This image maps the creation of counties in Texas. The earliest counties were organized mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the state during the period of the Texas Republic. After statehood another band of counties was added further north, west, and south. During the Civil War and Reconstruction a sprinkling of counties was created in the interstitial spaces. Then after 1876 large blocks of squarish counties were mapped onto modern west Texas. Finally, the first two decades of the twentieth century saw the creation of the last Texas counties defined on today's map.