| State of Texas
|
|
|
| Official language(s)
| No official language
See languages of Texas
|
| Demonym | Texan
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| Capital | Austin
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| Largest city | Houston
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| Largest metro area | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington[http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/CBSA-est2006-pop-chg.html]
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| Area | Ranked 2nd in the US
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| - Total | 268,820sqmi
(696,241 km²)
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| - Width | 773miles(1,244 km)
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| - Length | 790miles(1,270 km)
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| -% water | 2.5
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| - Latitude | 25° 50′ N to 36° 30′ N
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| - Longitude | 93° 31′ W to 106° 39′ W
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| Population | Ranked 2nd in the US
|
| - Total | 20,851,820
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| - Density | 79.6/sqmi
30.75/km² (28th in the US)
|
| Elevation |
|
| - Highest point
| Guadalupe Peak[Elevations and Distances in the United States. U.S Geological Survey (29 April 2005). Retrieved on November 8, 2006.]
8,749ft (2,667 m)
|
| - Mean | 1,700ft (520 m)
|
| - Lowest point | Gulf of Mexico coast
0ft (0 m)
|
| Admission to Union
| December 29, 1845 (28th)
|
| Governor | Rick Perry (R)
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| Lieutenant Governor | David Dewhurst (R)
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| U.S. Senators | Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)
John Cornyn (R)
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| Congressional Delegation | List
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| Time zones |
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| - most of state | Central: UTC-6/-5
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| - tip of West Texas | Mountain: UTC-7/-6
|
| Abbreviations
| TX Tex. US-TX
|
| Website | www.texas.gov
|
Map of Texas, showing major cities and roads
Texas (IPA: /ˈtɛksəs/) is a state geographically located in the south-central part of the United States, which the Census Bureau places in a sub-region of the U.S. South designated West South Central. It is also known as the Lone Star State.
With an area of 268,820square miles (696,200km²) and a rapidly growing population of 23.5 million, as estimated in 2006, spread among 254 counties, Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population. Dallas and Houston are the centers of the state\'s two largest metropolitan areas. Other major cities include the state capital of Austin, the state\'s oldest major city of San Antonio, and the western city of El Paso.[[1]] Due to its long history as a center of the American cattle industry, Texas is associated throughout much of the world with the image of the cowboy.
Topographically, the easternmost section of the state is covered by the same Piney Woods that cover much of the Deep South. Moving westward, this evolves into semi-forests of oak and cross timbers then, as the climate gradually becomes more arid, turns into rolling plains and prairie and, eventually, desert in the Big Bend region surrounding El Paso. It is these wide open spaces of the Texas prairie that have lent currency to the phrase that "everything is bigger in Texas."[citation needed]
Because of its large size and unique history, the regional affiliation of Texas is often debated. Historically and culturally, it has very close ties to the South. However, due to Texas\'s history as a Spanish colony, its border with Mexico, and its large Latino population, Texas can also be considered a Southwestern state. Nevertheless, while most residents acknowledge these categories, many claim an independent "Texan" identity superseding regional labels.
Spain was the first European country to claim Texas. Starting in the 1820s, North American and European immigrants began arriving in the area, and in 1836 Texas declared its independence from Mexico, and continued to exist as the independent Republic of Texas for nearly a decade. In 1845, it joined the United States as the 28th state. Texas is one of only four independent states to enter the US federation.[citation needed] Annexation of Texas led the United States to war with Mexico leading to the Mexican Cession and helping to plant seeds for the U.S. Civil War. Texas was the 7th state to join the Confederate States of America. Shortly after the start of the 20th century, discovery of oil led to an economic boom in the state and greatly increased funding for higher education. Texas grew rapidly, becoming the second largest state in population by 1994, and became economically diversified, with a growing base in high technology.
Etymology
Texas state welcome sign
The state\'s name derives from táyshaʔ, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai, which means "friends" or "allies".[Texas Almanac. Retrieved on 11, 2006. Retrieved on 07, 2006.][Texas. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.][Wallace Chafe, p.c.]
