Topic 4

The Migration, Settlement, & Development of Texas
Goals | Outcomes | Notes to1860, Notes to 1900, Notes to Present | Notes on Chapter 9

Goals:

  • describe the patterns of migration, settlement, and economic and social development of Texas
  • understand the evolving character and nature of different regions
  • trace the processes and relationships which create the patterns

the what, when, and where of Texas

Outcomes

For this material there are three distinct sets of outcomes based on chronological periods of Texas development:

Texas to 1860 (outline notes)

  • the settlement history of early Spanish Tejas (three points, two regions)
  • the settlement history of Mexican Tejas (patterns, processes, regional characteristics)
  • cultural geography of early Tejas
  • changes in Texas after the Revolution, shifts in the political and cultural geography
  • migration into Texas, types, pathways, barriers and funnels
  • the four regions of Texas as they existed in 1860 (patterns, processes, regional characteristics)
  • Transportation and urban settlements in Texas before the Civil War
  • characteristics of the Texas population before the Civil War (who? where? why?)

1861 to 1900 (outline notes)

  • the new regions of Texas that developed: East Texas, North Texas, Central Texas, South Texas, West Texas (the frontier)
  • the development of transportation systems in Texas and linkages to the rest of the United States transport system (core-periphery-threshold)
  • migration patterns and population growth
  • process of settlement and consequent relocation of Native Americans
  • diffusion and development of the cattle industry and later replacement by agricultural land use
  • condition of the Texas economy by 1900--resource-dependent

    This picture illustrates the importance of cotton to the economy of Texas in the 1890s--but things were about to change...

1900 to the Present (outline notes)

  • events which drove the processes of change at the beginning of this century: Spindle top and the introduction of meat packing in Fort Worth
  • consequences on economic and geographic development of Texas
  • characteristics of boom towns
  • changes in agriculuture in Texas: High Plains, Lower Valley, Winter Garden
  • regions of Texas in mid-century: East Texas, Gulf Coast, South Texas, Southwest Texas, Hill Country, West Texas, The Panhandle, North Texas, Central Texas
  • assimilation, acculturation, agglomeration: models of culture development in Texas
Geography of Texas Home Page

Copyright, 1997, Sarah W. Bednarz
Revised 12/07/03