When it comes to the largest state in the United States, we all know that Alaska, which was bought from Russia more than 150 years ago, is larger than Xinjiang on the mainland. But do you know which state is the second largest in the United States?
It is Texas, which is known as the "Lone Star State", and is sometimes translated as Texas in China. Texas is one of the 4 states in the southwestern United States. Its name comes from the Indian language, which means "friend". Texas covers an area of 696,000 square kilometers, which is the size of four Shandong provinces plus one Ningxia. However, it has a population of only 30 million, which is almost equal to the permanent population of Shanghai plus Dezhou, Shandong.
From the beginning of the 16th century, Texas was successively attached to Spain, France and Mexico, and in the thirties of the 19th century, it once declared its independence with a white star on the national flag, and ten years later belonged to the United States. Every state in the United States has a "nickname", and the origin of the nickname "Lone Star State" in Texas is the flag of that year.
Interestingly, the "Lone Star Flag" still flies "side by side" with the American flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, and more uniquely, the Spanish, French, Mexican and American Civil War "Confederate" flags fly together in the sky over this state (which is larger than France). Because of history, Texas is also one of the states with the most separatist tendencies in the United States, always thinking about independence.
In early Texas, development was slow. Pioneers who came to Texas in 1840 and 1853 vividly recorded the landfall on the Gulf of Mexico. What they saw were vine forests more than a foot high, meadows more than five feet deep, and large swamps. Heading west, they came to an endless grassland where they saw countless bison and thousands of pheasants and cranes.
Today, Texas has grown to become one of the largest agricultural states in the United States, with more than 248,000 farms, ranking first in the United States, especially in the country in terms of cattle breeding, often exceeding 16 million heads. It is also the largest cotton producing area in the United States, with a total of more than 82 million mu of U.S. cotton planting area in 2022, and 53 million mu in Texas, accounting for 60% of the total U.S. cotton planting area.
In addition, it is also a producer of sugarcane sugar, wheat, corn, rice, oats, peanuts and other crops in the United States, with a total agricultural output of more than $30 billion per year.
In terms of mineral resources, the state is the richest oil and gas producing state in the United States. It is estimated that Texas has proven oil reserves of more than 8 billion barrels, accounting for one-third of the proven reserves of the United States, natural gas production accounts for a quarter of the United States' output, and among the 20 petrochemical enterprises in the United States, Texas accounts for 8 percent, so Texas has the title of "American Energy Capital".
In addition to being a major oil and gas city in the United States, Texas is also the center of wind power development, attracting tens of billions of dollars of investment over the past decade, with more and more wind farms completed, far more than any other state in the United States for 20 consecutive years, and twice as much as Florida, which ranks second.
In the late 50s of the last century, Texas vigorously developed the space industry, and the world-famous Houston Space Center and NASA's Johnson Space Center are located here. The Johnson Space Center, the center of the Space Agency, is named after former President Johnson. The doors are wide open, and visitors can come and go freely, seemingly without any secrecy.
But experts say that you can't see the real secret, and let the audience open their eyes and gain insight, even if they leak a little bit of the inside story, it is worth it, because educating and publicizing the masses is crucial to the development of the aerospace industry. Musk's Starship launch site was built in Boca Chica, Texas.
In addition to the above-mentioned fields, Texas is also the center of defense and military industry, information technology, medicine and biology of the United States, and has strong strength. It's a place where big companies gather. One-tenth of the top 500 companies in the United States are headquartered in Texas, such as ExxonMobil Oil and Dell Computer.
Data shows that in 2023, Texas' total GDP will exceed $2.5 trillion, ranking second in the United States, second only to California, with a per capita GDP of more than $80,000. So what is the equivalent of Texas' economy in China?
According to the GDP of all provinces and cities in the country that has been announced in 2023, the total GDP of Texas is about the total GDP of 4 Shanghai or Guangdong Province plus Anhui Province. Even if it is taken out as a country alone, its total GDP can be among the top 10 in the world. From this point of view, Texas' economic strength is strong!