The word Texas has found its way into the American English vernacular in ways not directly related to the actual state. Due to the state\'s large geographic size, the term "Texas sized" is often used to describe large things.[Farivar, Cyrus (2007-06-26). Texas-Sized Supercomputer to Break Computing Power Record (HTML). Wired News. Retrieved on [].][Blumenthal, Ralph (2007, July 30). [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/30/news/lake.php Texas-sized noxious weed threatens
State\'s largest natural lake] (HTML). International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on [].] The state\'s name has been used as part of several brands such as the Louisville, Kentucky restaurant chain, Texas Roadhouse, and the multinational semiconductor corporation, Texas Instruments. Texas Hold \'Em is the most popular form of poker in the world.
A shortened form of "Texas", Tex, has been used as a nickname for someone having been born and/or raised in the state. Some people nicknamed "Tex" include basketball coach Tex Winter and original Dallas Cowboys president and general manager Tex Schramm. Tex also has been used as a prefix for several words related to Texas including Tex-Mex or the city Texarkana.
The common nickname for the state, The Lone Star State comes from the single star of the former Republic of Texas. The star is still found on the state seal and flag, symbolizing Texas\'s fight for independence and that Texas was an independent republic.[Texas (HTML). NETSTATE.COM (12/11/2007). Retrieved on [].]
- See also: Texas (disambiguation)
History
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Prior to European colonization, Texas was inhabited by Native American nations such as the Caddo, Comanche and Apache. Spain was the first European country to claim the territory of Texas. Starting in the 1820s, American and European immigrants began arriving in the area. Mexico declared its independence from Spain, and Texas declared its independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836. Following this date, Texas existed as the independent republic for nearly a decade. In 1845, it joined the United States as the 28th state. Texas is one of only four independent states to enter the US federation.[citation needed] Annexation of Texas led the United States to war with Mexico leading to the Mexican Cession. In the American Civil War, Texas was the 7th state to join the Confederate States of America. Near the turn of the 20th century, discovery of oil led to an economic boom in the state. Texas grew rapidly, becoming the second largest state in population 1994, diversifying its economy, with a growing base in high technology.
Texas boasts that "Six Flags" have flown over its soil: the national flags of Spain, the Fleur-de-lis of France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.[Flags of Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online]
American Indian tribes who once lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Comanche, Cherokee, Kiowa, Tonkawa, Wichita, Hueco and the Karankawa of Galveston. Currently, there are three federally recognized Native American tribes which reside in Texas: the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas.[Native Americans from the Handbook of Texas Online]
Colonization
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Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, creator of the first map of the northern Gulf Coast, made the first documented European sighting of Texas in 1519.[Chipman (1992), p. 243.][ Weber (1992), p. 34.] On 6 November 1528, shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first known European in Texas.[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca from the Handbook of Texas Online] Texas was immediately claimed by Spain as part of New Spain.[Spanish Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online] but was not settled immediately. In 1685 La Salle established the first European community in Texas, the French colony of Fort Saint Louis.[Weber (1992), p. 149.] The colony, located along Matagorda Bay, lasted only fouryears before succumbing to harsh conditions and hostile natives.[Chipman (1992), p. 83.]
Due to the perceived French encroachment, Spain established its first presence in Texas in 1691 constructing of several missions in East Texas.[Chipman (1992), p. 89.] The missions failed quickly, and Spain did not resettle Texas until twodecades had passed.[Weber (1992), p. 155.] Spain returned to East Texas in 1716, establishing several missions and a presidio to maintain a buffer between Mexico and the French territory of Louisiana.[Chipman (1992), pp. 111–112.][Weber (1992), p. 160.] Twoyears later, the first civilian settlement in Texas, San Antonio, was established as a way station between the missions and the nearest existing Spanish settlement.[Weber (1992), p. 163.] San Antonio quickly became a target for raids by the Lipan Apache.[Weber (1992), p. 188.] In 1749, the Spanish signed a peace treaty with the Apache,[Weber (1992), p. 193.] which angered the enemies of the Apache and resulted in raids by the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes.[Weber (1992), p. 189.] Fear of Indian attacks and remoteness from the rest of the kingdom discouraged settlers from moving to Texas, and it remained one of the least populated provinces of New Spain.[Chipman (1992), p. 205.]
