San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

 

San Antonio
City in the United States
Location
State Texas
County Bexar County
Coordinates 29°25’30″N, 98°29’38″WL
General
Surface 1,205,4 km²
– country 1,193.7 km²
– water 11.7 km²
Residents
(April 1, 2020)
1,434,625
(1,202 inhabitant/km²)
Politics
Mayor Ron Nirenberg (O)
Website sanantonio.gov

According to Existingcountries, San Antonio is a city in the US state of Texas with a population of 1,144,646 (2000). It is the seventh most populous city in the United States. The area is 1055.2 km².

Agglomeration

San Antonio is an important center and hub. The city is located in southern Texas, 225 kilometers north of the Mexican border, 300 kilometers west of Houston, 120 kilometers south of Austin, 410 kilometers southwest of Dallas, and 800 kilometers east of El Paso. The city is located at the intersection of three interstate highways, namely Interstate 10, Interstate 35 and Interstate 37. It is the cultural gateway to the Southwestern United States, as a transition area from the Southern States to the Southwestern States.

The agglomeration of San Antonio has only 700,000 inhabitants more than the city itself. Entire surrounding areas have been added to San Antonio rather than just suburbs surrounding the city. San Antonio has no significant suburbs. The city is much more compact than other Texan cities, measuring 35 miles from east to west and 22 miles from north to south. It is true that parts of the countryside, especially in the north of the agglomeration, have been urbanised. Some distance away are a number of commuter towns, which are not part of the conurbation. The capital Austin is not far away, so there is a lot of traffic on the I-35 between the two cities.

Development of new urban areas mainly takes place on the north side of the agglomeration. The center is quite old and more classically built by American standards than other Texan cities, with the San Antonio Riverwalk, the Alamo and more Mexican influence. 20 million people visit the city annually. The Riverwalk in particular is a major tourist attraction. On the banks of the waters of the San Antonio River through the city are restaurants, shops and art galleries. There are no major rivers running through the city.

The Alamo is a major tourist attraction. Actually, it was a Catholic mission building that became the center of the Texas Independence Movement. It became legendary through the siege by Mexicans in 1836, known in the Netherlands and Belgium as the Battle of the Alamo. More than 200 Texan freedom fighters held out for ten days before the building was stormed.

In addition to the Alamo, there were other Spanish Catholic missions in the area that San Antonio grew out of, these were recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2015 during the 39th session of the World Heritage Commission and added to the World Heritage List by UNESCO under the title of the Missions of San Antonio.

Demographics

10.4% of the population is older than 65 and 25.1% consists of single -person households. Unemployment is 3.8 % (census figures 2000).

About 58.7% of San Antonio’s population is Hispanic and Hispanic, 6.8% of African origin and 1.6% of Asian origin.

The population increased from 997,434 in 1990 to 1,144,646 in 2000.

Climate

In January the average temperature is 9.6 °C, in July it is 29.4 °C. Annual average rainfall is 786.9 mm (data based on the measurement period 1961-1990).

Sports

San Antonio has one sports club with basketball club San Antonio Spurs that plays in one of the four largest American professional sports.

Amusement Park

San Antonio is known for the Six Flags Fiesta Texas amusement park and SeaWorld San Antonio.

Name

The Spanish scouts and missionaries who ascended the river in 1691 arrived at the then small settlement on June 13, the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua, and named the river and settlement after their saint.

Town twinning

  • Guadalajara (Mexico)
  • Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain)

Born

  • Juan Seguín (1806–1890), politician and soldier
  • Florence Bates (1888-1954), actress
  • Ann Harding (1902-1981), actress
  • Wilmer Allison (1904-1977), tennis player
  • Joan Crawford (1905-1977), actress
  • Edward White (1930-1967), astronaut
  • William Keeler (1931-2017), Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore
  • David Scott (1932), astronaut, moonwalker
  • Carol Burnett (1933), comedian
  • Al Freeman Jr. (1934-2012), actor, film director and screenwriter
  • John Blaha (1942), astronaut
  • Oliver North (1943), soldier
  • Bruce McGill (1950), actor
  • Christopher Cross (1951), singer
  • Alberto Gonzales (1955), minister
  • Callie Khouri (1957), director, screenwriter and producer
  • John Allen Nelson (1959), actor, film producer and screenwriter
  • Emilio Rivera (1961), actor, film producer and stand-up comedian
  • Jesse Borrego (1962), actor
  • Robert Stanton (1963), actor and stage director
  • Jonathan Joss (1965), actor
  • Robert Rodriguez (1968), film director
  • Henry Thomas (1971), actor
  • Julián Castro (1974), mayor
  • Kevin Alejandro (1976), actor
  • Nicholas Gonzalez (1976), actor
  • Warren Kole (1977), actor
  • Michelle Rodriguez (1978), actress
  • Jared Padalecki (1982), actor
  • Darold Williamson (1983), sprinter
  • Jessica Collins (1983), actress
  • Scott Jones (1983), football player
  • Madison Davenport (1996), (voice) actress and singer
  • Austin Mahone (1996), singer
  • Rick Riordan (1964), Author

San Antonio, Texas