2009

2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Johannes Kepler.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was also declared as the International Year of Natural Fibres<ref>Template:UN document</ref> by the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the International Year of Reconciliation and the Year of the Gorilla (UNEP and UNESCO).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:TOC limit

Population

The world population on January 1, 2009, was estimated to be 6.888 billion people and increased to 6.977 billion people by January 1, 2010.Template:Sfn An estimated 143.0 million births and 54.1 million deaths took place in 2009.Template:Sfn The average global life expectancy was 69.7 years, an increase of 0.4 years from 2008.Template:Sfn The estimated number of global refugees decreased from 10.5 million to 10.4 million by the end of the year.Template:Sfn The largest sources of refugees were Afghanistan with 2.9 million people and Iraq with 1.8 million people.Template:Sfn

Conflicts

There were 36 conflicts in 2009 that resulted in at least 25 fatalities, six of which resulted in at least 1,000 fatalities: the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the Iraqi insurgency, the insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban, the conflict against the FDLR in Rwanda, Eelam War IV in Sri Lanka, and the Somali Civil War.Template:Sfn All conflicts in 2009 were intrastate conflicts that involved violent non-state actors.Template:Sfn

Several new conflicts began against rebel groups in 2009. The CPJP reignited conflict in the Central African Bush War, a faction of the NDFB broke a 2004 ceasefire with India in the Bodoland region, and a conflict broke out between Myanmar and the MNDAA when the government forced the MNDAA out of the Kokang. Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria, which was paused when its leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed.Template:Sfn

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) resumed conflict against the FDLR when they launched Operation Umoja Wetu in January. The DRC and a United Nations mission launched Operation Kimia II against the FDLR in March after the group regained its strength. Conflict also resumed in Angola against the Forças Armadas de Cabinda, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula formed in Yemen to expand al-Qaeda's insurgency in the country.Template:Sfn

The Ihussi Accord ended conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the CNDP within the broader Kivu conflict. This was the only peace agreement reached in 2009.Template:Sfn Eelam War IV, the final stage in the Sri Lankan civil war, ended in May when the Sri Lankan government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It remained the deadliest conflict of the year.Template:Sfn

Culture

The highest-grossing film globally in 2009 was Avatar, followed by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The best-selling album globally in 2009 was I Dreamed a Dream by Susan Boyle, followed by The E.N.D. by the Black Eyed Peas and This Is It by Michael Jackson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Events

January

• January 1
  • 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.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Subscription required</ref>
  • A Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer shoots and kills Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, at Fruitvale station in Oakland, United States. The event becomes one of the inciting incidents for the global Black Lives Matter movement.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• 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 that they will accept the Israel Defense Forces offer of a ceasefire, ending the conflict.
• January 21
  • Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending its three-week war with Hamas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, intermittent air strikes by both sides continue in the following weeks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Virginia Tech student Zhu Haiyang decapitates Yang Xin in the first campus murder since the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
• January 26
  • The first trial at the International Criminal Court opens. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage and rape.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • An annular solar eclipse takes place over the Indian Ocean, the 50th solar eclipse of Saros cycle 131.
• January 28 – WikiLeaks releases 86 intercepted telephone recordings of politicians and businessmen involved in the 2008 Peru oil scandal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• January 31 – Tiféret Israel Synagogue attack, profanation of the oldest synagogue in Caracas, Venezuela.<ref name="NYTjan2009">Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the world's first openly lesbian head of government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• February 7 – Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• February 12 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes in Clarence Center, New York while on final approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 people on board the aircraft as well as one person on the ground.
• February 13 – At 23:31:30 UTC, the decimal representation of Unix time reached 1234567890 seconds. Celebrations were held around the world, among various technical subcultures, to celebrate the 1234567890th second.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

March

• March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• March 5 - Michael Jackson announces his This Is It concert residency in London, England. However, a fortnight before the concerts were supposed to begin, Jackson died at the age of 50 from acute propofol intoxication.
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• March 23 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 operated by FedEx suffers a bounced landing at Narita international airport resulting in the loss of 2 lives.
• March 31 – Rachel Crandall Crocker founds the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

