October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 83 days remaining until the end of the year. Today is Leif Erikson Day (United States, Iceland and Norway)
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- Fire Prevention Day (Canada, United States)
- Hangul Day (South Korea)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uganda from United Kingdom in 1962. (Uganda)
- Independence of Guayaquil from Spain in 1820 (Ecuador)
- Leif Erikson Day (United States, Iceland and Norway)
- National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust (Romania)
- National Nanotechnology Day (United States)
- Takayama Autumn Festival (Takayama, Japan)
- World Post Day
General events on October 9th
In 1201, Robert de Sorbon, French theologian, founder of the Collège de Sorbonne was born. (d. 1274)
In 1558, Mérida is founded in Venezuela.
In 1582, Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
In 1701, The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
In 1804, Hobart, capital of Tasmania, is founded.
In 1834, Opening of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first public railway on the island of Ireland.
In 1873, A meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute.
In 1888, The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
In 1907, Las Cruces, New Mexico is incorporated.
In 1911, Joseph John Rosenthal was born. (October 9, 1911 – August 20, 2006) He was an American photographer who received the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic World War II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima.His picture became one of the best-known photographs of the war.
In 1919, Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series.
In 1945, Parade in NYC for Fleet Admiral Nimitz and 13 USN/USMC Medal of Honor recipients
In 1989, An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
In 1992, A 13 kilogram (est.) fragment of the Peekskill meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family’s 1980 Chevrolet Malibu
In 1999, The last flight of the SR-71.
In 2006, North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device.
In 2007, Former Vice President Al Gore now has a Nobel Peace Prize to go along with his Academy Award. The Nobel committee today said Gore and a United Nations panel would share the prestigious prize for their independent work on global warming. Gore’s film about climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won an Academy Award earlier this year. Some see the high-profile platform the award provides as a way for Gore to get into the 2008 presidential race, but it probably won’t matter. Two Gore advisers told the Associated Press that the award won’t change his thinking. One of the aides said the chances that the 2000 Democratic nominee would run again in 2008 were “extremely remote.”
Government and Politics on October 9th
In 1635, Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
In 1820, Guayaquil declares independence from Spain.
In 1824, Slavery is abolished in Costa Rica.
In 1874, General Postal Union is created as a result of the Treaty of Berne.
In 1942, Statute of Westminster 1931 formalises Australian autonomy.
In 1962, Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.
In 1981, Abolition of capital punishment in France.
In 1991, Ecuador becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
In 2016, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam called on Donald Trump to step down as the party’s presidential nominee for his newly released remarks about his aggressive treatment of women. The Republican issued a statement Sunday calling on Trump to remove himself and clear the way for Trump running mate Mike Pence to face Democrat Hillary Clinton next month.
War, Crime and Disaster events on October 9th
In 1238, James I of Aragon conquers Valencia and founds the Kingdom of Valencia.
In 1264, The Kingdom of Castile conquers the city of Jerez that was under Muslim occupation since 711.
In 1594, The Portuguese Empire army is annihilated by the Kingdom of Kandy on Sri Lanka, bringing an end to the Campaign of Danture.
In 1595, The Spanish army captures Cambrai.
In 1708, Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya.
In 1740, Dutch colonists and various slave groups begin massacring ethnic Chinese in Batavia, eventually killing 10,000 and leading to a two-year-long war throughout Java.
In 1760, Seven Years’ War: Russian forces occupy Berlin.
In 1771, The Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks near the coast of Finland.
In 1799, Sinking of HMS Lutine, with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000.
In 1806, Prussia declares war on France.
In 1812, War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
In 1831, Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent Greece is assassinated.
In 1854, Crimean War: The siege of Sebastopol begins.
In 1861, American Civil War: Battle of Santa Rosa Island – Union troops repel a Confederate attempt to capture Fort Pickens.
In 1864, American Civil War: Battle of Tom’s Brook – Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom’s Brook, Virginia.
In 1911, An accidental bomb explosion in Hankou, Wuhan, China leads to the ultimate fall of the Qing Empire
In 1913, Steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic.
In 1914, World War I: Siege of Antwerp – Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
In 1934, Regicide at Marseille: The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France.
In 1940, World War II: Battle of Britain – During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.
In 1941, A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president.
In 1942,The last day of the October Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps forces withdraw back across the Matanikau River after destroying most of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 4th Infantry Regiment.
In 1950, Goyang Geumjeong Cave Massacre started.
In 1963, In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
In 1966, Vietnam War: Binh Tai massacre
In 1966, Vietnam War: Dien Nien-Phuoc Binh massacre
In 1967, A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
In 1969, In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the “Chicago Eight” that began on September 24.
In 1970, The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
In 1983, Rangoon bombing: attempted assassination of South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during an official visit to Rangoon, Burma. Chun survives but the blast kills 17 of his entourage, including four cabinet ministers, and injures 17 others. Four Burmese officials also die in the blast.
In 1995, An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.
In 2001, Second mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attack.
In 2006, Federal prosecutors alleged that Antoin “Tony” Rezko used his influence as one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s closest advisers and fundraisers to seek millions of dollars in kickbacks and campaign donations from firms seeking state business. The governor is not accused of any wrongdoing, but the long-rumored charges have been hanging over his re-election campaign for months.
In 2012, Members of the Pakistani Taliban made a Failed attempt to assassinate Malala Yousafzai on her way home from school.
In 2016, The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launches its first attack on Myanmar security forces along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border.
In 2019, Turkey begins its military offensive in north-eastern Syria.
Royalty and Religious events on October 9th
In 768, Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks.
In 1514, Marriage of Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor.
In 1845, The eminent and controversial Anglican, John Henry Newman, is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1980, Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
In 1980, Princess Caroline of Monaco divorces Philippe Junot
Human Achievement and Science events on October 9th
In 1446, The hangul alphabet is published in Korea.
In 1604, Supernova 1604, the most recent supernova to be observed in the Milky Way.
In 1936, Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.
In 2009, First lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA‘s Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.
Arts and Prose events on October 9th
In 1986, The musical The Phantom of the Opera has its first performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London.
In 2003, Mission: SPACE opens to the public in the Epcot park at Walt Disney World. The opening ceremony included several astronauts from all eras of space exploration.