Brazos River

The Brazos River (/ˈbræzəs/ BRAZ-əs, Spanish: [ˈbɾasos]), called the Río de los Brazos de Dios (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at 1,280 miles (2,060 km) from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Roosevelt County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 45,000-square-mile (116,000 km) drainage basin.

The river is closely associated with Texas history, particularly the Austin settlement and Texas Revolution eras. Today major Texas institutions such as Texas Tech University, Baylor University, and Texas A&M University are located close to the river's basin, as are parts of metropolitan Houston.