9 March in history

7 events that happened on 9 March, from 1074 to 1945.

  1. 1074 CE 952 years ago

    Gregory VII's synod condemns married and simoniac priests

    At his Lenten synod in Rome, Pope Gregory VII barred married priests and those who had bought office from ministering. The reforms helped impose clerical celibacy in the Western Church.

  2. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    1500 CE 526 years ago

    Pedro Álvares Cabral sails from Lisbon

    Cabral's fleet of 13 ships left for India, swinging far west into the Atlantic. On 22 April it sighted the coast of Brazil, which Cabral claimed for Portugal.

    Portuguese EmpirePedro Álvares CabralLisbonBrazil

  3. 1796 CE 230 years ago

    Napoleon Bonaparte marries Joséphine de Beauharnais

    The civil wedding in Paris took place two days before Napoleon left to command the Army of Italy. Joséphine became empress in 1804, but he divorced her in 1810 for lack of an heir.

    NapoleonParis

  4. 1841 CE 185 years ago

    Supreme Court frees the Amistad Africans

    The Court ruled that the Mende captives who had seized the slave ship Amistad had been illegally enslaved. Argued by John Quincy Adams, the case became a cause for abolitionists.

  5. 1862 CE 164 years ago

    Monitor and Virginia fight the first battle between ironclads

    At Hampton Roads, Virginia, USS Monitor and the Confederate CSS Virginia fought for hours without decisive damage. The duel showed that wooden warships were obsolete.

    Virginia

  6. 1916 CE 110 years ago

    Pancho Villa raids Columbus, New Mexico

    Some 500 of Villa's fighters attacked the border town, killing 18 Americans. The US sent General John Pershing on a punitive expedition into Mexico, which failed to catch Villa.

    Mexico

  7. 1945 CE 81 years ago

    US firebombing raid devastates Tokyo

    In the night of 9-10 March, some 300 B-29 bombers dropped incendiaries on Tokyo, burning about 41 square kilometres. Around 100,000 people died, the deadliest air raid in history.

March

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