Austin, Texas
| City of Austin |
|
|
| Nickname: Live Music Capital of the World[1] |
|
|
|
Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. Situated in Central Texas and part of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 16th-largest in the United States of America, as well as the 3rd fastest growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006.[3] As of the 2006 U.S. Census estimate, Austin has a population of 709,893.[2] The city is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area with a population of more than 1.5 million.
As of January of 2008 the estimated Greater Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area Population is 1,593,819 and the Greater San Antionio Metropolitan Statistical Area Population is 2,003,819. The Greater Austin-San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Austin, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Bastrop, Kyle, Wimberley, San Marcos, Lockhart, San Antonio, Boerne, New Braunfels, Seguin, Castroville & Floresville.
The Greater Austin-San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area population is 3,805,638 (Est) This makes the Austin-San Antonio Metropolitan Area the 15th largest Metropolitan area in the United States of America ahead of Seatle-Tacoma and just shy of Phoenix-Mesa
Austin was selected as the No. 2 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by Money magazine in 2006, and the "Greenest City in America" by MSN ("Greenest" referring to a commitment to sustainable living).[4][5]
Residents of Austin are known as "Austinites," and include a mix of university professors, students, politicians, lobbyists, musicians, state employees, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers, and white-collar workers. The main campus of the University of Texas is located in Austin. The city is home to enough large sites of major technology corporations to have earned it the nickname "Silicon Hills." Austin's official slogan promotes the city as "The Live Music Capital of the World", a reference to its status as home to many musicians and music venues.[1] In recent years, many Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird"; this refers partly to the eclectic and progressive lifestyle of many Austin residents, but is also the slogan for a campaign to preserve smaller local businesses and resist excessive commercialization.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
|
|
|
|
Texas, largest state in the coterminous United States. It is located in the S Central part of the country and is bounded by Oklahoma, across the Red R. except in the Texas panhandle (N); Arkansas (NE); Louisiana, across the Sabine R. (E); the Gulf of Mexico (SE); Mexico, across the Rio Grande R. (SW); and New Mexico (W).
Area, 267,338 sq mi (692,405 sq km).
Pop. (2000) 20,851,820, a 22.8% increase since the 1990 census.
Capital, Austin. Largest city, Houston.
Nickname, Lone Star State.
Motto, Friendship. State bird, mockingbird.
State flower, bluebonnet.
State tree, pecan.
Texas is roughly spade shaped. The vast expanse of the state contains great regional differences (the distance from Beaumont to El Paso is greater than that from New York to Chicago).
Mineral resources compete with industry for primary economic importance in Texas. The state is the leading U.S. producer of oil, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids, despite recent production declines. It is also a major producer of helium, salt, sulfur, sodium sulfate, clays, gypsum, cement, and talc.
Texas manufactures an enormous variety of products, including chemicals and chemical products, petroleum, food and food products, transportation equipment, machinery, and primary and fabricated metals. The development and manufacture of electronic equipment, such as computers, has in recent decades become one of the state's leading industries; the area around Dallas-Fort Worth has become known as “Silicon Prairie,” a name now also extended to Austin and its suburbs. Agriculturally, Texas is one of the most important states in the country. It easily leads the nation in producing cattle, cotton, and cottonseed. Texas also has more farms, farmland, sheep, and lambs than any other state.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is in the Houston area. Other places of interest in the state include Big Bend National Park,Guadalupe Mountains National Park , Amistad and Lake Meredith national recreation areas, Padre Island National Seashore, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, and Arkansas National Wildlife Refuge, winter home of the whooping crane. Austin is the capital; Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio are the largest cities.
Among the many institutions of higher learning in Texas are the University of Texas, mainly at Austin, but with large branches at Arlington, El Paso, and the Dallas suburb of Richardson.
*Information from Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | |
|
|