2009

2009 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	2009; MMIX
Ab urbe condita	2762
Armenian calendar	1458; ԹՎ ՌՆԾԸ
Assyrian calendar	6759
Bahá'í calendar	165–166
Balinese saka calendar	1930–1931
Bengali calendar	1416
Berber calendar	2959
British Regnal year	57 Eliz. 2 – 58 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2553
Burmese calendar	1371
Byzantine calendar	7517–7518
Chinese calendar	戊子年 (Earth Rat); 4705 or 4645; — to —; 己丑年 (Earth Ox); 4706 or 4646
Coptic calendar	1725–1726
Discordian calendar	3175
Ethiopian calendar	2001–2002
Hebrew calendar	5769–5770
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2065–2066
- Shaka Samvat	1930–1931
- Kali Yuga	5109–5110
Holocene calendar	12009
Igbo calendar	1009–1010
Iranian calendar	1387–1388
Islamic calendar	1430–1431
Japanese calendar	Heisei 21; (平成２１年)
Javanese calendar	1941–1942
Juche calendar	98
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4342
Minguo calendar	ROC 98; 民國98年
Nanakshahi calendar	541
Thai solar calendar	2552
Tibetan calendar	阳土鼠年; (male Earth-Rat); 2135 or 1754 or 982; — to —; 阴土牛年; (female Earth-Ox); 2136 or 1755 or 983
Unix time	1230768000 – 1262303999

	2009 by topic:
	Arts
	Architecture – Comics – Film – Home video – Literature (Poetry) – Music (Country, Metal, UK) – Radio – Photo – Television – Video gaming
	Politics
	Elections – International leaders – Sovereign states ; Sovereign state leaders – Territorial governors
	Science and technology
	Archaeology – Aviation – Birding/Ornithology – Palaeontology – Rail transport – Spaceflight
	Sports
	Badminton – Baseball – Basketball – Volleyball
	By place
	Afghanistan – Albania – Algeria – Angola – Antarctica – Argentina – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Bangladesh – The Bahamas – Barbados – Belgium – Benin – Bhutan – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Brazil – Bulgaria – Burkina Faso – Burundi – Cambodia – Cameroon – Canada – Cape Verde – Central African Republic – Chad – Chile – China – Colombia – Costa Rica – Croatia – Cuba – Cyprus – Czechia – Denmark – Ecuador – Egypt – El Salvador – Estonia – Ethiopia – European Union – Finland – France – Gabon – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Greece – Guatemala – Hungary – Iceland – India – Indonesia – Iraq – Iran – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Ivory Coast – Japan – Kazakhstan – Kenya – Kuwait – Laos – Latvia – Libya – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Macau – Madagascar – Malawi – Malaysia – Mali – Mexico – Moldova – Montenegro – Morocco – Mozambique – Myanmar – Nepal – Netherlands – New Zealand – Niger – Nigeria – North Korea – Norway – Oman – Pakistan – Palestine – Peru – Philippines – Poland – Portugal – Romania – Russia – Rwanda – Saudi Arabia – Senegal – Serbia – Singapore – Slovakia – Slovenia – Somalia – South Africa – South Korea – South Sudan – Spain – Sri Lanka – Sudan – Sweden – Switzerland – Syria – Taiwan – Tanzania – Thailand – Turkey – Uganda – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – United States – Uruguay – Uzbekistan – Venezuela – Vietnam – Yemen – Zambia – Zimbabwe
	Other topics
	Religious leaders
	Birth and death categories
	Births – Deaths
	Establishments and disestablishments categories
	Establishments – Disestablishments
	Works and introductions categories
	Works – Introductions ; Works entering the public domain
	v ; t ; e ;

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century ; 21st century ; 22nd century ;
Decades:	1980s ; 1990s ; 2000s ; 2010s ; 2020s ;
Years:	2006 ; 2007 ; 2008 ; 2009 ; 2010 ; 2011 ; 2012 ;

Last updated April 07, 2019

2009 ( MMIX ) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar , the 2009th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 9th year of the 3rd millennium , the 9th year of the 21st century , and the 10th and last year of the 2000s decade.

