This is an IHeart podcast.

And we return to our American stories.

And up next, a story from a regular contributor, Ann Claire, about a fight over a pig that almost led to a war.

And we're telling this story because on this day in history, in 1846, the pig war broke out.

The pig war didn't have much to do with farm animals.

Rather, the unfortunate demise of a pig who ventured into the wrong garden in 1859 almost led to an

armed conflict, another armed conflict, between Britain and the United States.

In the early 1800s, multiple countries had sent explorers to the Pacific Northwest coast of North America.

These explorers laid claim to territory in the New World.

However, as there weren't markings on property lines, Britain, Spain, Russia, and the fledgling United States all ended up with overlapping claims.

Now, by 1819, Spain was out of the running for Pacific

Northwest real estate, thanks to the Transcontinental Treaty. President James Monroe's 1823 speech

outlining the Monroe Doctrine warned Russia that seeking interests in North America wouldn't be tolerated.

But this still left Britain and the United States of having to work out their conflicting claims.

Both nations had reasons why they felt their claim was more legitimate.

On the British side, Captain James Cook had conducted important explorations of the coastal

areas of the territory.

One of his crew members, George Vancouver, returned and became the first non-native

to explore Puget Sound, giving it its name in the process.

The Hudson Bay Company had been active in the area for years, establishing trade

and putting down roots. However, the Americans had the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery

exploration to point to, and the subsequent setting up of trading posts and forts. A decade before

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