The Comanche signed a treaty with Spain in 1785[Weddle (1995), p. 163.] and later assisted in defeating the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes which had continued to cause difficulties for Spanish settlers.[Weddle (1995), p. 164.][Chipman (1992), p. 200.] An increase in the number of missions in the province allowed for a peaceful conversion of other tribes, and by the end of the 1700s only a few of the hunting and gathering tribes had not been Christianized.[Chipman (1992), p. 202.]
Although Spain also held Louisiana for several years, in 1799 it ceded the neighboring territory back to France. Napoleon selling of Louisiana to the United States the following year, led to a border dispute of Texas.[Weber (1992), p. 291.] U.S. President Thomas Jefferson insisted that the purchase included all land to the east of the Rocky Mountains and to the north of the Rio Grande.[Weber (1992), p. 292.] The dispute was resolved in 1819, with the signing of the Adams-Onís Treaty recognizing the Sabine River as Texas\'s eastern boundary.[Weber (1992), p. 299.] Two years later, the state became a province of Mexico after the Mexican War of Independence.[Weber (1992), p. 300.]
Moses Austin was the first Anglo American to receive permission to settle in Texas, but died before he could bring settlers to Texas. His son, Stephen F. Austin, continued his father\'s work. In 1821, Texas became part of the newly independent Republic of Mexico and, in 1824, became the northern section of Coahuila y Tejas. Spain\'s policy of allowing only full-blooded Spaniards to settle Texas also ended with Mexico\'s independence. On 3 January 1823, Stephen F. Austin began a colony of 297 Anglo-American families known as the "Old Three Hundred" along the Brazos River, after Austin was authorized to do so by Governor Antonio María Martínez and then successive Mexican officials as Mexico went through tumultuous political regime changes. Austin soon organized even more groups of immigrants, with authorization from the Mexican government. By 1830, the 30,000 Anglo settlers in Texas outnumbered Tejanos two to one.
Independence
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The Convention of 1832 and the Convention of 1833 were responses to rising unrest at policies of the Mexican government, which included ending duty free imports from the United States and the threat of losing a special allowance for slavery in the state. Slavery was abolished in Mexico after its independence.[Mexican Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online] In 1835, Antonio López de Santa Anna, President of Mexico, proclaimed a unified constitution for all Mexican territories, including Texas.[Texas Revolution from the Handbook of Texas Online]
Republic of Texas. The present-day outlines of the U.S. states are superimposed on the boundaries of 1836–1845
On 2 March 1836, the Convention of 1836 signed a Declaration of Independence.[Unanimous Declaration of Independence][Convention of 1836 from the Handbook of Texas Online] On 21 April 1836, the Texans—led by General Sam Houston—won their independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. Santa Anna\'s capture led to the Treaties of Velasco, which gave Texas firm boundaries; Mexico repudiated the treaties, considered Texas a breakaway province, and vowed to reconquer it. Later in 1836, the Texans adopted a constitution that formally legalized slavery. The Republic of Texas included the area of the present state of Texas, and additional unoccupied territory to the west and northwest.
