Houston

This is a highly cosmopolitan city, visited by executives from all over the world. It’s famous for its nearness to the Texas oilfields, which makes it a customary stomping ground for high-stakes businesses.

Located in southeast Texas, Houston doesn’t quite reach the coast. However, the city’s Buffalo Bayou flows into the Houston Ship Channel 85 kilometers east, which in turn pours into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s an extremely important commercial waterway, and its proximity has meant millions of dollars in investment and development for the city.

Houston is the U.S.’s fourth largest city and the center of the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area, made up of 10 counties. Anything to do with Houston has that rough-hewn, very masculine touch, perhaps because it’s named after General Sam Houston, a former president of the Republic of Texas.

The petroleum industry first gushed forth in 1901 when deposits were discovered, and before long people streamed in and settled the city. But Houston’s modernity and technological edge truly arrived with the establishment of the famous Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the heart and brain of U.S. manned space missions.

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