World Events

Posted in 1909

  • Peary's "Discovery of the North Pole", Hampton's magazineLouis Blériot successfully crosses the English Channel in a monoplane to win a prize of £1,000. His flight took 43 minutes at an average speed of 40 mph over a distance of 31 miles.
  • Robert Peary reaches the North Pole. Commander Peary and his party set out from Greenland and traversed 90 miles of mountain terrain before making the final 36-day trek to the Pole.
  • Britain's Lloyd George introduces his Peoples Budget - taxing the rich to pay for welfare amenities - which leads to a constitutional crisis in the House of Lords.
  • Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Braun share the Nobel Prize in Physics "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".
  • The self-governing Union of South Africa was created by royal proclamation. The Union brings together the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Transvaal and Orange River.