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Our on this day in history archives contain over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few more of them:

April 9 is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 266 days remain until the end of the year.

EVENTS

1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.

1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.

1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.

1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

1939 – African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughter’s of the American Revolution.

1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.

1994 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-59.

BIRTHS

1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (d. 1859)

1903 – Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)

1921 – Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (d. 2005)

1926 – Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises (d. 2017)

1932 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)

1935 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)

1939 – Michael Learned, American actress

1953 – Hal Ketchum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020)

1954 – Dennis Quaid, American actor

1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress

1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress

1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress

DEATHS

1483 – Edward IV, king of England (b. 1442)

1768 – Sarah Fielding, English author (b. 1710)

1904 – Isabella II, Spanish queen (b. 1830)

1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (b. 1867)

2001 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player and coach (b. 1940)

2002 – Pat Flaherty, American race car driver (b. 1926)

2019 – Charles Van Doren, American writer and editor (b. 1926)

2021 – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1921)

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