April

• April 1 – Albania and Croatia join NATO.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 308 and injuring more than 1,500.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• April 7 – April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election protests: four people died and 270 were injured.
• April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

May

• May 11–24 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope on May 11, landing at Edwards Air Force Base May 24.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• May 12–16 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 takes place in Moscow, Russia, and is won by Norwegian entrant Alexander Rybak with the song "Fairytale".
• May 15
  • France–Pakistan Atomic Energy Framework bilateral energy treaty is signed.<ref name="BBC Pakistan, 2009">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • The album 21st Century Breakdown is released by American rock band Green Day, which sold over 5 million copies.
• May 17 – Video game Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time, is first released to the public.
• May 18 – Following more than 25 years of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• May 19 – German football club RB Leipzig is founded by Red Bull.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• May 27 - At&t Stadium opens to the public home of the NFL Dallas Cowboys

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.<ref name="WHO level 6">Template:Cite web</ref>
• June 12 – Analog television ends in the United States as part of the digital television transition.
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter / LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• June 19 – War in Afghanistan: British forces began Operation Panther's Claw, in which more than 350 troops made an aerial assault on Taliban positions in southern Afghanistan.
• June 21 – Greenland gains self-rule.
• June 22 – June 2009 Washington Metro train collision, 9 people were killed and 80 people were injured when a Red Line (Washington Metro) train rear ended another train between Takoma and Fort Totten stations, this resulted in the worst train crash in DC Metro's history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• June 25 – The death of American pop star Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief. Online, reactions to the event cripple several major websites and services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes internet traffic to unprecedented and historic levels.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• June 28 – The Military of Honduras ousts Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in a coup d'état,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> condemned by OAS.<ref name="WB-2009-06-29">Template:Cite web</ref>
• June 29 – Viareggio train derailment occurred when a freight train carrying liquified petroleum gas derailed at Viareggio railway station in Lucca, Italy. The accident killed 32 people and injured 26 people.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• June 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

July

• July 4 – Steve McNair, former NFL quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, is shot and killed by his girlfriend in Nashville, Tennessee.
• July 5 – Violent riots broke out in Ürümqi, Xinjiang. PRC officials said that a total of 197 people died.
• July 7 – A public memorial service for Michael Jackson is held at Staples Center. It is watched by over 2.5 billion people worldwide.
• July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908, en route from Tehran, Iran, to Yerevan, Armenia crashes into the Jannatabad village in Qazvin Province; killing all 168 on board.
• July 16 – Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU.<ref name=Helgason>Template:Cite news</ref>
• July 17 – Two bombs exploded separately at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 9 people (including 2 suicide bombers) and injuring 53.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• July 19 – Amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley is the first to report that a new dark spot has developed on the planet Jupiter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This event would come to be known as the 2009 Jupiter impact event.
• July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.86 seconds (0.14 seconds shorter than 6 minutes and 39 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

August

• August 1 – Former President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino dies at the age of 76 of cardiopulmonary arrest after complications of colon cancer. A memorial service and funeral is scheduled for August 5. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• August 3 – Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.<ref>Template:Cite web Template:In lang</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
• August 8 – A small plane and a tour helicopter collide over the Hudson River in the United States. (CNN)
• August 14 – The United Kingdom imposes direct rule on the Turks and Caicos Islands after an inquiry that found evidence of government corruption.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• August 30 – At least five people are killed and 275 injured in a train crash near Yaoundé, Cameroon. (BBC) (Press TV)

