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Houston ( ) is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million people within a land area of , it also is the largest city in the Southern United States, as well as the seat of Harris County. It is the principal city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, which is the fifth most populated metropolitan area in the United States. Houston was founded in 1836 on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou (now known as Allen's Landing) and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded and won at the Battle of San Jacinto east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.〔(1-B898-0C424A311C28/0/50YearMasterPlanLowRes2006UpdateV2.pdf Texas Medical Center. (2006). In ''A Vision for Strategic Growth''. September 14, 2010 ) 〕 Houston's economy has a broad industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and transportation. It is also leading in health care sectors and building oilfield equipment; only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits.〔(''Fortune'' 500 2010: Cities ) Accessed May 25, 2011〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=A.T. Kearney )〕 The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. Nicknamed the ''Space City'', Houston is a global city, with strengths in business, international trade, entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine and research. The city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is considered to be the most diverse city in Texas and the United States. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has an active visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District and offers year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.〔"", ''Greater Houston Partnership''. Retrieved on March 21, 2009.〕 ==History== (詳細はAugustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen—from New York, purchased of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding 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. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the older slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the domestic slave trade. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but there were slave dealers in Houston. Thousands of enslaved African-Americans lived near the city before the Civil War. Many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. In 1860 forty-nine percent of the city's population was enslaved. A few slaves, perhaps as many as 2,000 between 1835 and 1865, came through the illegal African trade. Post-war Texas grew rapidly as migrants poured into the cotton lands of the state. They also brought or purchased enslaved African Americans, whose numbers nearly tripled in the state from 1850 to 1860, from 58,000 to 182,566. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5, 1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor.〔(Houston, Texas ). ''Handbook of Texas Online''. Retrieved on January 10, 2007.〕 In the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County (now Harris County) and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas. In 1840, the community established a chamber of commerce in part to promote shipping and waterborne business at the newly created port on Buffalo Bayou.〔(John Perry, "Born on the Bayou: city's murky start" ), ''City Savvy'' Online Edition. Published Summer 2006. Retrieved on February 6, 2007.〕 By 1860, Houston had emerged as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton.〔 Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont. During the American Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for General John Bankhead Magruder, who used the city as an organization point for the Battle of Galveston. After the Civil War, Houston businessmen initiated efforts to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the city could accept more commerce between downtown and the nearby port of Galveston. By 1890, Houston was the railroad center of Texas. In 1900, after Galveston was struck by a devastating hurricane, efforts to make Houston into a viable deep-water port were accelerated.〔(J.H.W. Stele to Sayers, September 11–12, 1900 ). ''Texas State Library & Archives Commission'', Retrieved on August 31, 2007〕 The following year, oil discovered at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont prompted the development of the Texas petroleum industry. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt approved a $1 million improvement project for the Houston Ship Channel. By 1910 the city's population had reached 78,800, almost doubling from a decade before. African-Americans formed a large part of the city's population, numbering 23,929 people, or nearly one-third of the residents.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Marvin Hurley, 1910–1920, Houston History )〕 President Woodrow Wilson opened the deep-water Port of Houston in 1914, seven years after digging began. By 1930, Houston had become Texas' most populous city and Harris the most populous county. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported Houston's population as 77.5% white and 22.4% black.〔 When World War II started, tonnage levels at the port decreased and shipping activities were suspended; however, the war did provide economic benefits for the city. Petrochemical refineries and manufacturing plants were constructed along the ship channel because of the demand for petroleum and synthetic rubber products by the defense industry during the war.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=TSHA Handbook of Texas )〕 Ellington Field, initially built during World War I, was revitalized as an advanced training center for bombardiers and navigators. The Brown Shipbuilding Company was founded in 1942 to build ships for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Due to the boom in defense jobs, thousands of new workers migrated to the city, both blacks and whites competing for the higher-paying jobs. President Roosevelt had established a policy of non-discrimination for defense contractors, and blacks gained some opportunities, especially in shipbuilding, although not without resistance from whites and increasing social tensions that erupted into occasional violence. Economic gains of blacks who entered defense industries continued in the postwar years.〔"Race, Roosevelt, and Wartime Production: Fair Employment in World War II Labor Markets", William J. Collins, ''The American Economic Review'', Vol. 91, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 272-286, Published by: American Economic Association, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2677909〕 In 1945 the M.D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center. After the war, Houston's economy reverted to being primarily port-driven. In 1948, the city annexed several unincorporated areas, more than doubling its size. Houston proper began to spread across the region.〔 In 1950, the availability of air conditioning provided impetus for many companies to relocate to Houston, where wages were lower than the North; this resulted in an economic boom and produced a key shift in the city's economy toward the energy sector.〔("How Air Conditioning Changed America" ), ''The Old House Web'', Retrieved on April 4, 2007〕〔("A Short History" ), ''Houston Geological Auxiliary'', Retrieved on April 4, 2007〕 The increased production of the expanded shipbuilding industry during World War II spurred Houston's growth,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=TSHA Handbook of Texas )〕 as did the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973). This was the stimulus for the development of the city's aerospace industry. The Astrodome, nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World", opened in 1965 as the world's first indoor domed sports stadium. During the late 1970s, Houston had a population boom as people from the Rust Belt states moved to Texas in large numbers.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Polish-Texans )〕 The new residents came for numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, created as a result of the Arab Oil Embargo. With the increase in numerous professional jobs, Houston has become a destination for many college-educated persons, including African Americans in a reverse Great Migration from northern areas. One wave of the population boom ended abruptly in the mid-1980s, as oil prices fell precipitously. The space industry also suffered in 1986 after the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated shortly after launch. There was a cutback in some activities for a period. In the late 1980s, the city's economy suffered from the nationwide recession. After the early 1990s recession, Houston made efforts to diversify its economy by focusing on aerospace and health care/biotechnology, and reduced its dependence on the petroleum industry. Since the increase of oil prices in the 2000s, the petroleum industry has again increased its share of the local economy. In 1997, Houstonians elected Lee P. Brown as the city's first African-American mayor.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Lee P. Brown – Biography )〕 In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to of rain on parts of Houston, causing the worst flooding in the city's history. The storm cost billions of dollars in damage and killed 20 people in Texas. By December of that same year, Houston-based energy company Enron collapsed into the third-largest ever U.S. bankruptcy during an investigation surrounding fabricated partnerships that were allegedly used to hide debt and inflate profits. In August 2005, Houston became a shelter to more than 150,000 people from New Orleans who evacuated from Hurricane Katrina. One month later, approximately 2.5 million Houston area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast, leaving little damage to the Houston area. This was the largest urban evacuation in the history of the United States.〔(8th Congressional District of Texas 2007 Appropriations Project Requests ). Congressman Kevin Brady, 8th District of Texas. Retrieved on January 10, 2007.〕 In September 2008, Houston was hit by Hurricane Ike. As many as forty percent refused to leave Galveston Island because they feared the traffic problems that happened after Hurricane Rita. During the 2015 Texas–Oklahoma floods parts of the city were flooded. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Houston」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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