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 eastern portion along the Gulf of Mexico is also referred to as the Coastal Bend.

Boundaries

There is no defined northern boundary, although it is believed to be at the city of San Antonio and from an east to west line extending from the Rio Grande near Maverick County to the Gulf of Mexico, but turning southeast at or near Lavaca County, and continuing towards the Gulf of Mexico to separate it from East Texas and Southeast Texas. The Rio Grande serves as the western and southern boundaries and separates Texas from Mexico. The eastern portion of South Texas is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico.

Most populous cities

Some people consider Houston to be in South Texas for several reasons. Numerous businesses in the Houston region contain 'South Texas' in their titles.^[2] The South Texas College of Law is located in downtown Houston. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas includes the Houston division. And like South Texas, the city has a large Hispanic population. However, Houston is most accurately classified as being within Southeast Texas, a subregion of East Texas.

Counties

• note:Counties listed after Calhoun County are those depicted in light red in the counties picture to the right
• note 2:Bolded counties are those with at least 200,000 in population

Multicultural influences

South Texas is well-known for a strong Hispanic, primarily Mexican American and Tejano (the Spanish term for Texan) influence, due to its proximity to Mexico. However, a large percentage of Tejanos [Tejas was a province of Spain] and Mexicans living in South Texas are descended from the Spanish and Sephardic Jewish-Converso settlers of Mexico [Onate Expedition, 1598]. These families have resided in North America for hundreds of years. This migration occurred and has been ongoing since the late 1500s in New Mexico and the early 1700s in South Texas. The long-disputed U.S. annexation of South Texas and the land grabbing of the Spanish Land Grants is a sore point among those descended from the Spanish colonial settlers. After the Mexican American War, Mexicans/Tejanos were persona non grata in Texas and at times were killed or driven from their ancestral lands. (Library of Congress, Microfiche 7906177, also google a related article "Our Secret Heritage"). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in the 1840s, failed to secure land belonging to the Hispanic settlers. The disputed area is between the Nueces River south of San Antonio and Corpus Christi, the King Ranch, and the Rio Grande River. Not recognized by Mexico nor the United States, The Republic of the Rio Grande was established in this region in 1840, lasting less than a year. Laredo, Texas served as its capital.

The Rio Grande Valley area played a significant role in the Mexican War of Independence, Civil War, Texas Independence, Mexican-American War with many historical battle sites around the area. General Robert E. Lee made residence in Fort Ringold (Rio Grande City) during this time as a Colonel. President Zachary Taylor was a General of the Army at Fort Brown (Brownsville) during the Mexican-American War.

The Texas Rangers gained popularity for their actions in South Texas during the Mexican bandit raids and the late 1800's and early 1900's. On May 25, 1876, a band of forty Texas Rangers rode out of Laredo and headed north to the infamous Nueces Strip. Their mission was to find, kill or capture John King Fisher, leader of a band of cattle rustlers and cut-throats that had been terrorizing the area. The Rangers were members of a select group known as the Special Force. Led by the legendary Leander McNelly, the Special Force was tasked with bringing law and order to an area of South Texas that lay between Corpus Christi and the Mexican border.

Transportation

Air Travel

• San Antonio International Airport
• Corpus Christi International Airport
• Laredo International Airport
• Valley International Airport
• Victoria Regional Airport
• McAllen-Miller International Airport
• Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport
• Alice International Airport
• South Texas International Airport at Edinburg
• Aransas County Airport^[3]
• Kleberg County Airport
• Duval-Freer Airport
• Mustang Beach Airport

Major Highways

Interstate Highways

• Interstate 10
• Interstate 35
• Interstate 37
• Interstate 69

United States Routes

• U.S. Highway 59
• U.S. Highway 77
• U.S. Highway 83
• U.S. Highway 87
• U.S. Highway 181
• U.S. Highway 281

Texas State Highways

• Texas Highway 4
• Texas Highway 16
• Texas Highway 44
• Texas Highway 107
• Texas Highway 255
• Texas Highway 336
• Texas Highway 359
• Texas Highway 361
• Texas Highway 495
• Texas Highway 141
• Texas Highway 290

International Bridges

Laredo

• Gateway to the Americas International Bridge
• Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge
• Texas-Mexican Railway International Bridge
• World Trade International Bridge
• Colombia-Solidarity International Bridge

Eagle Pass

• Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras International Bridge
• Camino Real International Bridge
• Union Pacific International Railroad Bridge

Brownsville

• Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge
• Veteran's International Bridge
• Gateway International Bridge

Los Indios

• Free Trade International Bridge

Falcon Hights

• Lake Falcon Dam International Crossing

Hidalgo McAllen

• McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge
• Anzalduas International Bridge

Pharr

• Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge

Progreso

• Progreso-Nuevo Progreso International Bridge

Rio Grande City

• Rio Grande City-Camargo International Bridge

Roma

• Roma-Ciudad Miguel Alemán International Bridge

Tourism

San Antonio

• The Alamo
• SeaWorld San Antonio
• Six Flags Fiesta Texas
• San Antonio River Walk
• San Antonio Zoo
• San Antonio Museum of Art
• San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo

Corpus Christi

• Mirador de la Flor (Selena Memorial Statue)
• Texas State Aquarium
• USS Lexington Museum Ship
• Mustang Island & Mustang Island State Park
• Padre Island National Seashore near Corpus Christi
• Bayfest

Laredo

• San Agustin de Laredo Historic District
• Republic of the Rio Grande Capitol Building Museum
• Washington's Birthday Celebration festivities during January and February

Rio Grande Valley

• South Padre Island on Gulf Coast east of Brownsville
• Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville

Other

• King Ranch near Kingsville
• Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Education

Colleges

• Alamo Community College District
  • San Antonio College
  • Palo Alto College
  • St. Philip's College
  • Northeast Lakeview College
  • Northwest Vista College
• Coastal Bend College
  • Alice Campus
  • Main Campus (Beeville)
  • Kingsville Campus
  • Pleasanton Campus
• Del Mar College
• Laredo Community College
  • Laredo Community College South Campus
• South Texas College
  • Main Campus, McAllen
  • Tech Campus, McAllen
  • Nursing and Allied Health Campus, McAllen
  • Mid-Valley Campus, Weslaco
  • Starr County Campus, Rio Grande City
• Texas State Technical College

Universities

Public universities

• Texas A&M International University (Laredo)
• Texas A&M University•Corpus Christi
• Texas A&M University•Kingsville (Texas A&I)
• Texas A&M University-San Antonio
• University of Houston•Victoria
• University of Texas at Brownsville
• University of Texas•Pan American
• University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
• University of Texas at San Antonio

Private universities

• Our Lady of the Lake University
• St. Mary's University
• University of the Incarnate Word
• Trinity University
• Wayland Baptist University

Sports

The only major professional sports team in South Texas is the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA.

Area codes

• 210 - San Antonio
• 361 - Corpus Christi, Alice, Victoria, Kingsville, Rockport
• 956 - Laredo, Brownsville, McAllen
• 830 - Eagle Pass, San Antonio
• 979 - only the southern half of this area is in South Texas

See also

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

References

1. ^ Census Fact Finder
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Aransas County Airport Website Aransas Co Airport Call Sign: RKP(U.S), KRKP(International)

Categories: Regions of Texas