BBC News - Friday, 2 July, 2004

4th century - Bantu speaking groups settle, join the indiginous San and Khoikhoi people.

1480s - Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Dias is the first European to travel round the southern most tip of Africa.

1497 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama lands on Natal coast.

1652 - Jan van Riebeeck, representing the Dutch East India Company, founds the Cape Colony at Table Bay.

1795 - British forces seize Cape Colony from the Netherlands. Territory is returned to the Dutch in 1803; ceded to the British in 1806.

1816 - 1826 Shaka Zulu founds and expands the Zulu empire, creates a formidable fighting force.

1835-1840 - Boers leave Cape Colony in the 'Great Trek' and found the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

1852 - British grant limited self-government to the Transvaal.

1856 - Natal separates from the Cape Colony.

Late 1850s - Boers proclaim the Transvaal a republic.

1867 - Diamonds discovered at Kimberley.

1877 - The British help the Transvaal Boers to defeat the Zulus. Britain annexes the Transvaal.

1879 - British defeat the Zulus in Natal.

1880-81 - Boers rebel against the British, sparking the first Anglo-Boer War. Conflict ends with a negotiated peace. Transvaal is restored as a republic.

Mid 1880s - Gold is discovered in the Transvaal, triggering the gold rush.

1899 - British troops gather on the Transvaal border and ignore an ultimatum to disperse. The second Anglo-Boer War begins.

1902 - Treaty of Vereeniging ends the second Anglo-Boer War. The Transvaal and Orange Free State are made self-governing colonies of the British Empire.

1910 - Formation of Union of South Africa by former British colonies of the Cape and Natal, and the Boer republics of Transvaal, and Orange Free State.

1912 - Native National Congress founded, later renamed the African National Congress (ANC).

1913 - Land Act introduced to prevent blacks, except those living in Cape Province, from buying land outside reserves.

1914 - National Party founded.

1918 - Secret Broederbond (brotherhood) established to advance the Afrikaner cause.

1919 - South West Africa (Namibia) comes under South African administration.

Apartheid set in law

1948 - Policy of apartheid (separateness) adopted when National Party (NP) takes power.

1950 - Population classified by race. Group Areas Act passed to segregate blacks and whites. Communist Party banned. ANC responds with campaign of civil disobedience, led by Nelson Mandela.

1960 - Seventy black demonstrators killed at Sharpeville. ANC banned.

1961 - South Africa declared a republic, leaves the Commonwealth. Mandela heads ANC's new military wing, which launches sabotage campaign.

1960s - International pressure against government begins, South Africa excluded from Olympic Games.

1964 - ANC leader Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment.

1966 September - Prime Minister Henrik Verwoerd assassinated.

1970s - More than 3 million people forcibly resettled in black 'homelands'.

1976 - More than 600 killed in clashes between black protesters and security forces during uprising which starts in Soweto.

1984-89 - Township revolt, state of emergency.

1989 - FW de Klerk replaces PW Botha as president, meets Mandela. Public facilities desegregated. Many ANC activists freed.

1990 - ANC unbanned, Mandela released after 27 years in prison. Namibia becomes independent.

1991 - Start of multi-party talks. De Klerk repeals remaining apartheid laws, international sanctions lifted. Major fighting between ANC and Zulu Inkatha movement.

1993 - Agreement on interim constitution.

1994 April - ANC wins first non-racial elections. Mandela become president, Government of National Unity formed, Commonwealth membership restored, remaining sanctions lifted. South Africa takes seat in UN General Assembly after 20-year absence.

Seeking truth

1996 - Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu begins hearings on human rights crimes committed by former government and liberation movements during apartheid era.

1996 - Parliament adopts new constitution. National Party withdraws from coalition, saying it is being ignored.

1998 - Truth and Reconciliation Commission releases its report, branding apartheid a crime against humanity and finding the ANC accountable for human rights abuses.

1999 - ANC wins general elections, Thabo Mbeki takes over as president.

2000 December - Local elections. ANC takes most of the 237 local councils (59%) but the Democratic Alliance - created five months previously from a merger of the Democratic Party, the New National Party and the Federal Alliance - captures nearly a quarter of the votes. The Inkatha Freedom Party wins 9%.

2001 April - A group of 39 multi-national pharmaceutical companies suspend their legal battle to stop South Africa importing generic Aids drugs. The decision to drop the landmark court case is hailed as a major victory for the world's poorest countries in their efforts to import cheaper drugs to combat an epidemic that affects more than 25 million Africans alone.

2001 May - An official panel begins its public hearings into allegations of corruption surrounding South Africa's biggest arms transaction in seven years. The 1999 deal involves British, French, German, Italian, Swedish and South African firms. In November the panel clears the government of unlawful conduct. 2001 September - Durban hosts UN race conference.

2001 November - The ruling ANC and the New National Party announce a merger.

2001 December - The Rand, battered for the past five years on foreign currency markets, falls to new lows in spite of the country's solid economic fundamentals and fiscal discipline.

2001 December - High Court rules that pregnant women must be given Aids drugs to help prevent transmission of the virus to their babies.

2002 April - Court acquits Dr Wouter Basson - dubbed "Dr Death" - who ran apartheid-era germ warfare programme. Basson had faced charges of murder and conspiracy. ANC condemns verdict.

2002 July - Constitutional court orders government to provide key anti-Aids drug at all public hospitals. Government had argued drug was too costly.

2002 August - UN summit on sustainable development.

2002 October - A series of bomb explosions in Soweto and a blast near Pretoria are thought to be the work of right-wing extremists. Separately, police charge 17 right-wingers with plotting against the state.

2003 May - Walter Sisulu, a key figure in the anti-apartheid struggle, dies aged 91. Thousands gather to pay their last respects.

2003 November - Government approves major programme to treat and tackle HIV, Aids. It envisages network of drug-distributon centres, and preventative programmes. Cabinet had previously refused to provide anti-Aids medicine via public health system.

2004 April - Ruling ANC wins landslide victory in general elections, picking up just under 70% of vote.

Thabo Mbeki is sworn in as president for a second term.

Inkatha Freedom Party Leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi is dropped from President Mbeki's cabinet.

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