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What If Texas Was A Country? The Energy Capital Of The World
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Mar 31, 2025
"Remember the Alamo!" is a common phrase today for one reason: Texans' proud heritage as a brief independent country. In the mid 1800s, Texas successfully revolted against the Mexican government and formed a government where it was recognized by countries around the world. Today, Texas is part of the greater United States where it is one of the most powerful and successful states in the country. So what if Texas was a country today instead?
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Remember the Alamo is the Texas state motto for a very real reason
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It helped seal Texas' history as being an independent country, even if for only a brief period of time
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In 1836, the Lone Star State became just the seventh independent country in North America
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Today, Texas is one of the powerhouse states in the United States
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and continues to have a unique culture unto its own. So what if Texas was made into a country today
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So, are you ready to learn about your family's history? Hello and welcome to What If Geography, where we try and answer the great
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geographic what-if questions of the world. I'm your host, Jeff Gibson, and today we're going to talk about Texas as a country
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More specifically, what if Texas was, once again, its own independent country
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Texas is one of only four states that was once independent, but it's likely the most
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well-known of them all, and there's a good reason for that. But before we jump into Texas as a country, be sure to check out the What If Geography podcast
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New episodes premiere every Wednesday, and you can find those right here on YouTube, Spotify
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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, be sure to follow us on Twitter
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where you can learn more about future episodes and find other geography content
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Links are in the description below. Unlike most current US states, Texas actually was a sovereign country for a decent amount of time
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From 1836 to 1845, the Texas Republic was independent, held elections and was even recognized as its own country by the United States Belgium the Netherlands France and the United Kingdom Suffice it to say a world with a fully independent Texas today was not completely unimaginable
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at one point in time. But while the Texas Republic is certainly the most well-known independent nation that
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broke away from Mexico, it was certainly not the only one. During this particular time in Mexican history, multiple Mexican states broke away or actively
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rebelled against the central Mexican government. This would include not only the Texas Republic
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but also the República del Rio Grande and the República del Yucatan
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And while the Texas Republic wasn't the only former Mexican state to break away and form its own independent country
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it was certainly the most successful. The República del Rio Grande lasted less than a year
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before it was forcibly retaken by Mexico, and the República del Yucatan lasted seven years
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much closer to the Texas Republic's time frame, but with less notoriety overall
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As you can imagine, Mexico did not take kindly to the idea of states breaking away from the central government. Texas's revolution from Mexico
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stands apart from the other nations because of one simple fact. They succeeded where the others
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failed for the most part. The revolution began in October 1835 after a decade of political and
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cultural clashes between the Mexican government and the increasingly large population of Anglo-American
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settlers in Texas. In fact, the Mexican government at the time strongly believed that the United
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States was intentionally instigating the revolution in order to later annex the country
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something that would formally happen in 1845. The Texas Revolution culminated in the Battle of San Jacinto
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where the Texas Republic Army under Sam Houston successfully routed the Mexican army led by President Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana
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During this battle, Texas troops captured Santa Ana and, in exchange for his life, proceeded to withdraw his troops from Texas
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As part of this deal, Mexico would not, however, agree to recognize Texas as an independent country
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and that would prove to be a big sticking point in Texas' ability to remain independent
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Winning that battle, however, did give Texas a little bit of time, so much so that Texas was actually able to hold four elections for president
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Sam Houston was Texas' first president, followed by Mirabeau Lamar, Sam Houston once again, and finally Anson Jones
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who served as president during the annexation of Texas by the United States
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Lost in all of this history of independence and wars, however, was the fact that Texas never really wanted to be independent in the first place
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The same year that Texas declared independence for Mexico, it also applied for statehood in the United States
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At that time, however, the US was simply not interested primarily because Texas was a large slave trading and holding region
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and politicians didn't want Texas's admittance to the Union to be seen as giving weight to one side or the other
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in a brewing battle over whether slavery would continue to exist at all
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Fortunately for Texas, just about 10 years later, the United States changed its mind and admitted Texas to the Union
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as the 28th state under the guise of manifest destiny and, once again, trying to thwart British ambitions in the region
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Following the annexation, relations with Mexico quickly deteriorated, leading to the Mexican War This war ultimately led to the United States acquiring the entire southwest region including modern California It often stated that Texas is the only state that can leave the United States if it wanted to That not true of course but it goes to show
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the independent spirit within Texas that stems from its historical roots as an independent country
