Welcome to Dallas!
The City of Dallas is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest city in the United States. The city
covers 385 square miles (997 km²) and is the county seat of Dallas County.[4] As of July 1, 2006, U.S. Census estimates put
Dallas at a population of 1,232,940. The city is the main cultural and economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington
metropolitan area—at 6 million people, it is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Dallas is listed as a gamma world
city by the Loughborough University Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network.
Dallas was founded in 1841 and formally incorporated as a city on 2 February 1856. The city is well known for its role in the petroleum industry,
telecommunications, computer technology, banking, and transportation. It is the core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States
and lacks any navigable link to the sea—Dallas's prominence despite this comes from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton
industries, its position along numerous railroad lines, and its powerful industrial and financial tycoons.
Before Texas was claimed in the 1500s as a part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain by the Spanish Empire, the Dallas area was inhabited by the Caddo
Native Americans. Later, France also claimed the area, but in 1819 the Adams-Onís Treaty made the Red River the northern boundary of New Spain,
officially placing Dallas well within Spanish territory. The area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from
Spain and the area became part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1836, the Republic of Texas broke off from Mexico to become an
independent nation. In 1839, four years into the Republic's existence, John Neely Bryan surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. He then left
for Arkansas, but returned in 1841 and founded the city of Dallas. In 1846 the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States and Dallas
County was established.
According to the City of Dallas, the origin of the name “Dallas” is a mystery, despite claims to the contrary. Bryan stated only that it was
named “after my friend Dallas.” It has often been claimed that both the county and the city were named after George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh
Vice President of the United States. However, there is no evidence that Bryan ever met George Mifflin Dallas, and the area was called Dallas
several years before the latter was elected. Another idea, was that the name was influenced from a small town in Pennsylvania, named "Dallas"
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