Gday...

1865  -     News that slavery has been abolished in all the states finally reaches Texas, two and a half years after the proclamation is officially announced.

The first African slaves arrived in North America in 1526, and though the practice of slavery took many years to become popular, it thrived under British colonialism. On 1 January 1808 American Congress voted to ban further importation of slaves, but children of slaves automatically became slaves themselves. There was no legislation against the internal US slave trade, or against the involvement in the international slave trade and the outfitting of ships for that trade by US citizens.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was not in favour of abolition of slavery, but he opposed its expansion into new territories and states in the American West. It was this issue that led to the secession of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America, and ultimately also led to the Civil War.

Slavery was officially abolished in 1863. However, the news of the slaves' freedom took two and a half years to reach some of the states. 19 June 1865 is the date when General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced that the state's 200,000 slaves were free.

1889  -     The modern pizza is invented.

The word pizza has been in existence for many centuries longer than the modern pizza. The first time the word was noted was in the year 997, in Medieval Latin, in reference to a Neapolitan. Bakers in Naples used the flatbread as a tool to gauge the temperature of an oven, and it was not intended to be eaten.

The modern pizza is believed to have been invented on 19 June 1889. Raffaele Esposito was a chef in Naples who wished to honour Queen Margherita of Savoy. He used the pizza flatbread base and topped it with a combination of fresh tomato, mozzarella cheese, olive oil and basil. Naming it after the Queen, Esposito created the very first "Pizza Margherita", selecting the topping to represent the colours of the flag of Italy.

1978  -     Garfield, the sardonic comic strip cat, debuts in print.

Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis, featuring the sardonic cat Garfield, Odie the dog, and their socially inept owner Jon Arbuckle. Garfield is named after creator Jim Davis's grandfather, James Garfield Davis, who was named after former US president James Garfield.

Garfield first appeared in print on 19 June 1978, initially making his debut in 41 US newspapers. He has since gone on to appear in dozens of books, TV cartoons and even his own film. The comic strip was turned into a television cartoon special in 1982 called "Here Comes Garfield", which was followed by twelve television specials and a television series, Garfield and Friends, which ran from 1988 to 1995. A live-action movie entitled "Garfield: The Movie" debuted in the United States in June 2004.

Garfield is well known for his love of lasagna and eating in general, his sarcasm, and how he torments Odie, the dog, in ways which sometimes backfire. As of 2006, the comic strip is syndicated in roughly 2,570 newspapers and journals and it currently holds the Guinness World Record for being the world's most widely syndicated comic strip.

Cheers - John