Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States. Houston is a multicultural city home to some of the nation's largest Asian, Arab & Latin American populations. It also boasts a world class symphony & theater district.

Houston is recognized worldwide for its energy industry particularly for oil & natural gas as well as for biomedical research & aeronautics. Renewable energy sources are also growing economic bases in Houston.

The Theater District in the center of downtown Houston is home to the Bayou Place entertainment complex - a large multilevel building containing restaurants, bars, live music & art house films. 

Houston is home to over 300 parks including Hermann Park with the Houston Zoo & the Houston Museum of Natural Science. 

In August 1836 two real estate entrepreneurs from New York City purchased  land along Buffalo Bayou to found a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the popular general at the Battle of San Jacinto & who was elected President of Texas in September 1836.

Houston was granted incorporation on June 5, 1837. In 1840 a chamber of commerce was established to promote shipping at the newly created port on Buffalo Bayou.

By 1860 Houston had emerged as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton. By 1890, Houston was the railroad center of Texas.

In 1901 oil was discovered at the Spindletop oil field leading to the development of the Texas petroleum industry. The deepwater Port of Houston opened in 1914, seven years after digging began. By 1930, Houston had become Texas's most populous city.

In 1961 of NASA established "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center ), which created the city's aerospace industry. 

Since the 1990s Houston has been diversifying its economy by focusing on aerospace & health care/biotechnology & reducing its dependence on the petroleum industry.