Outline Notes, Texas to 1900

Marked by two trends:

1. integration with the rest of the United States

  • transportation
  • economy

2. growth!!!

five fold, which brought changes to different regions in the state
East Texas vs North Texas

Central Texas: vigorous growth and cultural diversity

South Texas: fenced and domesticated; Mexican presence re-establishes

West Texas: an entire region is created anew. What new patterns and processes caused this?

Focus on West Texas

How was West Texas first settled?

The process of frontier settlement and domestication by steps

  1. settlement of Native Americans and removal of the buffalo (see information regarding Quanah Parker and this process)
  2. development of the cattle industry
    • two sources of innovation for cattle industry: Nueces Valley (South Texas) and Cross Timbers (North Texas)
    • diffusion of cattle industry along two primary routes
      • advancing up the Brazos and Colorado across the Rolling Plain to the Caprock
      • from South Texas to the west up the Pecos into the Trans Pecos
    • affects?
      • ethnic distribution in Texas

Anomolie: sheep and goats still in Edwards Plateau indicating persistence of the German and Hispanic traditions there

How did agriculture develop in West Texas?

  • importance of the railroads
  • West Texas by 1900? (what was it like?)


Communication Networks in Texas 1861 to 1900

What is a network? Nodes? Links?

Two networks in Texas

Network 1:

Network 2:

Core vs periphery--> threshold

North Texas: inflow of capital ($$$), business, settlement
Dallas: transormation from a local trade center to a regional hub serving a large hinterland (market area); junction of railroads from north, east, west, and south

Summary: By 1900: the economy of Texas integrated with the rest of the US on a colonial basis
raw materials from Texas exported to industries in other states

Result: Texans different from other people in the US

 


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Geography of Texas Home Page

Copyright, 1997, Sarah W. Bednarz
Revised december 21, 1999