On this day: September 9

Events on September 9

• 1493 Christopher Columbus, with 17 ships and 1,200 men, sails on second voyage from Cadiz. Wikipedia
• 1791 The commissioners overseeing the construction of the United States' new capital city named it Washington, in honor of the first president. Wikipedia
• 1791 Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is named after President George Washington. Wikipedia
• 1850 California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1850 The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory to federal control in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army. Wikipedia
• 1923 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, founds the Republican People's Party. Wikipedia
• 1926 Yleisradio (YLE), the Finnish national public broadcasting company, begins its broadcasts. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: About 3,000 Polish Army troops began a nearly month-long defence of the Hel Peninsula during the German invasion of Poland. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary bombs on Oregon. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Fatherland Front takes power in Bulgaria through a military coup in the capital and armed rebellion in the country. A new pro-Soviet government is established. Wikipedia
• 1948 Kim Il Sung is appointed as premier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). This is celebrated annually as its national holiday. Wikipedia
• 1954 The 6.7 Mw Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 1,243 people were killed and 5,000 were injured. Wikipedia
• 1962 French president Charles de Gaulle delivered his "speech to the German youth" to 20,000 people in the courtyard of Ludwigsburg Palace. Wikipedia
• 1970 A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan. Wikipedia
• 1972 In Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, a Cave Research Foundation exploration and mapping team discovers a link between the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems, making it the longest known cave passageway in the world. Wikipedia
• 1991 Tajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1993 Israeli–Palestinian peace process: The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state. Wikipedia
• 2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan by two al-Qaeda assassins who claimed to be Arab journalists wanting an interview. Wikipedia
• 2012 A wave of attacks kills more than 100 people and injure 350 others across Iraq. Wikipedia
• 2015 Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria. Wikipedia
• 2015 Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 2016 The government of North Korea conducts its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. World leaders condemn the act, with South Korea calling it "maniacal recklessness". Wikipedia
• 2025 Several Russian drones incur on Polish airspace and are subsequently shot down, marking the first time a NATO member has engaged Russian military assets. Wikipedia
• 2025 Six people are killed when Israel carries out an airstrike on Doha in a failed attempt to decapitate the Hamas leadership. Wikipedia

Born on September 9

• 384 Honorius, Roman emperor (died 423) Wikipedia
• 1585 Cardinal Richelieu, French cardinal and politician (died 1642) Wikipedia
• 1737 Luigi Galvani, Italian physician and physicist (died 1798) Wikipedia
• 1828 Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright (died 1910) Wikipedia
• 1890 Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founded KFC (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1908 Cesare Pavese, Italian poet and author (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1911 John Gorton, Australian lieutenant and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1918 Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian lawyer and politician, 9th President of Italy (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1922 Hans Georg Dehmelt, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1923 Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1941 Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1941 Otis Redding, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1949 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesian general and politician, 6th President of Indonesia Wikipedia
• 1950 Gogi Alauddin, Pakistani squash player and coach Wikipedia
• 1960 Hugh Grant, English actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1966 Adam Sandler, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1967 Akshay Kumar, Indian actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1972 Goran Višnjić, Croatian-American actor Wikipedia
• 1975 Michael Bublé, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor Wikipedia
• 1980 Michelle Williams, American actress Wikipedia
• 1985 Luka Modrić, Croatian footballer Wikipedia
• 1991 Oscar, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 9

• 1000 Olaf I, king of Norway Wikipedia
• 1087 William the Conqueror, English king (born c. 1028) Wikipedia
• 1569 Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Dutch painter (born 1525) Wikipedia
• 1676 Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, French soldier, founded Montreal (born 1612) Wikipedia
• 1891 Jules Grévy, French politician, 4th President of the French Republic (born 1813) Wikipedia
• 1898 Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet and critic (born 1842) Wikipedia
• 1901 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter and illustrator (born 1864) Wikipedia
• 1941 Hans Spemann, German embryologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1869) Wikipedia
• 1976 Mao Zedong, Chinese philosopher, academic, and politician, 1st Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 1981 Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1984 Yılmaz Güney, Palme d'Or award-winning Kurdish film director, scenarist, actor, novelist and activist (born 1937) Wikipedia
• 1985 Paul Flory, American chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghan commander and politician, Afghan Minister of Defense (born 1953) Wikipedia
• 2003 Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (born 1908) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Charles Lowder (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ciarán of Clonmacnoise Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Euthymia Üffing Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Francisco Gárate Aranguren Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Constance, Nun, and her Companions (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Torribia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of Arantzazu (Oñati, Spain; Philippines Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Claver Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Synaxis of Ss. Joachim and Anna, an Afterfeast. (Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Armored Forces Day (Ukraine) Wikipedia
• California Admission Day (California, United States) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Costa Rica) Wikipedia
• Chrysanthemum Day or Kiku no Sekku (Japan) Wikipedia
• Day of the Victims of Holocaust and of Racial Violence (Slovakia) Wikipedia
• Emergency Services Day (United Kingdom) Wikipedia
• Independence Day or Republic Day, celebrates the proclamation of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) in 1948. Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Tajikistan), celebrates the independence of Tajikistan from USSR in 1991. Wikipedia
• International Buy-a-Priest-a-Beer Day Wikipedia
• Martyrs' Day (Afghanistan) (date may fall on September 8, follows a non-Gregorian calendar, see List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar) Wikipedia
• Remembrance for Herman the Cheruscan (The Troth) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 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.