Historical Events for Year 2009

Months in Year 2009: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Events 1 - 81 of 81

Jan 1st - Slovakia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the sixteenth Eurozone country.
Jan 1st - 61 die in nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
Jan 1st - The government of the Republic of China adopts Hanyu Pinyin as its official Chinese romanization (before this time, the most commonly used was Tongyong Pinyin.
Jan 3rd - Israeli ground forces invade Gaza.
Jan 8th - A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Costa Rica´s region of Volcan Poás, with an epicenter near Cinchona. It was caused by Varablanca-Angel fault.
Jan 15th - US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing into the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survive.
Jan 20th - Barack Obama, inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becomes the United States' first African-American president
Jan 23rd - Dendermonde nursery attack occurred in Dendermonde, Belgium.
Jan 24th - Pope Benedict XVI rescinds the excommunications of four bishops consecrated without papal consent in 1988 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Jan 31st - In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
Feb 1st - Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is elected as the first female Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the first openly gay Head of State in the modern world.
Feb 5th - The United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal runs aground off Oahu, Hawaii, damaging the ship as well as a coral reef.
Feb 7th - Bushfires in Victoria left 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.
Feb 12th - Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes near Buffalo in the state of New York killing 50 people.
Feb 13th - Unix time passed 1,234,567,890 seconds February 13, 2009 at exactly 23:31:30 (UTC).
Feb 25th - BDR massacre in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 74 People are being killed, including more than 50 Army officials, by Bangladeshi Boarder Guards inside its headquarter.
Mar 3rd - The Sri Lankan cricket team is attacked by terrorists while on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore for a Test match against Pakistan.
Mar 3rd - The building of the Historisches Archiv der Stadt Köln (Historical Archives) in Cologne, Germany, collapses.
Mar 4th - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
265th Pope Benedict XVI 265th Pope Benedict XVI Mar 11th - Winnenden school shooting - 17 people are killed at a school in Germany.
Mar 22nd - Mount Redoubt, a volcano in Alaska began erupting after a prolonged period of unrest.
Mar 27th - Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails killing at least 99 people.
Apr 1st - Croatia and Albania joined NATO
Apr 3rd - Australia formally adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Apr 5th - North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.
Apr 6th - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing at least 253.
Apr 7th - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
Apr 12th - U.S. Navy rescues captain Richard Phillips, killing three pirates and capturing a fourth.
Apr 12th - President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority makes a courtesy phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, restarting the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue
Apr 23rd - The gamma ray burst GRB 090423 it's observed for 10 seconds as the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe.
Apr 30th - Chrysler automobile company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Apr 30th - Failed attack on the Dutch Royal Family results in 7 deaths and 17 injured.
Apr 30th - The United Kingdom formally ends combat operations in Iraq.
May 1st - Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.
May 11th - An American soldier in Iraq opened fire on a counseling center at Camp Liberty in Bagdhad, leaving 5 other US soldiers dead and 3 soldiers wounded.
May 18th - Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
May 19th - Sri Lanka announces victory in its 27 year war against the terrorist organisation, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
May 25th - North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests bulding tensions in the international community.
Jun 1st - Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew were killed.
Jun 1st - General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.
Jun 11th - A Texas mother was hit by lightning while standing in her kitchen inside her Texas home. Witnesses say the lightning came through a light fixture and struck her chest and exited her foot. Her 9-year-old son franticly called 9-1-1 to save her life. She had to spend three days in the hospital.
Jun 12th - Protests in Iran following the presidential election.
Jun 12th - TSC: All television broadcasts in the United States switch from analog NTSC to digital ATSC transmission.
Jun 22nd - 2009 Washington Metro subway crash: Two Metro trains collide in Washington, D.C., USA, killing 9 and injuring over 80.
Jun 30th - Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros killing 152 people and leaving 1 survivor
Jul 3rd - Mark II.5 Skytrain cars enter service in Metro Vancouver.
Jul 4th - The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks.
Champion Tennis Player Roger Federer Jul 5th - Roger Federer wins a record 15th Grand Slam (tennis) in tennis, winning a five set match against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon.
Jul 5th - Ethnic rioting broke out in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, People's Republic of China
Jul 6th - Jadranka Kosor became first female Prime minister of Croatia.
Jul 15th - A 7.9 Magnitude earthquake registers 160km west of Invercargill, New Zealand, creating a small tsunami.
Jul 17th - Jakarta double bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels killed 9 people including 4 foreigners.
Jul 18th - Five members of one family are found murdered at Epping, New South Wales.
Jul 23rd - Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox becomes the 18th pitcher to throw a perfect game in Major League Baseball history, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-0.
Jul 30th - A bomb explodes in Palma Nova, Mallorca, killing 2 police officers. Basque separatist group ETA is believed to be responsible.
Aug 19th - A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 101 and injures 565 others.
Sep 5th - Denmark celebrates the first national flagday, in memory of the fallen Danes in international operations since 1948.
Sep 12th - The 9-12 Project organized multiple marches and demonstrations across the USA to protest government spending.
Sep 18th - The 72 year run of the soap opera The Guiding Light ends as its final episode is broadcast.
Sep 26th - Typhoon Ketsana (2009) hit the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, causing 700 fatalities.
Sep 28th - The military junta leading Guinea, headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, sexually assaulted, killed and wounded protesters during a protest rally in a stadium called Stade du 28 Septembre.
Sep 29th - An 8.0 magnitude earthquake near the Samoan Islands causes a tsunami .
Oct 2nd - Rio de Janeiro is elected the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Oct 4th - George Papandreou's Panhellenic Socialist Movement defeats Greece's governing New Democracy party in an electoral landslide.
Oct 9th - First lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.
Oct 10th - After having closed borders for about two hundred years, Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich, Switzerland to open their borders.
Oct 23rd - The United Nations "Rotterdam Rules" convention regulating international maritime carriage of goods is ratified with its twentieth signature.
Oct 24th - First International Day of Climate Action, organized with 350.org, a global campaign to address a claimed global warming crisis.
Oct 25th - The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings kills 155 and wounds at least 721.
Oct 28th - The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.
Oct 28th - NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its later-cancelled Constellation program.
Nov 1st - The inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is held at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Nov 5th - US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 and wounded 43 at Fort Hood, Texas in the largest mass shooting ever at a US military installation.
Nov 9th - Joe Cada becomes the youngest champion of the World Series of Poker's main event.
Nov 23rd - The Maguindanao massacre occurs in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines
Nov 25th - Powerful storm brings 3 years worth of rain in 4 hours to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sparking terrible floods known as the 2009 Jeddah Floods, which kill over 150 people and sweep thousands of cars away right in the middle of Hajj in the second largest city of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah.
Dec 8th - Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 and injure 448.
Golfer Tiger Woods Dec 11th - Tiger Woods announced an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage.
Dec 15th - Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner makes its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington.
Dec 25th - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Dec 28th - 43 people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims were observing the Day of Ashura.