Jump Queues with Skip the Line Tickets. Instant Confirmation & E-Tickets Available. Full Refund if You Cancel at least 24 Hours in Advance. Book Now. Do More with Viator.
- Reserve Now & Pay Later
Secure Activities You Don't Want to
Miss, Without Being Locked In.
- Plan Trips With Our App
Search And Book Unforgettable
Things To Do, Any Time Any Where
- Explore By Destination
Find Inspiration for Your Trip
Do more with Viator
- 24 Hour Support
New price? New plan? No problem.
We’re here to help
- Add Trips To Wishlist
Search Unforgettable Experiences
Save Your Favourites on Wishlist
- Free Cancellation
Receive a Full Refund If You Cancel
at Least 24 Hours in Advance
- Reserve Now & Pay Later
Lowest Rates Guaranteed. 24/7 Support. Book Top 10 Hotels Houston today! Top 10 Best Hotels. Low Rates. Fast & Simple.
Discover the top-rated tours with flexible cancellation and our best-price guarantee. Conveniently book, receive confirmation, and download your tickets on your mobile device.
Search results
People also ask
Is Houston a city?
What is the largest city in Texas?
How many people live in Houston Texas?
Why is Houston a big city?
Where is Houston Texas located?
Is Houston a good place to live?
Houston (/ ˈhjuːstən / ⓘ; HEW-stən) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat of Harris County; as well as the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-most populous metropolitan ...
- 29%
- 3%
- 72%
- 40%
- Overview
- History
Houston, inland port city, in Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties, that is the seat (1836) of Harris county, southeastern Texas, U.S. It is linked by the Houston Ship Channel to the Gulf of Mexico and the Intracoastal Waterway at Galveston, 50 miles (80 km) southeast. Houston is the state’s most populous city and the fourth largest city in t...
The first settlement in the area, Harrisburg (1826), was destroyed in April 1836 by the Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna in pursuit of Sam Houston and the Texas army. A week later, outside the present city at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was captured and Texas was freed. In August 1836 two New York land speculators, the brothers Augustus C. and John K. Allen, bought a site near burned-out Harrisburg and began advertising the place as the future “great interior commercial emporium of Texas.” Two months later John Allen persuaded the first Congress of the Republic of Texas, in session at Columbia, to move to his town, named for the first elected president of Texas, Sam Houston. The maneuver was later denounced, and the government stayed there only two years (1837–39).
Mud-bogged and beset by yellow fever epidemics, the town grew slowly as a cotton-shipping port; the first railroad arrived in 1853. During the American Civil War it became a haven for Southerners running the Union naval blockade. Briefly threatened in 1862 when Union forces captured Galveston Island (which was soon recaptured by the Confederates), Houston in 1863 became the headquarters for the Confederacy’s Trans-Mississippi Department (Texas and what was then New Mexico Territory). Segregation became a problem after the war, with separate neighbourhoods developing for whites, Hispanics, and African Americans. Racial tensions resulted in serious rioting in 1917, when black U.S. Army soldiers were stationed in the city; nearly 20 people were killed.
Houston developed as a rail centre, with 12 railways by 1891. After a devastating hurricane and flood in 1900 destroyed Galveston’s port facilities, Houston emerged as the state’s leading port. The first dock had been built in 1840, and widening and deepening of Buffalo Bayou (now part of the Houston Ship Channel) had begun in 1869. By the early 1980s the port, then the third largest in the United States in tonnage moved, was handling more than 80 million tons of foreign, coastal, and canal shipping annually. Oil, discovered in the area in 1901, brought considerable industrial development, triggering the city’s expansion and prosperity from its 19th-century economic base of cotton and lumber. The completion of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914 led to the establishment of refineries along it in the 1920s and ’30s.
World War II brought shipbuilding and petrochemical industries to Houston, and chemicals remained important after the war ended. Land annexed in 1948 nearly tripled the city’s area. In 1961 the Manned Spacecraft Center (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973), the command post for flights by U.S. astronauts, was opened near Clear Lake, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of downtown, making Houston a focus of the nation’s space program. Houston experienced an economic boom in the 1970s and became a world leader in the energy business; hundreds of companies located their headquarters there. Energy largely supported the city’s economy until the oil industry went bust in the mid-1980s. By the early 1990s the city had recovered, although it sustained another blow when Enron Corp. (headquartered there) collapsed in 2001. The city hosted the Republican National Convention in 1992, and the downtown area underwent a resurgence in the late 1990s as new entertainment venues opened.
Houston’s rapid expansion after World War II was accompanied by increases in air and water pollution and urban sprawl. In addition, flooding has been a recurring problem, although measures to control it were made after serious floods in 1929 and 1935. In 2001 Tropical Storm Allison killed 22 people in the area, damaged office buildings and thousands of homes, and caused widespread flooding in the city. Hurricane Ike, though responsible for far fewer deaths, caused similar damage to Houston shortly after making landfall in nearby Galveston in September 2008. Hurricane Harvey, the strongest storm to make landfall in the United States in more than a decade, drenched the Houston area in August 2017. The city received more than 16 inches (over 400 mm) of rain in a 24-hour period, and catastrophic flooding claimed several lives.
Exclusive academic rate for students! Save 67% on Britannica Premium.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Pros & Cons of Living in Houston, Texas. If you plan on visiting Houston before finalizing your decision, I highly suggest staying this (great) hotel. I recommend it to my own family and friends.
- First, the Pros of Living in Houston. #1. You’ll Pay No State Income Tax in Houston. Let’s kick off this list by sharing one of best things about living in Houston: Texas residents aren’t subject to state income tax.
- Cons of Moving to Houston. #1. The Humidity & Heat Can Get to You. After moving to Houston, you’ll quickly learn that the intense summer heat is no joke, largely due to the state’s close(r) proximity to the equator.
- FAQ – Retiring in Houston. Is Houston a good place to live? Houston, Texas is a large and diverse city with a thriving economy and a rich cultural scene.
Sep 21, 2022 · We know that Houston is the 4th largest city in the U.S., but in what ways is Houston big other than in size and population? And how does Houston’s size affect its residents directly and indirectly?
Houston is the biggest city in the southern U.S. and Texas. Houston’s land area is 665 square miles, with the Woodlands-Sugar Land area covering 9444 square miles. Houston is also the most populous city in Texas, with an estimated population of 2,345,606.
May 17, 2020 · At 665 square miles, the City of Houston is larger than the cities of Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and San Diego. If Houston were a country, it would rank as the 26th largest...
Houston is the fourth most populous city in the nation, with an estimated July 2018 population of 2,325,502 (trailing only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago), and is the largest in the southern U.S. and Texas. Houston is expected to become the third most populous U.S. city during the second half of the decade of the 2020s.
HomeToGo®: Easy Multi-Site Price Comparison. Search and Save Up to 75% Now! Best Texas City Rentals from Your Favourite Sites. Find Your Dream Vacation Home Now!
