July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 175 days remain until the end of the year.
118 – Hadrian, who became emperor a year previously on Trajan's death, makes his entry into Rome.
381 – The end of the First Council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople by the Roman emperor Theodosius I.
491 – Odoacer makes a night assault with his Heruli guardsmen, engaging Theoderic the Great in Ad Pinetam. Both sides suffer heavy losses, but in the end Theodoric forces Odoacer back into Ravenna.
551 – A major earthquake strikes Beirut, triggering a devastating tsunami that affects the coastal towns of Byzantine Phoenicia, causing thousands of deaths.
660 – Korean forces under general Kim Yusin of Silla defeat the army of Baekje in the Battle of Hwangsanbeol.
869 – The 8.4–9.0 Mw Sanrikuearthquake strikes the area around Sendai in northern Honshu, Japan. Inundation from the tsunami extended several miles inland.
969 – The Fatimid general Jawhar leads the Friday prayer in Fustat in the name of Caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, thereby symbolically completing the Fatimid conquest of Egypt.
1357 – Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.
1386 – The Old Swiss Confederacy makes great strides in establishing control over its territory by soundly defeating the Duchy of Austria in the Battle of Sempach.
1401 – Timur attacks the Jalairid Sultanate and destroys Baghdad.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
1572 – Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs, in the Dutch town of Gorkum.
1609 – Bohemia is granted freedom of religion through the Letter of Majesty by the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf.
1745 – French victory in the Battle of Melle allows them to capture Ghent in the days after.
1755 – The Braddock Expedition is soundly defeated by a smaller French and Native American force in its attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh.
1762 – Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia following the coup against her husband, Peter III.
1763 – The Mozart family grand tour of Europe began, lifting the profile of son Wolfgang Amadeus.
1776 – George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for battle.
1789 – In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself and begins preparations for a French constitution.
1793 – The Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada bans the importation of slaves and will free those who are born into slavery after the passage of the Act.