| 1528 |
Wayward Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca wanders the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast and inland regions. |
| 1686 |
French patriot La Salle explores East Texas, from his base on Matagorda Bay, seeking rescue for his stranded party on the Mississippi River. |
| 1756 |
Spanish establish Mission Nuestra Senora de la Luz del Orcoquisac near present-day Anahuac on Trinity Bay, the upper reaches of Galveston Bay. The focus of Spanish Mission development took place mainly from 1690 - 1731 along the King's Road from San Antonio through East Texas into Louisiana. |
| 1817 |
Pirate Jean LaFitte maintains a base on Galveston Island and aids newcomers in the region. |
| 1818 |
French exiles, along with Tombigbee refugees of Spanish, Polish, Mexican and Anglo descent, establish Champ d'Asile near present-day Liberty on the Trinity River. They are routed out of their homesteads the same year by a Spanish force from San Antonio and flee to Galveston, New Orleans and Nacadoches. |
| 1821 |
Anahuac is established as the Mexican government operates a presidio and port of immigration on a site where the Trinity River meets Galveston Bay. |
| 1823 |
Stephen F. Austin establishes a colony, San Felipe de Austin, west of present-day Houston on the Brazos River. |
| 1828 |
Mexico outlaws slavery, a major componant of the Anglo colonies in the Texas-Coahuila territory. |
| 1831 |
Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de la Libertad, on the Rio Trinidad, is settled by pioneers from the East on a Mexican land grant. The Anglos shorten the name of the town to Liberty and the river to Trinity. Sam Houston practiced law in Liberty prior to the War for Texas Independence and some of the towns residents fought in the Alamo and at San Jacinto. |
| 1836 |
Texas General Sam Houston defeats and captures Mexican leader General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, winning independence for Texas on April 12 at the confluence of the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou. |
| 1836 |
Washington-on-the-Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia sucessively serve as capitols for the new Republic of Texas. |
| 1837 |
In April, Houston is made capitol of the Republic of Texas through October 1839, when the official administration is relocated to Waterloo (renamed Austin). President Sam Houston brings the capitol back to Houston temporarily during a Mexican invasion in 1842. |
| 1845 |
Texas becomes the twenty-eighth state in the Union on December 29th. |
| 1854 |
The Alabama-Coushatta Reservation is established in Polk County, north of Galveston Bay. The 1,280 acre reserve is increased to 4,280 in 1927. |
| 1861 |
Harris and all surrounding counties vote to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy in the Civil War. Many counties inhabited by German and Czech immigrants, such as Fayette and Bastrop, do not vote to secede. |
| 1863 |
Few Civil War battles take place in Southeast Texas, which serves mainly in production and shipping. Galveston experienced a Union blockade and the Battle of Sabine Pass took place south of Beaumont on the Taxas/Louisiana border. |
| 1865 |
The Civil War ends on April 9. |
| 1865 |
Slaves in Texas are informed of their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation. The news is delivered to Galveston by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19th, establishing the Juneteenth Celebration. |
| 1900 |
A major hurricane destroys much of Galveston Island, killing more than 6,000 people. An elevated barrier, the Sea Wall, is later constructed to hold back future storm surge and flood waters. The city would otherwise not thrive today. The nearby resort of Indianola was devastated by a hurricane in 1875 and never recovered. |
| 1901 |
A major oil discovery is made at Spindletop, near Beaumont, making southeast Texas everafter associated with oil. |
| 1914 |
The Houston Ship Channel is constructed following the course of Buffalo Bayou. |
| 1917 |
Houston's Camp Logan prepares soldiers for World War I and suffers an incident of rasicm that leads to the Camp Logan Riots. |
| 1947 |
An explosion on the Ship Channel kills 576 and injures more than 5,000. The powerful blast levels 3300 homes and 200 businesses in Texas City. |
1961 |
To support NASA and the manned space flight program, the Johnson Space Center is established at Clear Lake south of Houston. |
| 1965 |
The Harris County Domed Stadium, later called the Astrodome, is completed. |
| 1983 |
Houston and Galveston suffer a direct hit from Hurricane Alicia on August 12th. |
| 2001 |
Tropical Storm Allison displaces thousands of Houstonians and leaves $5 billion in damage in the wake of its flood waters on June 5th and 6th. |
