Once Upon A Time – July 9 – 2002 – The African Union Is Established In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

1401 Turko-Mongol ruler Tamerlane (Timur) destroys Baghdad, killing 20,000

1790 Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund – in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet

1868 Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights

1893 Daniel Hale Williams repairs the torn pericardium of a knife wound patient, James Cornish, without penicillin or blood transfusion

1917 British battleship HMS Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow (the result of an internal explosion of faulty cordite), killing 804

1971 Henry Kissinger visits the People’s Republic of China to negotiate a detente between the US and China

2002 The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.

2017 Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaims victory over Islamic State forces in Mosul

More Historical Events
Jul 9 in Film & TV
2001 “The Office” mockumentary created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, starring Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman premieres on BBC Two in the UK

Jul 9 in Music
1955 Bill Haley & His Comets “Rock Around the Clock” tops the billboards chart, one of the best-selling singles ever

Jul 9 in Sport
1877 First ever Wimbledon tennis championship begins – first official lawn tennis tournament – men’s singles only

1981 Nintendo release arcade game “Donkey Kong” created by Shigeru Miyamoto in Japan (July 31 in the US)

1982 Michael Fagan breaks into Buckingham Palace and enters the Queen’s bedroom in Buckingham Palace, London

Famous Weddings
1735 Author, poet, critic and lexicographer and writer of the first English dictionary Dr. Samuel Johnson (25) marries the widow Elizabeth “Tetty” Porter, 21 years his senior

1842 American “The Scarlett Letter” writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (38) marries American painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody (33) in the Peabody’s home, Boston, until his death in 1864

1952 American country singer June Carter (23) weds American singer Carl “Mr. Country” Smith (25); divorce 1956