Statehood
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Most Texans wanted their Republic to be annexed into the United States because of the Republic\'s defensive and financial difficulties. Events such as the Dawson Massacre and two recaptures of Béxar in Texas of 1842 added momentum to the desire for statehood.[Calvert, R.; A. De Léon & G. Cantrell (2002), written at Wheeling, Illinois, The History of Texas, Harlan Davidson] However, strong Northern opposition to adding another slave state blocked Texas\'s admission until pro-annexation James K. Polk won the election of 1844. On 29 December 1845, Texas was admitted to the U.S. as a constituent state of the Union.[Annexation from the Handbook of Texas Online] Texas was the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation.[citation needed] The Mexican–American War followed, with decisive victories by the U.S.[Mexican War from the Handbook of Texas Online] Post war Texas grew rapidly as migrants poured into the cotton lands of the state.[Cotton Culture from the Handbook of Texas Online]
Confederate States of America
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Just before the American Civil War, elected delegates met in convention and authorized secession from the U.S. on 1 February 1861. Texas voters later approved the measure in referendum, and the state was accepted as a charter member by the provisional government of the Confederate States of America on 1 March 1861.[Secession Convention from the Handbook of Texas Online][Texas Civil War Museum. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.] Texas was a "supply state" for the Confederate forces until mid-1863, when the Union capture of the Mississippi River made large movements of men or cattle impossible. The last battle of the Civil War was fought in Texas, at Palmito Ranch, on 12 May 1865, at least a month after the surrender of the Confederate armies in the eastern theatres of war.[Battle of Palmito Ranch from the Handbook of Texas Online]
Texas descended into near-anarchy during the two months between the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia and the assumption of authority by Union General Gordon Granger, as Confederate forces demobilized or disbanded and government property passed into private hands through distribution or plunder.[Civil War from the Handbook of Texas Online] Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation on 19 June 1865 in Galveston by General Gordon Granger; over 2-1/2 years after the original announcement of 1 January 1863.[Juneteenth from the Handbook of Texas Online] President Johnson, on 20 August 1866, declared that civilian government had been restored to Texas.[[2]] On 30 March 1870 the Congress readmitted Texas into the Union, despite not meeting all reconstruction requirements.[Restoration from the Handbook of Texas Online]
Modern Texas
The first major oil well in Texas was Spindletop, a little hill south of Beaumont, on the morning of 10 January 1901. Other oil fields were later discovered nearby in East Texas, West Texas, and under the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting “Oil Boom” permanently transformed the economy of Texas.[Spindletop Oilfield from the Handbook of Texas Online] Oil production eventually averaged three million barrels of oil per day at its peak in 1972.[Oil and Gas Industry from the Handbook of Texas Online] The economy, which had shown significant progress since the American Civil War, was dealt a double blow by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
From 1950 through the 1960s, Texas modernized and dramatically expanded its system of higher education. Under the leadership of Governor John B. Connally, the state created a long-range plan for higher education, a more rational distribution of resources, and a central state apparatus designed to manage state institutions more efficiently. These changes, helped Texas universities receive federal research funds during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.[Blanton, Carlos Kevin. "The Campus and the Capitol: John B. Connally and the Struggle over Texas Higher Education Policy, 1950-1970" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 108(4): 468-497. ISSN 0038-478X]
Geography
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The geography of Texas spans a wide range of features and timelines. Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. It is in the south-central part of the United States of America. It is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.
The Rio Grande, Red River and Sabine River all provide natural state lines where Texas borders Oklahoma on the north, Louisiana and Arkansas on the east, & the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south. But to the west, the borders with the State of New Mexico & with the panhandle of Oklahoma are not based on natural features of terrain.
Some residents divide Texas into five regions: North, East, Central, South, and West. Texas Almanac divides Texas into four physical regions: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and The Basin and Range Province. This is the difference between human geography and physical geography.
Some regions of Texas are more associated with the South than the Southwest (primarily East Texas, Central Texas, and North Texas), while others share more similarities with the latter (primarily far West Texas and South Texas). The upper Texas Panhandle and the South Plains parts of West Texas do not easily fit into either category. The former has much in common with the Midwestern United States, while the latter, originally settled primarily by anglo Southerners, yet with a notable Hispanic population, is somewhat of a blend of South and Southwest.
The size of Texas prohibits easy categorization of the entire state wholly in any recognized region of the United States; geographic, economic, and even cultural diversity between regions of the state preclude treating Texas as a region in its own right.
