Dallas is the third-largest (as estimated by the United States Census Bureau on 1 July 2006) city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The city covers 385 square miles (997 km²) and is the county seat of Dallas County. As of July 1, 2006, U.S. Census estimates put central Dallas at a population of over 1.2 million.The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area—at over 6.1 million people, it is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.Dallas is also 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’s economy is primarily based on 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 a strong industrial and financial sector.

Dallas is currently the third most popular destination for business travel, and the Dallas Convention Center, in downtown Dallas, is one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the country, at over 1 million square feet, and the world’s largest singular column-free exhibit hall.

Before Texas was claimed in the 16th century 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, Warren Angus Ferris surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. He shot the bears, poisoned the wolves, chased off the natives, and made the area safe for John N. Bryan to “found” the city of Dallas in 1841. In 1846 the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States and Dallas County was established. It is strongly debated that the City of Dallas, Texas is named after the U.S. Vice President, George Mifflin Dallas.

Things To Do

Historical Foundation Sixth Floor Museum
Dallas Museum-Nature & Science
Nasher Sculpture Center
Trammell & Margaret Crow Asian Art Museum
Science Place
Museum of American Railroad
Museum of African-American
Womens Museum
Dallas Museum of Art
Frontiers of Flight Museum
Dallas World Aquarium
Dallas Arboretum
Fair Park