Texas history does not begin with its declaration of independence from Mexico 1836. Long before this revolt, indigenous people and Hispanic settlers lived in the vast region called New Spain. Spain’s conquest of Mexico in 1519 continued until Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1810. Then, what was known as Tejas to the inhabitants, became part of Mexico.

Spain’s European blood was not only spilled in the bloody conquest of Mexico but mixed with Mexico’s indigenous tribes, resulting in a people called mestizos. Mexicans are inheritors of this extraordinary human fusion.

Ohio is nicknamed “The Mother of Presidents” because eight of 44 presidents were from Ohio. They are William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren B. Harding. Of those eight, four of them were from Greater Cincinnati. 

Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet

Imagine an expansive field, filled with grassy areas, bogs, wet moors. Off to the side, sheep graze. Occasionally, you'll see a flag posted. There are a few benches, alongside the paths. There's a old thatch-roofed Leanach cottage off to the left. And, inexplicably, an air of sadness infused with every breath you take.