January 9

Historic Events

2021

Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 crashes north of Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 62 people on board. ›

2017

Mont-Libre Agile Learning Centre, the province of Quebec's first alternative schooling democratic learning centre to support homeschooled youth, opens in the city of Montreal. ›

2015

The perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris two days earlier are both killed after a hostage situation; a second hostage situation, related to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, occurs at a Jewish market in Vincennes. ›

2015

A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involving beer that was contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli leaves 75 dead and over 230 people ill. ›

2014

An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others. ›

2011

Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, in icy conditions, killing 78 people. ›

2007

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco. ›

2005

Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, replacing interim president Rawhi Fattouh. ›

2005

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War. ›

2004

An inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalls near the Karaburun Peninsula en route to Brindisi, Italy; exposure to the elements kills 28. This is the second deadliest marine disaster in Albanian history. ›

2003

TANS Perú Flight 222 crashes on approach to Chachapoyas Airport in Chachapoyas, Peru, killing 46 people. ›

1997

Comair Flight 3272 crashes in Raisinville Township in Monroe County, Michigan, killing 29 people. ›

1996

First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians. ›

1992

The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia. ›

1992

The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12. ›

1991

Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. ›

1964

Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians. ›

1962

Apollo program: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle, then known as the "Advanced Saturn", to carry human beings to the Moon. ›

1961

British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland spy ring in London. ›

1960

President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile. ›

1959

The Vega de Tera dam fails, triggering a disastrous flood that nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents. ›

1957

British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty. ›

1945

World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. ›

1941

World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster. ›

1939

The Kingdom of Italy would officially the coastal areas of its Colony of Libya as an integral part of the country itself, becoming the nation's Fourth Shore. ›

1927

A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children. ›

1923

Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight. ›

1923

Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations' decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control. ›

1921

Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia. ›

1920

Ukrainian War of Independence: The All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee outlaws the Makhnovshchina by decree, igniting the Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict. ›

1918

Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars. ›

1917

World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine. ›

1916

World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula. ›

1914

The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States. ›

1909

Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time. ›

1903

Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia. ›

1878

Umberto I becomes King of Italy. ›

1861

American Civil War: "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. ›

1861

Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War. ›

1858

British forces finally defeat Rajab Ali Khan of Chittagong. ›

1857

The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). ›

1839

The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process. ›

1822

The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process. ›

1816

Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery. ›

1806

Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral. ›

1799

British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars. ›

1793

Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States. ›

1792

Treaty of Jassy between Russian and Ottoman Empire is signed, ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–92. ›

1788

Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the United States Constitution. ›

1787

The nationally known image of the Black Nazarene in the Philippines is transferred from what is now Rizal Park to its present shrine in the minor basilica of Quiapo Church. This is annually commemorated through its Traslación (solemn transfer) in the streets of Manila and is attended by millions of devotees. ›

1760

Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat. ›

1693

Sicily earthquake: The first of two earthquakes destroys parts of Sicily and Malta. After the second quake on 11 January, the death toll is estimated at between 60,000 and 100,000 people. ›

1431

The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen. ›

1349

The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated. ›

1127

Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending the Northern Song period. ›

1038

An earthquake in Dingxiang, China kills an estimated 32,300. ›

681

Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain. ›

475

Verina, the Eastern Roman dowager Empress, instigates a riot in Constantinople and persuades emperor Zeno, her son-in-law, to flee. The Byzantine senate, however, acclaims Basiliscus as emperor and not her lover Patricius. ›

400

Aelia Eudoxia is officially crowned empress of the Eastern Roman Empire. ›