Roman numerals Numbers in the Roman numeral system

The numeric system represented by Roman numerals originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers in this system are represented by combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet. Roman numerals, as used today, employ seven symbols, each with a fixed integer value, as follows:

A common year is a calendar year with 365 days, as distinguished from a leap year, which has 366. More generally, a common year is one without intercalation. The Gregorian calendar,, employs both common years and leap years to keep the calendar aligned with the tropical year, which does not contain an exact number of days.

A common year starting on Thursday is any non-leap year that begins on Thursday, 1 January, and ends on Thursday, 31 December. Its dominical letter hence is D. The most recent year of such kind was 2015 and the next one will be 2026 in the Gregorian calendar or, likewise, 2010 and 2021 in the obsolete Julian calendar, see below for more. This common year contains the most Friday the 13ths; specifically, the months of February, March, and November. Leap years starting on Sunday share this characteristic. From February until March in this type of year is also the shortest period that occurs within a Friday the 13th.

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century. The Year was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations. A global scheme, laid out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), was also endorsed by UNESCO, the UN body responsible for educational, scientific, and cultural matters.

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibres, as well as the International Year of Astronomy.

Events

January

January 1
- Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
- Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, becomes the American Capital of Culture and Vilnius and Linz become the European Capitals of Culture.
- Slovakia adopts the euro as its national currency, replacing the Slovak koruna.^[4]
- Sixty-six nightclub-goers die in the Santika Club fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), charged with ensuring international peace and security, accepting new members to the United Nations and approving any changes to its charter. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations and international sanctions as well as the authorization of military actions through resolutions – it is the only body of the United Nations with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states. The council held its first session on 17 January 1946.
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay. The city is located on the left bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the River Pilcomayo, on the South American continent. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the northwest separate the city from the Occidental Region of Paraguay and Argentina in the south part of the city. The rest of the city is surrounded by the Central Department.
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a country of South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Although it is one of the only two landlocked countries in South America, the country has coasts, beaches and ports on the Paraguay and Paraná rivers that give exit to the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway. Due to its central location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de Sudamérica.
January 3 – The first ("Genesis") block of the blockchain of the cryptocurrency and decentralized payment system Bitcoin is established by the creator of the system, known as Satoshi Nakamoto.^[5]
January 15 – US Airways Flight 1549 ditches in the Hudson River in an accident that becomes known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" as all 155 people on board are rescued.
January 18 – Gaza War: Hamas announces they will accept Israel Defense Forces offer of a ceasefire, ending the conflict.
January 20
- A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
- Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African-American to hold the office.^[6]
The 2009–2011 Icelandic financial crisis protests, also referred to as the Kitchenware/Kitchen Implement or Pots and Pans Revolution, occurred in the wake of the Icelandic financial crisis. There had been regular and growing protests since October 2008 against the Icelandic government's handling of the financial crisis. The protests intensified on 20 January 2009 with thousands of people showing up to protest at the parliament (Althing) in Reykjavík. These were at the time, the largest protests in Icelandic history.
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to be elected to the presidency. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008.
The President of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.
January 21 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending its three-week war with Hamas.^[7] However, intermittent air strikes by both sides continue in the weeks to follow.^[8]^[9]^[10]
January 26
- The first trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape.^[11]
- The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns.^[12]
- An annular solar eclipse took place in Indian Ocean, and was the 50th solar eclipse of Saros cycle 131.
The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. The ICC is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer situations to the Court. The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force. The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty which serves as the ICC's foundational and governing document. States which become party to the Rome Statute, for example by ratifying it, become member states of the ICC. As of March 2019, there are 124 ICC member states.
The Union of Congolese Patriots is a political and militia group in Ituri, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, formed towards the end of the Second Congo War. It was founded by Thomas Lubanga in 2001 and was one of six such groups that sprung up in the mineral-rich Ituri region on the border with Uganda in the Ituri conflict. The UPC supported and was primarily composed of the Hema ethnic group.
The Three Alls Policy was a Japanese scorched earth policy adopted in China during World War II, the three "alls" being "kill all, burn all, loot all". This policy was designed as retaliation against the Chinese for the Communist-led Hundred Regiments Offensive in December 1940. Contemporary Japanese documents referred to the policy as "The Burn to Ash Strategy".