September

• September 2 – 2009 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister helicopter crash. A helicopter carrying Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy went missing in the Nallamala Forest area. It was later confirmed to have crashed with all five people including Reddy pronounced dead.
• September 9 – The Dubai Metro, the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula, officials opens.
• September 21 – China becomes the first country to succeed a completed clinical trial by a company for the 2009/H1N1 vaccine in the world during the swine flu pandemic.
• September 22 – WikiLeaks exposes the contents of Kaupthing Bank's internal documents prior to the Icelandic Financial Crisis. These documents showed suspicious amounts of money were loaned to bank owners, and debts being written off.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• September 23 – Korba chimney collapse: At least 45 workers are killed when lightning strikes a chimney under construction in Korba, Chhattisgarh, India, causing it to collapse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana, PAGASA Name: Ondoy, makes landfall in The Philippines, killing hundreds in Metro Manila and flooding in Huế, Vietnam.
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• September 29 – A 8.1 Template:M earthquake strikes Samoa, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), leaving at least 192 people dead.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• September 30 – A 7.6 Template:M earthquake strikes Sumatra, Indonesia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving at least 1,115 people dead.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

October

• October 1 – Paleontologists announce the discovery of an Ardipithecus ramidus fossil skeleton, deeming it the oldest remains of a human ancestor yet found.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• October 2
  • Ireland holds a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The amendment is approved by the Irish electorate,<ref name="RTE_20091003_Yes">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ref.ie">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• October 15 – It is revealed the company Trafigura has been using a super-injunction to stop The Guardian from reporting about the 2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic dumping incident, which Trafigura was responsible for.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• October 18 – British racing driver Jenson Button won his first Formula One World Championship, driving for Brawn GP at the Brazilian Grand Prix.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• October 20
  • Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is inaugurated for a second term as President of Indonesia.
  • WikiLeaks leaked the membership listing of a radical political group known as the British National Party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• October 22 – Microsoft releases Windows 7 to all computers and laptops, including an edition for ATMs.<ref name="rtm">Template:Cite web</ref>
• October 23 – The 2009 Cataño oil refinery fire began after an explosion at the refinery in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.<ref name="bbc">Template:Cite news</ref>
• October 24 – The 2009 El Ayyat railway accident occurred in Giza, Egypt, when a passenger train derailed due to stoppage of animals on the train tracks. 50 people were killed and 30 people were injured.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• October 25 – Two suicide attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 155 people and injure at least 721 people.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a position he takes up on December 1, 2009.<ref name="consilium.europa.eu">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on December 1, 2009, the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council ceased to exist (as the provision for its existence has been erased from the Treaties in force), and the new office of President of the European Council came into being. The appointment of Herman van Rompuy as President of the European Council became effective on the date of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. Also, article 6 of the Protocol on transitional provisions annexed to the Treaty of Lisbon provided that on the date of the entry into force of the Treaty, the terms of office of the High Representative for the common foreign and security policy and of the Deputy Secretary General of the Council ceased, with the Council electing a Secretary General. register.consilium.europa.eu Template:Webarchive</ref>
• November 5 – Fourteen people are killed during the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.<ref name="cbs01">Template:Cite news</ref>
• November 10 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 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.<ref name=pdi>Template:Cite news</ref>
• November 24 – The Avdhela Project, an Aromanian digital library and cultural initiative, is founded in Bucharest, Romania.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

December

• December 1 – The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• December 5 – Fire at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia kills 156 people. The nightclub owner was sentenced to nearly ten years in prison.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• December 7–18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• December 8 – A series of attacks in Baghdad, Iraq kill at least 127 people and injure at least 448 more.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
• December 15 – First flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
• December 16 – Astronomers discover GJ 1214 b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• December 25 – A Nigerian terrorist plotted an attempted terrorist bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Nobel Prizes

The Nobel Prize medallion.

The Nobel Prize medallion.

• Chemistry – Ada Yonath, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, and Thomas A. Steitz<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Economics – Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Literature – Herta Müller
• Peace – Barack Obama
• Physics – Charles K. Kao, Willard Boyle, and George E. Smith<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Physiology or Medicine – Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

New English words

• alt-right
• copernicium
• subtweet<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite report
• Template:Cite report