The today's flag of Texas was introduced on 25th of January in 1839. It shows two horizontal stripes in white and red, and a vertical blue stripe on the mast with a white five-pointed star in the centre. The colours stand for loyalty (blue), purity (white) and courage (red). The colours are the colours of the USA, and were deliberately chosen because it was the aim of the Texans to make the country a federal state of the USA, which was realised on 19th of February in 1846. The star in the flag is the "Lone Star", hence Texas is nicknamed the "Lone Star State". The solitary "lonely star" is an important symbol that played a role in the history of Texas, but also in the history of some southern states of the USA and even in California, Cuba and Puerto Rico. It was a symbol of freedom and also indicated the connection to the USA, often combined with the desire to belong to the USA; the lonely star left alone was to join the other stars. Texas originally belonged to Mexico and was part of the province of "Coahuila and Texas". This province was made a federal state of Mexico in 1824 and was given its own constitution. When the Texans rebelled against the central government in 1835 and demanded that their constitutional rights be respected, the rebels chose a flag in the colours of Mexico – it showed three vertical stripes in green, white and red, but placed the year "1824" in the middle, the year the constitution was adopted. It is called the "Alamo Flag" because it was used at the Alamo, but there is no evidence of this. However, this flag was adopted by the country's Provisional Government in November 1835 for naval activities against Mexican trade. exas achieved independence on 2nd of March 1836 and a national flag was introduced on 10th of December in 1836. It was a blue bunting and in the centre the "Lone Star" in gold (unofficially sometimes also in white). It is called the "Burnet Flag" and was retained until the introduction of the current flag on 25th of January in 1839, after which it was officially valid as a battle flag until 1879. A flag for the Texas Navy was also introduced on 10th of December in 1836. It showed thirteen red and white stripes – like the flag of the USA – and the "Lone Star" appeared in white in a blue upper corner. It was called the "Lone Star and Stripes Flag" and was also used unofficially as the national flag until 1839, when the current model, the "Lone Star Flag", was introduced on 25th of January in 1839. Some sources state that it was only used as a state flag, i.e. only authorised for offices and authorities, because it is assumed that another flag was introduced on that day for use by the citizens of Texas, i.e. as a national and merchant flag. It showed three horizontal stripes in white, blue and red, with the middle blue stripe being twice as wide as the others and bearing the white "Lone Star" in the centre. Some sources only give this flag the status of a pilot flag, or also as a Coast Guard flag. The annexation of Texas to the USA was completed on 29th of December in 1845, with which the current flag became the state flag and civil flag, intended for use by offices and authorities as well as citizens. The colours of the flag are used today: The US-regulation "DDD-F-416F" defines the exact colour tones for red, white and blue as they must be used and implemented by federal authorities. These are coordinates of the CIE colour space that can be translated into HEX values and result in the following values: #FFFFFF for white, #B22234 for red and #3C3B6E for blue. In addition, there is the "Standard Colour Reference of America", in its 10th edition, which provides a series of samples of dyed silk fabrics that are used as a reference. The resulting true colours are as follows: White No. 70001, Old Glory Red No. 70180 and Old Glory Blue No. 70075, from which the following Pantone colour shades can be derived: Red = pt 187 c and Blue = pt 5265 c, which are not official or official colour values. The flag of the state of Texas must correspond exactly to the flag of the USA in terms of colour, which is why official Pantone colour tones have been defined for Texas: Red = pt 193 c and Blue = pt 281 c.
1519 · the Spanish sailors and scientist Alonso Alvarez de Pineda explores the coast of today's Texas
1528–1536 · the Spanish sailor Cabeza de Vaca, sufferes shipwreck on the coast, he wandered through the today's Texas to reach Spanish Mexico
1621 · founding of Corpus Christi
1659 · founding of El Paso on the Rio Grande, in the subsequent years of the 17th and 18th century will be established gradually Spanish settlements, forts and missions across the Rio Grande and the today's Texas became gradually spanish colonized
1682 · official Spanish appropriation, to the colony of Coahuila as a part of the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain
1685–1689 · French Fort St. Louis in the Matagorda Bay
1691 · establishment of the Province of Coahuila and Texas
1813 · Pirates under James Long proclaim at the coast a for five months existing independent Texas
18th of July 1821 · Coahuila and Texas declares its independence from Spain
28th of September 1821 · the north of New Spain becomes as Mexico independent from Spain, Coahuila and Texas is a province of Mexico
1823 · founding of San Felipe de Austin by the U.S. Army Colonel Stephen F. Austin, the start of the US-american settlement
14th of October 1824 · Coahuila and Texas becomes a federal state of Mexico
1830 · Mexico stops the US-american settlement because of increasing tensions with Texas
1830–1835 · separatist agitations among the US-Texans
1834 · beginning of the immigration of German settlers
September 1835 · arrest of Stephen F. Austin, Texan armed uprising
2nd of October 1835 · Battle of Gonzales, the beginning of the struggle for independence
15th of November 1835 · a provisional government takes over the power in Texas
2nd of March 1836 · proclamation of the Republic of Texas
6th of March 1836 · conquest of Alamo by Mexican troops
21st of April 1836 · Battle of San Jacinto, the Texans' victory
1839 · France recognizes Texas
1841 · Britain recognizes Texas
19th of February 1845 · annexation of Texas by the USA, completed on 29th of Dec. 1845
1846–1848 · war of the United States against Mexico, annexation of Mexican territory (the today's states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico)
4th of March 1861 · Texas declares its independence and leaves the United States (Sezession)
1861–1865 · Civil War: the coastal cities will be conquered by troops of the United States, Texas is cut off by U.S. troops from the CSA in 1864
9th of April in 1865 · General Lee surrenders at Appomattox (Virginia) as commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, the other CSA Armies capitulate gradually until July 1865
1865–1877 · "reconstruction", forced return of the CSA states into the USA
30th of March 1870 · re-entry of Texas into the United States
The word "Texas" comes from "taysha", a word of the Caddo Indians. It means "friends" or "allies". Thus, the Indians referred to the incoming Spanish settlers. The word was adopted as "tejas" in the vocabulary of the Texans, and in the 17th Century transferred to the country.
