1948 - Independence from Britain

1956 - Sinhala Act makes Sinhala the sole official language, restricting employment opportunities for Tamils

1976 - Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) founded

1983 - Riots and clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils leave thousands of Tamils dead and several hundred thousand as refugees. Large number of government forces deployed in the north and east

1985 - Talks to find a political solution to the conflict fail and conflict intensifies

1987

Jul - India and Sri Lanka sign accord creating regional councils to give Tamils in the northeast limited autonomy. Indian troops arrive to enforce the pact which is endorsed by Tamil rebel groups

Oct - LTTE reneges on the accord and begins three years of battles that kill more than 1,000 Indian troops

1988

Dec - Ranasinghe Premadasa is elected president after promising to send Indian troops home and begin talks with LTTE

1990

Jun - Talks fail as LTTE overruns police stations in east

1991

May - Suspected female Tiger suicide bomber kills Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi

1993

May - Premadasa killed by suicide bomber

1995

Jan - Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and rebels agree to stop fighting and talk

Apr - Truce ends when rebels blow up two navy vessels

1996

Jan - Tiger suicide bombers blow up central bank building. More than 100 killed and about 1,400 hurt

1997

Oct - U.S. declares LTTE a terrorist group. LTTE bombs World Trade Centre in Colombo, killing 15

1998

Jan - Sri Lanka outlaws the LTTE after suicide attack on country's holiest Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy

1999

Dec - Kumaratunga survives LTTE suicide bomb attack, loses one eye, spurring a sympathy vote analysts say helped her win re-election

2000

May - Norway's special envoy for peace, Erik Solheim, begins talks with Sri Lankan leaders

2001

Attack on the international airport in Colombo destroys civilian and military aircraft

2002

Feb - Government and LTTE sign Norwegian-brokered ceasefire, laying groundwork for direct peace talks

Dec - Tigers give up demand for a separate state and agree to work with government towards devolution of power

2003

Apr - Tigers pull out after six rounds of talks, saying not enough being done to rebuild war-hit Tamil areas

2004

Dec - Indian Ocean tsunami kills at least 35,000 people in Sri Lanka, affecting both Tamil and Sinhalese areas

2005

Aug - Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar assassinated by suspected rebel snipers

Nov - Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa elected president after Tigers boycott polls

Dec - Mine attacks by suspected Tigers kill 39 soldiers

2006

Jan - Violence escalates in the north and east, raising fears of a return to civil war

Feb - Tigers and government agree to respect 2002 ceasefire

Apr - Major upsurge in violence. Government launches air strikes against Tamil targets after suicide bomber injures army chief and kills nine civilians in Colombo

May - Tigers attack a naval convoy - the worst military confrontation since the truce

Jun - Rebels demand withdrawal of peace monitors from EU countries after they list Tamil Tigers as terrorists. Mine attack on a bus kills more than 60 civilians

Jul - Army advances on rebel territory for the first time since ceasefire. Rebels say war is back on

Aug - Seventeen aid workers massacred in the east. Suspected Tiger suicide bomber attacks a Pakistan High Commission convoy in Colombo

Oct - Suicide bombing on a convoy kills 100 sailors and civilians. Planned peace talks in Geneva come unstuck over rebel demand that the government reopen a highway that crosses through rebel territory to the army-held Jaffna peninsula. Heavy fighting resumes

Nov 10 - Prominent MP from rebel-endorsed Tamil National Alliance shot dead in Colombo. Fighting escalates as rebels accuse army of entering no-mans land in Batticaloa district with tanks and armoured vehicles. Military denies this. Tigers declare they see no other option than to fight for full independence

Dec - President's brother Gothabaya Rajapaksa, who is also defence secretary, narrowly escapes suicide bombing in Colombo

Government reimposes Prevention of Terrorism Act, aimed at cracking down on the Tigers

2007

Jan - Military captures strategic Tiger-held eastern town of Vakarai. UNHCR estimates 213,000 people displaced since April 2006

Mar - Tiger light aircraft bombs air force base next to Colombo international airport, the first such air strike by the rebels

Jul - Government declares it has driven rebels from their last jungle stronghold in east

Oct - Tiger suicide fighters mount major ground assault on north-central airbase

Nov - Tamil Tiger political wing leader S.P Thamilselvan killed in air force bombing. Ex rebel Karuna Amman detained in Britain

2008

Jan - Government declares truce dead

Opposition parliamentarian T. Maheshweran shot dead in Colombo, Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake killed by roadside bomb blamed on Tigers

Jul - Karuna returns to Sri Lanka after serving jail sentence in Britain for passport fraud

Oct - Karuna sworn in as member of parliament

Nov - Military seizes west

2009

Jan - Military captures Tigers' de facto capital Kilinochchi in the north

Apr - Military says it has confined the rebels to a zone in the northeast measuring 17 sq km. Sri Lanka gives rebels 24 hours to surrender as civilians flee battle zone

May 14 - U.S. President Barack Obama urges both sides to avert a humanitarian crisis. U.N. Security Council voices grave concern over civilian deaths. War zone now measures 2.5 sq km

May 18 - Sri Lanka declares victory. State TV says Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran killed by special forces troops while trying to escape