On this day: March 9

Events on March 9

• 1009 First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. Wikipedia
• 1226 Khwarazmian sultan Jalal ad-Din conquers the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Wikipedia
• 1230 Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus in the Battle of Klokotnitsa. Wikipedia
• 1500 The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Wikipedia
• 1765 After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually died by suicide. Wikipedia
• 1776 Scottish philosopher Adam Smith published his book The Wealth of Nations, the first classical treatise on political economy. Wikipedia
• 1776 Scottish philosopher Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, ushering in the classical period of political economy. Wikipedia
• 1796 Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Wikipedia
• 1842 Awaking from a nap under a tree at Rancho San Francisco, Francisco López made the first popularly documented discovery of gold in California. Wikipedia
• 1842 The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush. Wikipedia
• 1842 Giuseppe Verdi's third opera, Nabucco, receives its première performance in Milan; its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy's foremost opera composers. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: In the world's first battle between two ironclad warships, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in Virginia. Wikipedia
• 1933 U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt submitted the Emergency Banking Act to the United States Congress, the first of his New Deal policies. Wikipedia
• 1933 Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to Congress, the first of his New Deal policies. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Dutch East Indies unconditionally surrenders to the Japanese forces in Kalijati, Subang, West Java, and the Japanese complete their Dutch East Indies campaign. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: As part of the Battle of Narva, the Soviet Air Forces heavily bombed Tallinn, Estonia, killing up to 800 people, mostly civilians. Wikipedia
• 1946 Thirty-three people were killed in a human crush at Burnden Park, a football stadium in Bolton, England. Wikipedia
• 1956 In Tbilisi, Georgia, soldiers suppressed mass demonstrations against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization. Wikipedia
• 1957 The Andreanof Islands earthquake struck Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands, causing more than $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami. Wikipedia
• 1961 Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a dog and a human dummy, and demonstrating that the Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight. Wikipedia
• 1967 Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, defected to the United States. Wikipedia
• 1977 Twelve gunmen seized three buildings in Washington, D.C., and took 149 hostages in a 39-hour standoff that ended in two deaths. Wikipedia
• 1977 The Hanafi Siege: In a 39-hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, D.C., buildings. Wikipedia
• 1978 President Soeharto inaugurates Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll highway in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta, Bogor and Ciawi, West Java. Wikipedia
• 1997 Comet Hale–Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day. Wikipedia
• 2023 A shooting in the Alsterdorf quarter of Hamburg, Germany, kills eight people and injures another eight. Wikipedia

Born on March 9

• 1454 Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer, namesake of the Americas (died 1512) Wikipedia
• 1534 Joseph of Anchieta, Spanish Jesuit saint and missionary (died 1597) Wikipedia
• 1749 Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, French journalist and politician (died 1791) Wikipedia
• 1814 Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet and playwright (died 1861) Wikipedia
• 1824 Amasa Leland Stanford, American businessman and politician, founded Stanford University (died 1893) Wikipedia
• 1887 Fritz Lenz, German geneticist and physician, influential eugenicist within the Nazi party (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1890 Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian politician and diplomat, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1892 Mátyás Rákosi, Hungarian politician (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1923 Walter Kohn, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1930 Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1934 Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and cosmonaut, first human in space (died 1968) Wikipedia
• 1935 Andrew Viterbi, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Qualcomm Inc. Wikipedia
• 1942 John Cale, Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer Wikipedia
• 1943 Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1959 Takaaki Kajita, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1964 Juliette Binoche, French actress Wikipedia
• 1968 Youri Djorkaeff, French footballer Wikipedia
• 1975 Juan Sebastián Verón, Argentine footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Oscar Isaac, Guatemalan-American actor Wikipedia
• 1983 Clint Dempsey, American soccer player Wikipedia
• 1990 Daley Blind, Dutch footballer Wikipedia
• 1993 Suga, South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer Wikipedia

Died on March 9

• 1661 Cardinal Mazarin, Italian-French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (born 1602) Wikipedia
• 1847 Mary Anning, English paleontologist (born 1799) Wikipedia
• 1851 Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist, discovered electromagnetism and the element aluminium (born 1777) Wikipedia
• 1888 William I, German Emperor (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1895 Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian journalist and author (born 1836) Wikipedia
• 1918 Frank Wedekind, German author and playwright (born 1864) Wikipedia
• 1926 Mikao Usui, Japanese spiritual leader, founded Reiki (born 1865) Wikipedia
• 1974 Earl Wilbur Sutherland, Jr., American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 1983 Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 1988 Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1992 Menachem Begin, Belarusian-Israeli soldier, politician and Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 1994 Charles Bukowski, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 1996 George Burns, American comedian, actor, and writer (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1997 The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper, songwriter, and actor (born 1972) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Catherine of Bologna Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Forty Martyrs of Sebaste Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Frances of Rome Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pacian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria (Coptic Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gregory of Nyssa (Episcopal Church (United States)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Teachers' Day or Eid Al Moalim (Lebanon) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 9” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.