1st January » Drilling begins on the Lakeview Gusher.
5th January » Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
9th January » Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the Flag of the United Kingdom British flag convert 97 nmi km mi from the South Pole, the Farthest South farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
23rd January » RMS Republic 1903 6, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS 'Florida', off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The 'Republic' sinks
27th January » The Young Left (Norway) known as Young Left is founded in Norway.
28th January » United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.
12th February » The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
15th February » The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250.
20th February » Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
22nd February » The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut BB-18 6, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
23rd February » The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
26th February » Kinemacolor, the first successful color film known as motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre, London known as Palace Theatre in London.
10th March » By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
23rd March » Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
30th March » The Queensboro Bridge in New York City opens, linking Manhattan and Queens.
31st March » Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
31st March » Construction of the ill fated RMS Titanic begins.
6th April » Robert Edwin Peary called Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.
9th April » The Congress of the United States named U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
13th April » The Ottoman Empire or Turkish military 31 March Incident e.g reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
14th April » Adana massacre or A massacre is organized by Ottoman Empire against Armenian population of Cilicia.
27th April » Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.
31st May » The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, convenes for the first time.
2nd June » Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
6th June » French troops capture Abéché (in modern-day Chad) and install a puppet sultan in the Ouaddai Empire.
7th June » Mary Pickford makes her screen debut at the age of 16.
26th June » The Science Museum (London) known as Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.
16th July » Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is forced out as Shah of Persia and is replaced by his son Ahmad Shah Qajar.
25th July » Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a Blériot XI called heavier-than-air machine from (Calais to Dover called Dover, England, United Kingdom) in 37 minutes.
7th August » Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York City known as New York, New York to San Francisco or San Francisco, California.
19th August » The first automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
24th August » Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
28th August » A group of mid-level Greek Army officers launches the Goudi coup, seeking wide-ranging reforms.
30th August » Burgess Shale fossils are discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.
7th September » Eugène Lefebvre crashes a new French-built Wright Model A named Wright biplane during a test flight at Juvisy, south of Paris, becoming the first aviator in the world to lose his life in a powered heavier-than-air craft.
20th September » The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape Colony e.g Cape of Good Hope, Colony of Natal named Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.
16th October » William Howard Taft and Porfirio Díaz hold a summit, a first between a U.S. and a Mexican president, and they only narrowly escape assassination.
26th October » Itō Hirobumi, four time Prime Minister of Japan (the 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th) and Resident-General of Korea, is assassinated by Ahn Jung-geun at the Harbin train station in Manchuria.
2nd November » Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity is founded at Boston University.
18th November » Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.
28th November » Sergei Rachmaninoff makes the debut performance of his Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff) e.g Piano Concerto No. 3, considered to be one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the standard classical music or classical repertoire.
4th December » In Canadian football, the 1st Grey Cup known as First Grey Cup game is played. The University of Toronto Toronto Varsity Blues e.g Varsity Blues defeat the Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club, 26–6.
4th December » The Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, the oldest surviving professional hockey franchise in the world, is founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.
10th December » Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
14th December » New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signs the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909, formally completing the transfer of State land to the Commonwealth to create the Australian Capital Territory.