600 BC Phoenicians sail round Africa
Phoenicians sail round the Cape of Good Hope and bring back the surprising news that the sun was seen to the north of them

1488 Dias rounds Cape for Portugal
Bartolomeu Dias, sailing for the king of Portugal, becomes the first European navigator to round the Cape of Good Hope

1652 Dutch in South Africa
Jan van Riebeeck establishes a Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope

1657 Dutch in South Africa purchase slaves
The Dutch in South Africa purchase slaves to do domestic and agricultural work

1775 Trekboers move north
Dutch nomads, pressing far north from Cape Town, become known as the Trekboers

1795 British seize Cape Town
With the Dutch entering the war on the side of the French, Britain seizes their valuable Cape colony in South Africa

1802 Cape reverts to Dutch rule
The Treaty of Amiens restores the Cape of Good Hope to the Netherlands

1806 British recapture Cape from Dutch
The British recapture the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch

1809 Hottentot Code at the Cape
The British impose the so-called Hottentot Code, protecting Africans at the Cape but also tying them to employers' farms

1815 Cape is British
The congress of Vienna leaves the Cape of Good Hope in British hands

1816 Shaka leads the Zulu
Shaka wins control of the Zulu and begins to build them into a formidable military machine

1820 British settlers shipped to Cape
The first big influx of British settlers, numbering some 5000, arrives at Cape Town in South Africa

1822 Mzilikazi leads Ndebele west
Mzilikazi, after a quarrel with Shaka, leads the Ndebele people to new territories west of Natal

1828 Shaka murdered by half-brother Dingaan
Shaka is murdered by his half-brother Dingaan, who becomes leader of the Zulu in his place

1836 Boers on Great Trek
Hendrik Potgieter sets off with some 200 Boers and their cattle at the start of the Great Trek to the north

1836 Boer victory at Vegkop
Hendrik Potgieter and the Boers, protected by a laager at Vegkop, hold off an attack by a large force of Ndebele tribesmen

1837 Boers massacre Ndebele
After a victory at Vegkop, Boers massacre the inhabitants of a dozen Ndebele villages in secret dawn raids

1837 Retief leads Great Trek
Piet Retief emerges as the new leader of the Great Trek, replacing Potgieter

1837 Boers drive Ndebele north of Limpopo
Potgieter defeats the Ndebele at the Marico river and drives them north of the Limpopo

1837 Retief strikes bargain with Dingaan
Piet Retief reaches a provisional agreement with Dingaan, the Zulu leader, for a Boer settlement in southern Natal

1838 Retief killed by Dingaan
During a ceremony to celebrate their treaty with Dingaan, Piet Retief and his Boer companions are overpowered and killed

1838 Boer families massacred
Dingaan's warriors massacre Boer families in a series of dawn raids near the Bloukrans river

1838 Zulu die in thousands at Blood river
The river Ncome becomes known as the Blood River after thousands of Zulu die attacking Andries Pretorius and the Boers

1839 Pretorius establishes Natalia
Andries Pretorius sets up the Boer republic of Natalia, with its capital at Pietermaritzburg

1840 Dingaan replaced on throne
With Boer help, Mpande removes his brother Dingaan from the Zulu throne and takes his place

1843 Natal declared British protectorate
The British take control of the existing Boer republic and proclaim Natal a British protectorate

1847 Pretorius leads Boers out of Natal
Pretorius leads the last Boer families out of Natal and over the Drakensberg to the high veld

1848 Orange River Sovereignty claimed for Britain
Harry Smith annexes for Britain the land between the Orange and Vaal rivers, calling it the Orange River Sovereignty

1854 Orange Free State
The Boers establish the Orange Free State as an independent republic, with its own custom-built constitution

1857 South African Republic
The Boers of the southern Transvaal declare independence as the South African Republic

1871 Cecil Rhodes in Kimberley
18-year-old English entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes, on a temporary visit to South Africa, arrives in the new diamond town of Kimberley

1872 Cetshwayo is king
Cetshwayo becomes king of Zululand, on the death of his father Mpande

1876 Scottish missionaries establish Blantyre
Scottish missionaries establish Blantyre (named after Livingstone's birthplace) as a centre from which to fight slavery

