The arrival of the 20th century brought a convergence of economic factors that fueled rapid growth in Houston, including a burgeoning port and railroad industry, the decline of Galveston as Texas's primary port following a devastating 1900 hurricane, the subsequent construction of the Houston Ship Channel, and the Texas oil boom. After briefly serving as the capital of the Texas Republic in the late 1830s, Houston grew steadily into a regional trading center for the remainder of the 19th century. The city is named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had won Texas's independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto 25 miles (40 km) east of Allen's Landing. Houston was founded by land investors on August 30, 1836, at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou (a point now known as Allen's Landing) and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands.

It is the largest city in the United States by total area whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Ĭomprising a land area of 640.4 square miles (1,659 km 2), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in the United States (including consolidated city-counties). Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. With a population of 2,302,878 in 2022, Houston is located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico it is the seat and largest city of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth. It is the fourth-most populous city in the United States after New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the seventh-most populous city in North America. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Houston ( / ˈ h juː s t ən/ ⓘ HEW-stən) is the most populous city in the U.S.

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