1861-1914 - Britain consolidates its hold over what it calls the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, governs by "indirect rule" through local leaders.

1922 - Part of former German colony Kamerun is added to Nigeria under League of Nations mandate.

BIAFRA WAR Attacks, food blockade killed more than one million people Biafra: 30 years on Secret papers reveal Biafra intrigue

1962-63 - Controversial census fuels regional and ethnic tensions.

1966 January - Balewa killed in coup. Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi heads up military administration.

1966 July - Ironsi killed in counter-coup, replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon.

1967 - Three eastern states secede as the Republic of Biafra, sparking bloody civil war.

1970 - Biafran leaders surrender, former Biafran regions reintegrated into country.

1975 - Gowon overthrown, flees to Britain, replaced by Brigadier Murtala Ramat Mohammed, who begins process of moving federal capital to Abuja.

Obasanjo - first time round

1976 - Mohammed assassinated in coup attempt. Replaced by Lieutenant-General Olusegun Obasanjo, who helps introduce American-style presidential constitution.

1979 - Elections bring Alhaji Shehu Shagari to power.

1983 January - The government expels more than one million foreigners, mostly Ghanaians, saying they had overstayed their visas and were taking jobs from Nigerians. The move is condemned abroad but proves popular in Nigeria.

1983 August, September - Shagari re-elected amid accusations of irregularities.

1983 December - Major-General Muhammad Buhari seizes power in bloodless coup.

GENERAL ABACHA Late military ruler, accused of stealing some $3bn from state Horrors of the Abacha regime Obituary: Leader with an iron grip Nigerian radio announces his death

1993 June - Military annuls elections when preliminary results show victory by Chief Moshood Abiola.

1993 August - Power transferred to Interim National Government.

Abacha years

1993 November - General Sani Abacha seizes power, suppresses opposition.

1994 - Abiola arrested after proclaiming himself president.

KEN SARO-WIWA Ogoni anti-pollution campaigner, executed by military tribunal No end to Saro-Wiwa's struggle

1998 - Abacha dies, succeeded by Major-General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Chief Abiola dies in custody a month later.

1999 - Parliamentary and presidential elections. Olusegun Obasanjo sworn in as president.

2000 - Adoption of Islamic, or Sharia, law by several northern states in the face of opposition from Christians. Tension over the issue results in hundreds of deaths in clashes between Christians and Muslims.

2001 - Tribal war in Benue state, in eastern-central Nigeria, displaces thousands of people.

SHARIA LAW Safiya Husseini, acquitted after death sentence for adultery Debate rages over women and Sharia Analysis: Nigeria's Sharia split

2001 October - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Algerian President Bouteflika launch New Partnership for African Development, or Nepad, which aims to boost development, encourage open government and end wars in return for aid, foreign investment and a lifting of trade barriers which impede African exports.

2002 January - Blast at munitions dump in Lagos kills more than 1,000.

Ethnic violence

2002 February - Some 100 people are killed in Lagos during bloody clashes between Hausas from the mainly-Islamic north and ethnic Yorubas from the predominantly-Christian southwest. Thousands flee their homes. The city's governor suggests retired army officials stoked the violence in an attempt to restore military rule.

2002 March - An appeals court reverses a death sentence handed down to a woman found guilty of adultery. An Islamic court in the north had ordered that the woman be stoned to death, but the sentence provoked an international outcry including a plea for clemency from the EU.

ETHNIC CLASHES Hausa-Yoruba tension spills out onto the streets of Lagos Nigeria: More divided than united?

2002 November - More than 200 people die in four days of rioting stoked by Muslim fury over controversy surrounding the planned Miss World beauty pageant in Kaduna in December. The event is relocated to Britain.

2003 12 April - First legislative elections since end of military rule in 1999. Polling marked by delays, allegations of ballot-rigging. President Obasanjo's People's Democratic Party wins parliamentary majority.

Obasanjo re-elected

2003 19 April - First civilian-run presidential elections since end of military rule. Olusegun Obasanjo elected for second term with more than 60% of vote. Opposition parties reject result. EU observers say polling marred by "serious irregularities".

2003 July - Nationwide general strike called off after nine days after government agrees to lower recently-increased fuel prices.

2003 August - Nigeria says it will not hand over Bakassi peninsula - awarded to Cameroon in 2002 - for at least three years.

Violence between Ijaw and Itsekiri people in Delta town of Warri kills about 100 people, injures 1,000.

2003 September - An Islamic appeals court in the northern state of Katsina acquits a woman who had been sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery. Amina Lawal's case had attracted international concern from human rights campaigners.