January 9
Events
Pre-1600
- 400 - Aelia Eudoxia is officially crowned empress of the Eastern Roman Empire.
- 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.
- 681 - Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.
- 1038 - An earthquake in Dingxiang, China kills an estimated 32,300.
- 1127 - Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing, the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending the Northern Song period.
- 1349 - The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
- 1431 - The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen.
1601–1900
- 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.
- 1760 - Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.
- 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 in the streets of Manila and is attended by millions of devotees.
- 1788 - Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1792 - Treaty of Jassy between Russian and Ottoman Empire is signed, ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–92.
- 1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
- 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.
- 1806 - Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral.
- 1816 - Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
- 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.
- 1839 - The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
- 1857 - The 7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX.
- 1858 - British forces finally defeat Rajab Ali Khan of Chittagong.
- 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.
- 1878 - Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
1901–present
- 1903 - Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
- 1909 - Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
- 1914 - The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States.
- 1916 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
- 1917 - World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
- 1918 - Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
- 1920 - Ukrainian War of Independence: The All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee outlaws the Makhnovshchina by decree, igniting the Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict.
- 1921 - Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia.
- 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.
- 1927 - A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children.
- 1941 - World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
- 1945 - World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.
- 1957 - British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.
- 1959 - The Vega de Tera dam fails, triggering a disastrous flood that nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents.
- 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.
- 1961 - British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland spy ring in London.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1997 - Comair Flight 3272 crashes in Raisinville Township in Monroe County, Michigan, killing 29 people.
- 2003 - TANS Perú Flight 222 crashes on approach to Chachapoyas Airport in Chachapoyas, Peru, killing 46 people.
- 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.
- 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.
- 2007 - Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco.
- 2011 - Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, in icy conditions, killing 78 people.
- 2014 - An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others.
- 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.
- 2021 - Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 crashes north of Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 62 people on board.
Births
Pre-1600
- 727 - Emperor Daizong of Tang
- 1304 - Hōjō Takatoki, Japanese shikken of the Kamakura bakufu
- 1418 - Juan Ramón Folch III de Cardona, Aragonese admiral
- 1554 - Pope Gregory XV
- 1571 - Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, French commander
- 1590 - Simon Vouet, French painter
1601–1900
- 1606 - William Dugard, English printer
- 1624 - Empress Meishō of Japan
- 1645 - Sir William Villiers, 3rd Baronet, English noble and politician
- 1674 - Reinhard Keiser, German composer
- 1685 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic
- 1728 - Thomas Warton, English poet, historian, and critic
- 1735 - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral and politician
- 1745 - Caleb Strong, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Massachusetts
- 1753 - Luísa Todi, Portuguese soprano and actress
- 1773 - Cassandra Austen, English painter and illustrator
- 1778 - Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi, Turkish Ney player and composer
- 1811 - Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English journalist and author
- 1818 - Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer
- 1819 - James Francis, English-Australian businessman and politician, 9th Premier of Victoria
- 1822 - Carol Benesch, Czech-Romanian architect, designed the Peleș Castle
- 1823 - Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic
- 1829 - Thomas William Robertson, English director and playwright
- 1829 - Adolf Schlagintweit, German botanist and explorer
- 1832 - Félix-Gabriel Marchand, Canadian journalist and politician, 11th Premier of Quebec
- 1839 - John Knowles Paine, American composer and academic
- 1848 - Princess Frederica of Hanover
- 1849 - John Hartley, English tennis player
- 1854 - Jennie Jerome, American-born wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, mother of Sir Winston Churchill
- 1856 - Anton Aškerc, Slovenian priest and poet
- 1859 - Carrie Chapman Catt, American activist, founded the League of Women Voters and International Alliance of Women
- 1864 - Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist
- 1868 - S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist and academic
- 1870 - Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co-designed the Golden Gate Bridge
- 1873 - Hayim Nahman Bialik, Ukrainian-Austrian journalist, author, and poet
- 1873 - Thomas Curtis, American sprinter and hurdler
- 1873 - John Flanagan, Irish-American hammer thrower
- 1875 - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art
- 1879 - John B. Watson, American psychologist and academic
- 1881 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic
- 1881 - Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and poet
- 1885 - Charles Bacon, American runner and hurdler
- 1886 - Lloyd Loar, American sound engineer and instrument designer
- 1889 - Vrindavan Lal Verma, Indian author and playwright
- 1890 - Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright
- 1890 - Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author
- 1892 - Eva Bowring, American lawyer and politician
- 1893 - Edwin Baker, Canadian soldier and educator, co-founded the Canadian National Institute for the Blind
- 1896 - Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-English conductor and director
- 1897 - Karl Löwith, German philosopher, author, and academic
- 1897 - Halyna Kuzmenko, Ukrainian teacher and anarchist revolutionary
- 1898 - Gracie Fields, English actress and singer
- 1899 - Harald Tammer, Estonian journalist and weightlifter
- 1900 - Richard Halliburton, American journalist and author