- See also: Texas Irrigation Canals
Geology
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Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. The continental crust here is a stable Mesoproterozoic craton which changes across a broad continental margin and transitional crust into true oceanic crust of the Gulf of Mexico. The oldest rocks in Texas date from the Mesoproterozoic and are about 1,600 million years old. These Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks underly most of the state, and are exposed in three places: Llano uplift, Van Horn, and the Franklin Mountains, near El Paso. This is overlain by mostly sedimentary rocks. The oldest sediments were deposited on the flanks of a rifted continental margin, or passive margin that developed during Cambrian time. This margin existed until Laurasia and Godwana collided in Pennsylvanian time to form Pangea. This is the buried crest of the Appalachian Mountains—Ouachita Mountains—Marathon Mountains zone of Pennsylvanian continental collision. This orogenic crest is today buried beneath the Dallas—Waco—Austin—San Antonio trend. During this time E. Texas was a region of high mountains and shallow seas covered W. Texas.
The late Paleozoic mountains collapsed as rifting in Jurassic time began to open the Gulf of Mexico. Pangea began to break up in the Triassic but seafloor spreading to form the Gulf of Mexico occurred only in the mid and late Jurassic. The shoreline shifted again to the eastern margin of the state and the Gulf of Mexico passive margin began to form. Today there are 9miles (14km) to 12miles (19km) of sediments buried beneath the Texas continental shelf and a large proportion of remaining US oil reserves are to be found here. At the start of its formation, the incipient Gulf of Mexico basin was restricted and seawater often evaporated completely to form thick evaporite deposits of Jurassic age. These salt deposits have buoyantly risen up through the passive margin sediments to form salt dome diapirs, commonly found in East Texas, along the Gulf coast.
East Texas outcrops consist of Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments with contain important deposits of Eocenelignite. Oil is found in the Mississippian ad Pennsylvanian sediments in the north, Permian sediments in the west, Cretaceous sediments in the east, and along the Gulf coast and out on the Texas continental shelf. Oligocene volcanic rocks are found in far west Texas, in the Big Bend area. A blanket of Miocene sediments known as the Ogallala formation in the western high plains region is an important aquifer. Texas has no active or dormant volcanoes and few earthquakes, being situated far from an active plate tectonic boundary.
Climate
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2004 Christmas Eve snowstorm in South Texas
The large size of Texas and its location at the intersection of several climate zones gives the state highly variable weather. In general, though, there are three main climate zones: the humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) of the eastern half of Texas, the temperate semi-arid (Koppen BSk) steppe climate of the northwestern part, including the Panhandle, and the subtropical steppe climate (nearly an arid desert climate, Koppen BSh) of the southern parts of West Texas, particularly around El Paso.
The Panhandle of the state is colder in winter than North Texas, while the Gulf Coast has mild winters. Texas has wide variations in precipitation patterns. El Paso, on the western end of the state, averages as little as 8inches (200mm) of annual rainfall while Houston, on the southeast Texas averages as much as 54inches (1,400mm) per year.[Weather. Handbook of Texas Online.] Dallas in the North Central region averages a more moderate 37inches (940mm) per year. Snowfall often falls in the winter months in the north. Maximum temperatures in the summer months average from the 80s °F (26 °C) in the mountains of West Texas and on Galveston Island to around 100°F (38°C) in the Rio Grande Valley. Nighttime summer temperatures range from the upper 50s °F (14 °C) in the West Texas mountains[Monthly Averages for Marfa, TX weather.com] to 80°F (27°C) in Galveston.[Monthly Averages for Galveston, TX. weather.com.]
Thunderstorms are very common in Texas, especially the eastern and northern portion of the state. Texas also experiences the highest number of tornadoes out of every state in the Union, with an average of around 139 a year. Although these tend to strike most frequently in North Texas and the Panhandle, every part of the state is subject to these violent storms.[ [3] NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on 24 October 2006. ] Tornadoes occur mostly between the months of April-July but may strike at any time of the year.