1877 Britain annexes Transvaal
Britain annexes the Boer republic in the Transvaal

1879 British launch Zulu War
The British find a pretext to march into the territory ruled by Cetshwayo, thus launching the Zulu War

1879 British disaster at Isandhlwana
Zulu tribesmen surprise and annihilate a British army encamped near Isandhlwana

1879 British survive at Rorke's Drift
Immediately after Isandhlwana a tiny British garrison at Rorke's Drift fights off an overwhelming Zulu attack

1879 Cetshwayo defeated
The British destruction of Cetshwayo's kraal at Ulundi ends the Zulu War

1881 Boer victory at Majuba
The Boers inflict a convincing defeat on a British army at Majuba, in the Transvaal

1884 Transvaal republic independent again
The Boer republic in the Transvaal regains its independence from Britain

1889 Rhodes forms British South Africa Company
Cecil Rhodes forms the British South Africa Company to push British commerce and imperial control further north

1893 Gandhi thrown out of first-class compartment
Mahatma Gandhi, travelling with a first-class ticket, is forcibly ejected from the carriage at Pietermaritzburg because of his colour

1895 Jameson raid
Leander Jameson leads a disastrous raid into the Transvaal, in an attempt to topple Paul Kruger's government

1896 Rhodes resigns for Jameson raid
Cecil Rhodes' involvement with the Jameson raid forces his resignation as the Cape Colony prime minister

1897 Zululand merged with Natal
Zululand, annexed by Britain in 1887, is now merged with the colony of Natal

1897 Transvaal in alliance with Orange Free State
Paul Kruger, prime minister of the Transvaal, forms an alliance with the other Boer republic, the Orange Free State

1897 Milner appointed to South Africa
The UK colonial secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, appoints enthusiastic imperialist Alfred Milner as high commissioner in South Africa

1900 British annexe Boer republics
Paul Kruger flees after the British take Pretoria and annexe both the Boer republics

1900 Relief of Mafeking
The relief of Mafeking ends a long siege which brings fame to the British commander of the garrison, Robert Baden-Powell

1901 British concentration camps
Thousands of women and children die in the concentration camps used by the British army for displaced Boer families

1902 Boer War ends
A treaty at Vereeniging ends the Boer War and brings the Boer republics under British control

1905 Louis Botha forms Het Volk
Transvaal politician Louis Botha forms Het Volk ('The People'), a party committed to Afrikaner self-government

1905 Cullinan diamond found
The largest diamond yet known is found in a South African mine belonging to Thomas Cullinan

1906 Gandhi develops passive resistance in Natal
Mahatma Gandhi, confronted by racial discrimination in South Africa, launches a programme of passive resistance (satyagraha)

1906 Transvaal becomes self-governing colony
Transvaal is given the self-governing status promised in the treaty ending the Boer War

1907 Cullinan diamond moves to Britain
The Transvaal government presents to Edward VII the Cullinan diamond, now part of the British crown jewels

1909 South African blueprint for union
National delegates from the four provincial parliaments draw up a draft constitution for a South African union

1910 South Africa wins independence
The Union of South Africa becomes an independent dominion within the British empire

1910 Botha and Smuts head new government of South Africa
Louis Botha is prime minister of the newly formed Union of South Africa, with Jan Smuts as his minister of interior and defence

1912 Beginnings of ANC in South Africa
The South African National Native Congress (subsequently the ANC, African National Congress) is set up in Cape Province

1914 Afrikaner nationalist party
J.B.M. Hertzog founds the National Party in South Africa to represent Afrikaner interests

1915 Nearest star to earth discovered
The nearest star to earth, the red dwarf Proxima Centauri 4.22 light years away, is discovered by Robert Innes, Scottish director of the Johannesburg Observatory

1919 Smuts follow Botha as prime minister
On the death of Louis Botha, Jan Smuts succeeds him as prime minister of South Africa

1923 ANC acquires present name
The African National Congress (ANC) is formed in South Africa by renaming the South African National Native Congress

1924 Africkaner racist party elected
James Hertzog's National Party, committed to protecting white privilege, comes to power in South Africa

1924 Lions tour South Africa
The British rugby team touring South Africa are for the first time called the Lions

1939 September 4 Smuts replaces Hertzog in South Africa
Jan Smuts defeats J.B.M. Hertzog in a vote on neutrality, and takes Hertzog's place as South African premier

