Using decennial census data, this chart shows population growth in Texas as a composite of four component groups. Whites historically have been the largest single group. Though not reflected in this chart, the term "white" in Texas comprises a heterogenous collection of ethnic groups of chiefly European stock -- notably Germans and Czechs -- who immigrated directly to Texas, and numerous others originally of European stock who came to Texas from other states. The African-American population, just after statehood the second largest racial population group in Texas, is today the third largest group. The Hispanic population in Texas started small despite Spanish settlement of Texas and the region's historical connection to Mexico, but today is the second largest population group in the state. The fourth group the chart depicts labeled "Other" remained small to vanishing for much of the state's history, but today is rapidly growing in importance. Beginning with the 1850 census in Texas, the first after statehood, the "Other" group contained only a handful of American Indians, and then only the few in fact counted by census takers, not the many more that roamed the Texas plains. That group changed in composition over time as Indians were forced from the state and a smattering of people chiefly of Asian origins came to the state. Since the 1970s Asian and other small populations in Texas have grown at an increasingly rapid rate -- notably Vietnamese and Chinese populations in big cities like Houston.