WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1909
Find out what all happened February to September 1909

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 of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony. (20. September 1909)

Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California. (7. August 1909)

Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome. (18. April 1909)

The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250. (15. February 1909)

The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, is first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois. (23. September 1909)

French troops capture Abéché (in modern-day Chad) and install a puppet sultan in the Ouaddai Empire. (6. June 1909)

The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act. (9. April 1909)

Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic. (5. February 1909)

U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State (4. March 1909)

The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity. (26. June 1909)

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. (10. March 1909)

Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time. (2. June 1909)

Eugene Lefebvre crashes a new French-built Wright biplane during a test flight at Juvisy, south of Paris, becoming the first 'pilot' in the world to lose his life in a powered heavier-than-air craft. (7. September 1909)

Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina. (31. March 1909)

Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference. (15. June 1909)

The Turkish military reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. (13. April 1909)

The Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan and Queens. (30. March 1909)

Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro. (20. February 1909)

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded. (12. February 1909)

A massacre is organized by Ottoman Empire against Armenian population of Cilicia. (14. April 1909)