AskBiography Logo   Latest News  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Google Buzz  Became Fan - Facebook  Subscribe to RSSRSS   Bookmark and Share

Houston

Houston Texas
Administration
Full nameCity of Houston
Official nameCity of Houston
Settlement typeCity
CountryUnited States of America
StateTexas
CountiesHarris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery
IncorporatedJune 5, 1837
Government
TypeMayor � council
MayorAnnise Parker
Geography
Total Area601.3 sq mi (1557.4 km2)
Land Area579.4 sq mi (1500.6 km2)
Water Area22.3 sq mi (57.8 km2)
Elevation43 ft (13.1 m)
Demography
Total Population2099451(4th U.S.) (2010 US Census)
Density (pop.)1398.5/km2 (3623/sq mi)
Urban (pop.)3822509 (10th U.S.)
Metro (pop.)5946800 (6th U.S.)
DemonymHoustonian
Other information
Time zoneCST (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)CDT (UTC-5)
Area code713, 281, 832
FIPS code48-35000 
GNIS feature ID1380948 

     Home | City | Houston Texas



Houston c-eniconˈhjuːstən is the largest city in the state of Texas, and the fourth-largest city in the United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of 579 sqmi (1499.6 km2). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of Houston � Sugar Land � Baytown, which is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. of nearly 6 million people.

Houston was founded in 1836 on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. It was incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837, and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas-former General Sam Houston-who had commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto, which took place 25 mi (40.2 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center-the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions-and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.

Rated as a global city, Houston's economy has a broad industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and transportation. It is also leading in health care sectors and building oilfield equipment; only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. The city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has an active visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District and offers year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.


Warning: simplexml_load_file(http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Houston?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10) [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 410 Gone in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Houston?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10" in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 260