• The lone star on the Texas state flag represents its independence.texas proud image by buckwheat from Fotolia.com
  
  It is uncertain when the Pueblo people began settling the western region of Texas, though they were active throughout the Southwest as early as 1200 B.C. Spanish explorers named the state after the Hasinai word "tayhas," meaning "friends." Several famous explorers, including Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, explored the region before the first European settlements were established in the 17th century. Today, Texas is the second largest state in both size and population.
  
  

French Control

• On Feb. 18, 1685, French explorer Sieu de LaSalle imposed French control over Texas by establishing Fort St. Louis in Matagorda Bay. Four years later, Spain claimed Texas when explorer Alonso de Leon found Fort St. Louis abandoned. De LaSalle's own men murdered him in 1687.
  
  

Remember the Alamo

• On Feb. 23, 1836, Mexican forces under Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna laid siege to a former Christian mission in modern-day San Antonio. Col. William B. Travis led 183 volunteers, including Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, against 2,400 Mexican soldiers. Expecting reinforcements that never arrived, the Texans made a 13-day stand. On March 6, 1836, the fort fell, giving Texans the battle cry, "Remember the Alamo." Six weeks later, the Texans gained their independence by routing Santa Anna's soldiers at the Battle of San Jacinto.
  
  

The Mexican-American War

• Gen. Zachary Taylor placed 2,000 soldiers on the north bank of the Rio Grande in late March 1846. The Mexican government ordered them removed, arguing the United States had annexed Texas. The Mexican-American War began April 25, 1846. Outnumbered three to one, U.S. forces won a number of quick battles, before winning the war in 1848. The Rio Grande became the official border between the two countries.
  
  

The Battle of Palmito Ranch

• Union and Confederate forces waged the Battle of Palmito Ranch on May 12-13, 1865. This two-day skirmish was the last land battle of the Civil War, fought more than a month after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Conducted on the shores of the Rio Grande, near Brownsville, Palmito Beach was a Confederate victory. A Union private was the only fatality, though 105 Federal soldiers were captured. Texas surrendered 13 days later.
  
  

The Galveston Hurricane

• In 1900, Galveston was a booming port city of 37,000 people. The hurricane that struck the gulf city on Sept. 8 leveled 3,600 homes and killed more than 6,000 people. It is still considered the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. The near destruction of Galveston paved the way for Houston to become the dominant port along the Gulf of Mexico.
  
  

The Kennedy Assassination

• Gunman Lee Harvey Oswald shot President John F. Kennedy from the Dallas Book Depository on Nov. 22, 1963, while the president rode in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas. Wounded in the attack were Governor John Connelly, riding with Kennedy, and James Teague, a bystander. Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson, a former Texas congressman and senator, became the 36th president.