Much of Galveston's economy is centered in the tourism, health care, shipping, and financial industries.
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The city subsequently reemerged during the Prohibition era of 1919–1933 as a leading tourist hub and a center of illegal gambling, nicknamed the Free State of Galveston until this era ended in the 1950s with subsequent other economic and social development. The natural disaster on the exposed barrier island is still ranked today as the deadliest in United States history, with an estimated death toll between 6,000 and 12,000 people. It was devastated by the unexpected Galveston Hurricane of 1900, whose effects included massive flooding and a storm surge which nearly wiped out the town. It was, for a time, Texas' largest city, known as the "Queen City of the Gulf". commercial center and one of the largest ports in the United States. This event is commemorated annually on June 19, the federal holiday of Juneteenth.ĭuring the 19th century, Galveston became a major U.S. In 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived at Ashton Villa and announced to some of the last enslaved African Americans that slavery was no longer legal. The city was the main port for the fledgling Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution of 1836, and later served temporarily as the new national capital of the Republic of Texas. The Port of Galveston was established in 1825 by the Congress of Mexico following its independence from Spain. Galveston's first European settlements on the Galveston Island were built around 1816 by French pirate Louis-Michel Aury to help the fledgling empire of Mexico fight for independence from Spain, along with other colonies in the Western Hemisphere of the Americas in Central and South America in the 1810s and 1820s. Galveston, or Galvez's town, was named after 18th-century Spanish military and political leader Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez (1746–1786), who was born in Macharaviaya, Málaga, in the Kingdom of Spain. It is also within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area at its southern end on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The community of 209.3 square miles (542 km 2), with a population of 53,695 in 2020, is the county seat of surrounding Galveston County and second-largest municipality in the county. Galveston ( / ˈ ɡ æ l v ɪ s t ən/ GAL-vis-tən) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S.
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