4.4 million years ago Ardi lives in Ethiopia
Ardi, the earliest known individual of partially human type (or hominid), is of the species Ardipithecus, in the Awash valley region of Ethiopia

3.2 million years ago Lucy in Ethiopia
A female of the species Australopithecus Afarensis (nicknamed Lucy when her skeleton is found), lives in the Afar Depression in Ethiopia within 50 miles of where her predecessor Ardi was unearthed

2.5m years ago Stone tools
The earliest known chipped stone tools are made by hominids at Gona, in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia, close to the region where Ardi and Lucy lived many millennia earler

500 BC First Ethiopian kingdom
The rulers of Aksum, the first Ethiopian kingdom, claim descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

350 Christian bishop in Ethiopia
Frumentius, brought to Ethiopia as a slave, becomes the kingdom's first Christian bishop

1329 Prester John now in Ethiopia
A friar, who has failed to find Prester John in the east, publishes a book proving that the fabulous king lives in Ethiopia

1450 Ethiopian coffee in Arabia
Coffee, derived from wild plants in Ethiopia, is cultivated in Arabia

1530 Muslim holy war against Ethiopia
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim leads Muslim Somalis in a holy war against Christian Ethiopia, destroying churches and shrines

1855 Theodore II in Ethiopia
An Ethiopian baron usurps the throne and proclaims himself emperor, as Theodore II

1885 Italians occupy Eritrea
Italian troops occupy Eritrea, a province of Ethiopia

1886 Addis Ababa founded
Addis Ababa is founded, to become subsequently the capital of Ethiopia

1889 Menelik II is emperor
Menelik II is crowned emperor in Ethiopia, bringing the crown back to the Solomon dynasty

1889 Ethiopia cedes Eritrea to Italy
In the treaty of Uccialli, Menelik II cedes the Ethiopian province of Eritrea to Italy

1896 Ethiopians defeat Italians at Aduwa
The Ethiopian emperor, Menelik II, inflicts a shattering defeat on Italian forces at Aduwa

1896 Ogaden goes to Ethiopia
Italy, one of the local colonial powers, accepts Ethiopia's claim to the Ogaden region of the Somali territory

1916 Ras Tafari in palace coup
Ras Tafari, a member of the Ethiopian imperial family, deposes his distant relation the emperor and puts on the throne his aunt, Zauditu

1930 Haile Selassie
The regent Ras Tafari becomes emperor of Ethiopia and takes the name Haile Selassie

1930 Rastafarian origins in Jamaica
The Rastafarian cult evolves in Jamaica, viewing Ras Tafari, the emperor of Ethiopia, as the black Messiah

1935 Italy invades Ethiopia
Mussolini uses a disagreement over grazing rights as a pretext for an empire-building invasion of Ethiopia

1936 Italians take control in Ethiopia
The Italian forces invading Ethiopia reach Addis Ababa, and Haile Selassie flees into exile

1941  April 6 Italians evicted from Ethiopia
The Allies recover Ethiopia from the Italians and Haile Selassie returns to his throne in Addis Ababa

1952 Eritrea retains autonomy within Ethiopia
A decision by the United Nations makes Eritrea an autonomous federal province within Ethiopia

1962 Eritrea merged with Ethiopia
The Eritrean parliament votes to merge fully with Ethiopia, ending Eritrean autonomy

1963 OAU founded in Addis Ababa
The OAU (Organization of African Unity) is founded in Addis Ababa to give Africa a united voice in world affairs

1974 Lucy found in Ethiopia
Donald Johanson and Tom Gray find an almost complete Australopithecus female skeleton at Hadar in Ethiopia, and nickname her Lucy after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

1974 Dergue takes power
An uprising organized in Ethiopia by the Dergue results in the arrest of Haile Selassie and his murder a year later

1977 Mengistu seizes control of Derg
Mengistu Haile Mariam seizes control of Ethiopia's ruling Dergue (military council) in a violent coup

1984 Famine in northern Ethiopia
A disastrous famine in the northern provinces of Ethiopia is the first to be seen all round the world on television

1984 Do they know its Christmas?
Bob Geldof forms Band Aid and releases for Ethiopian famine relief the best-selling UK single Do they know its Christmas?

1991 Dergue leader flees
As Ethiopian and Eritrean rebels approach Addis Ababa, the leader of the Dergue, Mengistu, flees the country

1991 Rebels take control in Ethiopia
The rebel Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), led by Meles Zenawi, takes control in Ethiopia

1993 Eritrea wins independence
The new federalist regime in Ethiopia cedes independence to Eritrea

1994 Ardi found in Ethiopia
The fossilized skeleton of an Ardipithecus female, nicknamed Ardi and 4.4 million years old, is found in the Awash valley region of Ethiopia

1995 Presidential election in Ethiopia
Ethiopians have their first experience of democracy in a free presidential election, won by Meles Zenawi

1998 War between Eritrea and Ethiopia
Bitter and devastating warfare breaks out again between Eritrea and Ethiopia as the result of a border dispute

2003
Michael Rogers, in a team led by Sileshi Semaw, discovers the world's oldest known chipped stone tool, at Gona in Ethiopia

2011  July 20
The United Nations declares southern Somalia to be in a state of famine, with the disastrous lack of rain driving thousands of refugees into Ethiopia and Kenya

2011
A second consecutive rainy season fails to materialize, causing severe drought in Ethiopia and elsewhere in east Africa

2013 November
Saudi Arabia starts deporting thousands of Ethiopian migrant workers, eventually about 150,000, causing great public anger and a major refugee problem