San Antonio Spanish for “Saint Anthony”), officially the City of
San Antonio, is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater
San Antonio, the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the
24th-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 2.6 million
people in the 2020 US census. It is the most populous city in
and the county seat of Bexar County. The city is the seventh-most
populous in the United States, the second-largest in the Southern
United States, and the second-most populous in Texas after Houston.
Founded as a Spanish mission and colonial outpost in 1718, the city
in 1731 became the first chartered civil settlement in what is now
present-day Texas. The area was then part of the Spanish Empire.
From 1821 to 1836, it was part of the Mexican Republic. It is the
oldest municipality in Texas, having celebrated its 300th anniversary
on May 1, 2018.
Straddling the regional divide between South and Central Texas, San
Antonio anchors the southwestern corner of an urban megaregion
colloquially known as the Texas Triangle. Downtown Austin and
Downtown San Antonio are approximately 80 miles (129 km) apart,
and both fall along the Interstate 35 corridor. This combined
metropolitan region of San Antonio–Austin has approximately 5
million people.
San Antonio was named by a 1691 Spanish expedition for the Portuguese
priest Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is June 13.
The city contains five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions,
including The Alamo and San Antonio Missions National Historical
Park. Together these were designated as UNESCO World Heritage
sites in 2015. Other notable attractions include the River
Walk, the Tower of the Americas, SeaWorld San Antonio, the Alamo
Bowl, and Marriage Island. Commercial entertainment includes Six
Flags Fiesta Texas and Morgan’s Wonderland amusement parks. According
to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau, the city is visited
by about 32 million tourists a year. It is home to the five-time National
Basketball Association (NBA) champion San Antonio Spurs. It hosts the annual
San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest such events in the U.S.