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Today, Texas is one of the largest states in the country in terms of size, population, and economy
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But before we get into what Texas would look like as a country today, if you're enjoying this video, now would be a great time to subscribe
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More fun what-if country videos are just a single click away. As already mentioned, Texas is an absolutely mammoth state
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And in truth, Texas as a state is larger than the Republic of Texas ever truly was
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Because while the Republic of Texas claimed a lot of territory, it only ever controlled what we would consider to be East Texas today
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Due to the Mexican-American War, however, Texas was able to gain control of much of the territory it was only ever able to claim previously
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Today, an independent Texas would be 261,000 square miles. This would make it the fourth largest country in North America by a wide margin
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below Mexico, which is about 762,000 square miles, but well above Nicaragua at about 50,000 square miles
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Globally, Texas would be much more middle of the road in terms of size. Texas would come in as the 77th largest country in the world below New Zealand and Gabon
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and above Guinea and the United Kingdom. In terms of borders, Texas would sit right in between the United States and Mexico
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More specifically, Texas would be bordered by the US states of New Mexico
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Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Cojila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas
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In this way, Texas would return to its historic roots as a buffer country between the US and Mexico
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Texas would not be an especially large country when it comes to population. With 29 million people today, Texas would be well down the list of most populous countries in the world
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coming in at number 52 in between Madagascar and Nepal. Not a low population country by any means, but smaller than the United States, Mexico, and Canada
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When you look at the demographics, however, Texas is quite unique. Because of its history as a Mexican state
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there's a long history of Texans with Mexican heritage that still live in the region
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Additionally, due to its position as a border state, Texas also receives more immigrants than most other states
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All told, Hispanic and Latin Americans comprise almost 40% of the entire population of Texas
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That's just 2.5% below the non-Hispanic white population. This is followed by about 12.3% of the population identifying as black
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6% as Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1.4% as Native American or indigenous
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All in all, Texas would be a very diverse country in terms of ethnicity, culture, and language
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Being such a large country Texas would have quite a few metropolitan areas the largest of which is the Dallas metro region with about 7 million people
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This is followed by the Houston metro area at 7 million people. The San Antonio and Austin metro regions come in third and fourth respectively
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with over 2 million people each. From there, things start to descend quickly
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McAllen and El Paso are the fifth and sixth, but only with about 800,000 people each
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It's worth noting, however, that while El Paso is relatively small, its metro region population does not include its Mexican sister city, Juarez
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which has a population of about 2.5 million people by itself. While not Texas, the two cities' closeness makes it challenging to really separate them
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And of course, Texas' capital would likely remain in Austin. Given that Austin has the political infrastructure
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and is already well-positioned geographically for the country as a whole, it makes little sense to move it elsewhere
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Texas as a country would have a robust economy. However, one industry certainly stands out as being the most dominant
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the energy industry. Texas and Houston in particular is infamous for its oil industry in particular
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Much of this was predicated on the Texas oil boom of the early 1900s where vast quantities of oil was discovered lying underneath the state
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This period had a transformative effect on Texas. At the turn of the century, the state was predominantly rural with no large cities
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By the end of World War II, the state was heavily industrialized and the populations
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of the Texas cities had broken into the top 20 nationally. In addition to oil specifically, Texas is also well known for its electrical grid
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You see, while the United States is largely divided into two electrical grids based on the east and west side of the country, most of Texas is actually within its own independent
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electrical grid. In this way, Texas is uniquely suited for independence. Though recent blackouts in Texas during the summer and winter have showcased the negative
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sides of having an independent electrical grid. As far as corporate employers go, Texas is home to
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AT&T, ExxonMobil, Dell, Phillips 66, Valero Energy, Cisco, Oracle, HP, ConocoPhillips, American Airlines, Waste Management, Texas Instruments, Halliburton, and many more Fortune
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500 companies. To put it lightly, a lot of companies have made their home in the Lone Star
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state. If Texas was a country, it would carry with it the bulk of North America's energy
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investments. Texas has a unique history as a state within the larger United States
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While it isn't the only state that used to be an independent country, it stands out a part as
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having its own unique culture that still fosters and thrives on that independent spirit. And while
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it's unlikely to ever happen, Texas as an independent country would certainly be a formidable nation on
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the world stage. I hope you enjoyed today's episode on Texas as its own country. If you did
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please subscribe to my channel. And if you want to watch more of my videos, you can do so here
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Thanks for watching. See you next time
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