On this day: 9 March

The first recorded use of the name of Lithuania appeared in Latin in the Annals of Quedlinburg, written in Saxony-Anhalt, present-day Germany.

Khwarazmian sultan Jalal ad-Din conquers the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus in the Battle of Klokotnitsa.

The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.

Safavid troops retreat from Basra, ending a three-year occupation.

Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.

Paraguayan forces defeat Manuel Belgrano at the Battle of Tacuarí.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.

Awaking from a nap under a tree at Rancho San Francisco, Francisco López made the first popularly documented discovery of gold in California.

Nabucco, an opera by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi that established his reputation, premiered at La Scala in Milan.

Mexican–American War: The Siege of Veracruz began, the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States military forces.

American Civil War: In the world's first battle between two ironclad warships, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in Virginia.

Demonstration of 9 March 1883: Parisian anarchists, unemployed and carpenters narrowly miss the Presidential palace during a violent protest; first use of the black flag as a symbol of anarchism by Louise Michel.

Kaʻiulani (pictured) was appointed the heir apparent to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Inter Milan is founded on Football Club Internazionale, following a schism from A.C. Milan.

A seventeen-month-long strike, which at its peak involved 15,000 coal miners represented by the United Mine Workers across 65 mines, began in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against the border town of Columbus, New Mexico.

Éamon de Valera (pictured), a dominant political figure in 20th-century Ireland, became President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt submitted the Emergency Banking Act to the United States Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.

World War II: Dutch East Indies unconditionally surrenders to the Japanese forces in Kalijati, Subang, West Java, and the Japanese complete their Dutch East Indies campaign.

World War II: A coup d'état by Japanese forces in French Indochina removes the French from power.

McCarthyism: CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy", produced by Fred Friendly.

The Andreanof Islands earthquake struck Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands, causing more than $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami.

The popular fashion doll Barbie debuted at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.

Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner implants for the first time a shunt he invented into a patient, which allows the patient to receive hemodialysis on a regular basis.

Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a dog and a human dummy, and demonstrating that the Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight.

Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, defected to the United States.

President Soeharto inaugurates Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll highway in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta, Bogor and Ciawi, West Java.

Chrysler announces its acquisition of American Motors Corporation.

Comet Hale–Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.

Nupedia, a multi-language online encyclopedia, is launched.

Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.

A truce between the Salvadoran government and gangs in the country goes into effect when 30 gang leaders are transferred to lower security prisons.

Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy, announces in a televised address and signs the decree imposing the first nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in the world.