpment is more varied.)
• The Great Plains is largely an elevated plateau –
very flat and contains some deep canyons.
• The Mountains and Basins region is the only
area where there are mountain ranges
separated by flat-bottomed valleys called basins.
INTERACTIVE MAP
SECTION 3
Mapping Texas People
• The 2000 census = about 21 million in Texas
• Texas = 2nd most populated state (CA is #1)
•Although Texas is famous for ranches and oil
wells, most Texans don’t live in rural areas –
they live in cities.
A metropolitan area is a city and the area
around it, including the suburbs. (A suburb is
a smaller community just outside a city.)
POPULATION OF TEXAS’S LARGEST METROPOLITAN AREAS, 1990–2000
• Why do so many people live in Central and
East Texas and so few in West Texas?
•People tend to live where the jobs are.
•For example, Houston began to grow in its early
years because of its oil industry (the activity of
making or preparing products for sale).
•Dallas – large number of companies, Dallas/Fort Worth
International Airport (one of the busiest airports in the US).
•San Antonio – military bases, scenic (Alamo, River Walk)
•Austin – Capital, largest university in the state, high-tech
industry
•NO big industry in West Texas
• Even though most Texans live in cities, agriculture
is still one of the state’s most important industries.
• Only the state of California earns more money from
farming than Texas.
• Texas produces more cotton than any other state.
• Other important crops include: peanuts, black-eyed
peas, pecans, wheat, potatoes, corn, rice, hay,
soybean, and citrus fruit.
• Texas is also an important livestock
producer – mainly cattle, sheep, and
goats.
• Per capita income is often used to measure
how wealthy people are. (Per capita income = the
average amount of income per person per year in a
given area)
• If you take all the money earned by everyone in
Texas and divide it by the state’s population, you will
find the per capita, or per person, income. In 1998,
the per capita income was $25,369.
•Bigger cities attract well educated people and, therefore, get more high
paying jobs.
•Sherman County (rich with oil industry) has the highest per capita
income. (This is near Oklahoma in the Northern Panhandle.)
•The areas around the border of Mexico have the lowest per capita
Diverse Names of Texas Cities and
Towns
• Texas has a number of cities and towns whose
names reflect the various people that make up our
state.
• Many Texas place names are taken from Spanish
words that honor a certain place, an individual, or a
characteristic of an area. (San Antonio is the largest
city in Texas with a Spanish name.)
• Many other Texas place names reflect the state’s
varied heritage (beliefs and customs that people get
from their ancestors). An example of this would be
New Braunfels and its German heritage.