Texas Hill Country
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Image:Texas Hill Country Near I-10, 2004.jpg
The Texas Hill Country is a region of Central Texas, USA, that features rolling, somewhat rugged, hills that consist primarily of limestone. The region is the eastern portion of the Edwards Plateau bounded by the Balcones Fault on the east and the Llano Uplift to the west and north. The terrain is punctuated by a large number of limestone rocks and boulders and a thin layer of topsoil which makes the region prone to flash flooding.
Several cities, including Austin, San Marcos and New Braunfels were sited in the flat areas immediately to east of the Balcones Fault line where rivers flow across it, ostensibly because of their natural beauty and the natural wind break formed by the hills. The largest city within the Hill Country is Kerrville.
Due to its karst topography, the area also features a number of caves, such as Inner Space Caverns and Natural Bridge Caverns. The deeper caverns of the area form several aquifers which serve as a source of drinking water for the residents of the area.
It is largely drained by tributaries of the Colorado River, including the Llano and Pedernales rivers, which cross the region west to east and join the Colorado as it cuts across the region to the southeast, emerging from the hills west of Austin.
The area is also unique for its fusion of Spanish and Central European (German, Swiss, Alsatian and Czech) influences in food, beer, architecture, and music. For example, the accordion was popularized in Tejano music in the 19th Century due to cultural exposure to German settlers.
In recent years, the region has emerged as the center of the Texas wine industry.
See also
| Image:Flag of Texas.svg | State of Texas </b> Texas Topics | History | Republic of Texas | Politics | Texans |
|---|---|
| Capital | Austin |
| Image:Bluebonnet1.jpg Regions | Arklatex | Big Bend | Brazos Valley | Central Texas | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex | Deep East Texas | East Texas | Edwards Plateau | Galveston Bay | Golden Triangle | Greater Houston | North Texas | Northeast Texas | Permian Basin | Piney Woods | Rio Grande Valley | Texas Hill Country | Texas Panhandle | Llano Estacado | Southeast Texas | South Texas | West Texas</font> |
| Image:Texas state seal.png Metropolitan areas | Abilene | Amarillo | Austin–Round Rock | Beaumont–Port Arthur | Brownsville–Harlingen | Bryan–College Station | Corpus Christi | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington | El Paso | Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown | Killeen–Temple | Laredo | Longview–Marshall | Lubbock | McAllen–Edinburg–Mission | Midland–Odessa | San Angelo | San Antonio | Sherman–Denison | Texarkana | Tyler | Victoria | Waco | Wichita Falls See also: List of Texas counties |