1939 September 4 South Africa enters the war
Jan Smuts brings South Africa into the war in support of Britain

1948 Victory in South Africa for National Party
Daniel Malan becomes South Africa's prime minister after his National Party wins the general election

1948 Apartheid in South Africa
Daniel Malan moves swiftly to reinforce apartheid, South Africa's already existing system of racial segregation

1949 Mandela among leaders of ANC
Radical young members, including Nelson Mandela, take control of the ANC

1950 Soweto built
Soweto begins to be built outside Johannesburg to segregate the city's black labour force

1953 Gordimer's The Lying Days
South African author Nadine Gordimer publishes her first novel, The Lying Days

1958 Verwoerd is South Africa's premier
Hendrik Verwoerd become prime minister of South Africa on the death of J.G. Strijdom

1959 Transkei is first Bantustan
The Transkei becomes the first African homeland, or Bantustan, within South Africa

1960 'Wind of change' in Africa
UK prime minister Harold Macmillan, in Cape Town, warns the white settlers of Africa that 'the wind of change' is blowing through their continent

1960 Sharpeville massacre
South African police fire on a crowd in Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, killing more than sixty people

1960 Nelson Mandela in armed struggle
Nelson Mandela leads a new armed section of the ANC (African National Congress), formed in response to Sharpeville

1960 Luthuli wins peace prize
Albert Luthuli, president of the ANC in South Africa, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

1961 South Africa out of Commonwealth
Commonwealth opposition to apartheid causes South Africa to leave the organization and become a republic

1961 ANC adopts guerrilla tactics
Nelson Mandela and the ANC adopt guerrilla tactics against the apartheid regime in South Africa

1964 Mandela given life sentence
Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment and is sent to a gaol on Robben Island

1966 Verwoerd assassinated
Prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd is stabbed to death in the South African parliament

1967 First heart transplant
South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard, in Cape Town, transplants the heart of a young woman into a 55-year-old grocer, Louis Washkansky

1976 Riots follow police violence in Soweto
Hundreds of deaths and casualties result from police firing on a demonstration by schoolchildren in the black township of Soweto

1977 Biko dies in police care
Steve Biko, founder of Black Consciousness, dies of head wounds received in police custody in Pretoria

1983 The Life and Times of Michael K
South African novelist J.M. Coetzee publishes The Life and Times of Michael K, and wins the Booker Prize

1984 Tutu wins peace prize
Desmond Tutu, rector of an Anglican church in Soweto, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

1986 Sanctions on South Africa
Western nations finally impose sanctions on South Africa in response to apartheid

1986 Tutu is archbishop
Desmond Tutu is the first black African to be archbishop of Cape Town

1989 De Klerk president in South Africa
Frederik Willem de Klerk, promising reform, wins a whites-only South African presidential election

1990 De Klerk to end apartheid
South African president F.W. de Klerk announces his radical intention to end apartheid

1990 Mandela released from gaol
Nelson Mandela is given an ecstatic reception on his release after twenty-six years in prison on Robben Island, near Cape Town

1990 Inkatha Freedom Party
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi transforms Inkatha into a political party, the Inkatha Freedom Party

1992 Dance Theatre of Harlem in South Africa
The New York company Dance Theatre of Harlem tours South Africa, with the slogan 'Dancing Through Barriers'

1993 Apartheid ends
Apartheid ends in South Africa, after two thirds of white voters vote for its abolition in a referendum

1993 Peace prize for Mandela and de Klerk
Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their partnership in South Africa

1994 Equal rights in South Africa
A new constitution in South Africa guarantees equal rights to all citizens

1994 ANC wins in South African election
South Africa's first non-racial election is won by the ANC with 63% of the vote

1994 Mandela is president
Nelson Mandela is sworn in as the first president of the new democratic South Africa

1994 South Africa rejoins Commonwealth
With apartheid ended, South Africa rejoins the Commonwealth of Nations

1996 Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Archbishop Desmond Tutu chairs South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

1999 Mbeki follows Mandela as president
Nelson Mandela retires from active politics and is succeeded by Thabo Mbeki as South Africa's president

2015 September 10 Unknown early human discovered in South Africa
Scientists announce the discovery in South Africa of Homo naledi, a previously unknown species of early human