January 1 is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year. This day is known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year. It is also the first day of the first quarter of the year and the first half of the year.

Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. East Thrace, located in Europe, is separated from Anatolia by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorous strait and the Dardanelles. Turkey is bordered by Greece and Bulgaria to its northwest; Georgia to its northeast; Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the south. Istanbul is the largest city, but more central Ankara is the capital. Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of the country's citizens identify as Turkish. Kurds are the largest minority; the size of the Kurdish population is a subject of dispute with estimates placing the figure at anywhere from 12 to 25 per cent of the population.

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.

February

February 1
- Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church following the death of his predecessor, Alexy II in 2008.^[13]
- Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the world's first openly lesbian head of government.^[14]
February 25 – Soldiers of Bangladeshi border security force Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny and take the commanding army officers and their families hostages at the force's headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka. 57 army officers are killed along with 17 civilians by the mutineers.
February 26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.^[15]

March

March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.^[16]
March 4 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar 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.^[17]
March 7 – NASA's Kepler Mission, a space photometer that will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA.
March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'état, following a month of unrest in Antananarivo.^[18]

April

April 1 – Albania and Croatia are admitted to NATO, becoming the newest members of the organization.^[19]
April 4 – Three Pittsburgh Police Officers are shot and killed responding to a domestic dispute in the Stanton Heights (Pittsburgh) section of the city.
April 5 – North Korea launches a rocket from its Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground, which it says is carrying the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.^[20]
April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 308 and injuring more than 1,500.^[21]
April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.^[22]

May

May 18 – Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.^[23]^[24]
May 25 – North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in North Hamgyong Province. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test.^[25]

June

June 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.
June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic.^[26]
June 13 – Mass protests erupt across Iran following a disputed presidential election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected president, the largest demonstrations in the country since the Iranian Revolution.^[27]
June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter / LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.
June 21 – Greenland gains self-rule.
June 28 – The Military of Honduras ousts Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in a coup d'état,^[28] which is condemned worldwide.^[29]
June 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.^[30]

July

July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
July 16 – Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU.^[31]
July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
July 26 – The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram initiates an uprising in Bauchi State, Nigeria and quickly spreads throughout the northern part of the country.^[32]

August

August 3 – Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.^[33]
August 7 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 673 and stranding more than 1,000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century.^[34]
August 14 – The United Kingdom imposes direct rule on the Turks and Caicos Islands after an inquiry that found evidence of government corruption.^[35]

September

September 28 – At least 157 demonstrators are massacred by the Guinean military at the Stade du 28 Septembre during a protest against the government that came to power in a coup d'état the previous year.^[36]
September 30 – A 7.6 M_w earthquake strikes Sumatra, Indonesia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving at least 1,115 people dead.^[37]

October

October 1 – Paleontologists announce the discovery of an Ardipithecus ramidus fossil skeleton, deeming it the oldest remains of a human ancestor yet found.^[38]
October 2
- Ireland holds a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The amendment is approved by the Irish electorate,^[39]^[40]^[41]^[42]^[43] having been rejected in the Lisbon I referendum held last year.
- The International Olympic Committee awards Rio de Janeiro the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.^[44]
October 25 – Two suicide attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 155 people and injure at least 721 people.^[45]

November

November 3
- The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law.^[46]
- The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council,^[47] a position he takes up on December 1, 2009.^[48]^[49]^[50]
November 13 – Having analyzed the data from the LCROSS lunar impact, NASA announces that it has found a "significant" quantity of water in the Moon's Cabeus crater.^[51]^[52]
November 23 – In the Philippines, at least 58 people are abducted and killed in the province of Maguindanao, in what the Committee to Protect Journalists called the single deadliest attack on journalists in history.^[53]

December

December 1 – The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force.^[54]
December 7 – 18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[55]
December 8 – A series of attacks in Baghdad, Iraq kill at least 127 people and injure at least 448 more.^[56]
December 10 – James Cameron's Avatar , which has since been the highest-grossing film of all time, premieres in the United Kingdom.
December 16 – Astronomers discover GJ 1214 b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.^[57]

Births

May 4 – Prince Henrik of Denmark
November – Lee Go-eun, South Korean actress^{[ disputed – discuss ]}