Texas emits the most greenhouse gases out of any state.[Borenstein, Seth. "Blame Coal: Texas Leads in Overall Emissions", USA Today, 04-06-2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.] The state\'s annual carbon dioxide emissions are nearly 1.5 trillion pounds (680 billion kg). Texas would be the world\'s seventh-largest producer of greenhouse gases if it were its own country.[MSN City Guides. "Five Cities that Need help Getting Green".][Heinrich Boll Foundation North America. "Approaches, Challenges, Potentials: Renewable Energy and Climate Change Policies in U.S. States", 2003-12.] Much of the greenhouse gas emissions come from the state\'s refining and manufacturing industries which provide the bulk of the United States\'s petroleum and plastics.
- See also: Catastrophic Texas Hurricanes since 1900
Demographics
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The annual Houston International Festival spotlights a different culture each year
As of 2006, the state has an estimated population of 23,507,783, an increase of 579,275 (2.5%) from the prior year and an increase of 2,655,993 (12.7%) since the year 2000. Texas has seen an increase in population in all three subcategories—natural (births less deaths), net immigration, and net migration. The natural increase since the last census was 1,389,275 people (2,351,909 births minus 962,634 deaths), immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 801,576 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 451,910 people. The state passed New York in the 1990s to become the second-largest U.S. state in population.
As of 2004, the state has 3.5 million foreign-born residents (15.6 percent of the state population), of which an estimated 1.2 million are illegal immigrants (illegal immigrants account for more than one-third of the foreign-born population in Texas and 5.4 percent of the total state population).
Race and ethnic origins
Texas Population Density Map
As of the 2006 US Census estimates, the racial distribution in Texas are as follows: 54.4% White American, 11.9% African American, 3.4% are Asian American or American Indian, and 35.7% are Hispanics or Latino (of any race).[http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.html]
The largest reported ancestry groups in Texas include: Mexican (25.3%), German (10.9%), African American (10.5%), English (7.2%), and Scots-Irish (7.2%). Descendants from some of these ancestry groups are underreported.
Much of east, central, and north Texas is inhabited by white Protestant heritage, primarily descended from ancestors from Great Britain and Ireland. Much of central and southeast-central Texas is inhabited by whites of German descent. African Americans, who historically made up one-third of the state population, are concentrated in those parts of East Texas where the cotton plantation culture was most prominent prior to the American Civil War, as well as in Dallas and Houston.
Several of the smaller European settlements have left their marks on the state. Frontier Texas saw settlements of Germans, particularly in Fredericksburg and NewBraunfels. After the European revolutions of 1848, German, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech and French immigration grew, and continued until World War I. The influence of the diverse immigrants from Europe survives in the names of towns, styles of architecture, genres of music, and varieties of cuisine. Lavaca County is predominantly Czech.
More than one-third of Texas residents are of Hispanic origin and may be of any racial group. Many have recently arrived, while others, Tejanos, have ancestors who have multigenerational ties in Texas. Hispanics dominate south, south-central, and west Texas and are a significant part of the residents in San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas.
Immigrants (including illegal aliens)—primarily from far southern Mexico and Central America also contribute to the state\'s growth. The influx of immigration is partially responsible for Texas having a population younger than the U.S. average.
Recently, the Asian population in Texas has grown—primarily in Houston and Dallas.
Religion
Texas is a part of the strong socially conservative Evangelical Protestant, Bible Belt, and has a higher percentage of people with religious affiliation than any other state[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A19148-2003Jan20?language=printer]. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas is home to three major evangelical seminaries, Dallas Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Criswell College. The city has several of America\'s largest megachurches including the Potter\'s House pastored by T.D Jakes. Houston is home to the largest church in the nation, Lakewood Church, which is pastored by Joel Osteen
![[3]](http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/research/tornado/small/avgt5304.gif){kind=link}