1899 - Tutsi kingdom of Urundi comes under German East African administration

1962 - Burundi (formerly Urundi) becomes independent kingdom under Tutsi King Mwami Mwambutsa IV, having been administered along with neighbouring Rwanda by Belgium since 1923 and by Germany prior to World War One

1964 - Ethnic violence

1965 - Hutus win majority in parliamentary elections but King Mwambutsa refuses to appoint a Hutu prime minister. A failed Hutu rebellion brutally suppressed by Tutsi-dominated army

1966 - Mwambutsa deposed by son Ntare V. Months later, Ntare V falls foul of successful military coup by Michel Micombero, a Tutsi. Micombero declares himself president

1972 - Attempt to return Ntare V to power crushed and former king is killed, supposedly by Hutus. Some 200,000 Hutus and 10,000 Tutsis massacred in reprisal attacks and tens of thousands of Hutus flee to neighbouring Tanzania and Rwanda

1976 - Jean-Baptise Bagaza, a Tutsi, deposes Micombero in military coup and declares himself president

1981 - Bagaza suspends constitution and turns Burundi into one-party state

1987 - Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, deposes Bagaza in military coup and becomes president

1988 - About 20,000 Hutus are slaughtered as ethnic tensions flare and thousands flee to Rwanda

1992 - Burundians vote in referendum for multiparty system

Slide into civil war

1993

June - Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, beats Buyoya in multi-party polls, ending military rule and leading to installation of pro-Hutu government. Ndadaye becomes Burundi's first Hutu president

Oct - Ndadaye is assassinated by pro-Bagaza Tutsi extremists. In revenge, members of Ndadaye's Burundi Democracy Front (FRODEBU) massacre Tutsis and army begins reprisals. Tens of thousands are killed as civil war starts between Tutsi-dominated army and Hutu rebel forces

1994

Jan - FRODEBU's Cyprien Ntaryamira, a Hutu, is elected interim president by National Assembly

April - A plane carrying Ntaryamira and Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana is shot down by rocket in Kigali, killing both and triggering genocide in Rwanda in which Hutu extremists kill 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In Burundi, Hutus begin massacring Tutsis and Tutsi-controlled army retaliates by killing Hutus

Oct - FRODEBU's Sylvestre Ntibantunganya becomes president

1996 - Buyoya again seizes power in a July coup and suspends constitution

2000 - Most of Burundi's factions sign power-sharing deal in Tanzania heralding three-year transition to power-sharing between Hutus and Tutsis. The deal is not signed by main Hutu rebel groups, Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) and Forces for National Liberation (FNL)

2001

Nov - Transitional government is sworn in. Buyoya to remain in power with Hutu deputy for first 18 months, after which positions to be reversed

2003

April - Hutu Domitien Ndayizeye becomes president

Oct 8 - Both sides sign new peace deal after talks in South Africa

Nov 2 - The FDD agrees to join government. The FNL denounces deal

Nov 16 - Regional leaders sign agreement to cement power-sharing accord in Tanzania; deal incorporates all previous ceasefire agreements signed since 2000

2004

Aug - At least 160 Congolese Tutsis massacred at refugee camp in Burundi. FNL claims responsibility

2005

May - Ndayizeye and FNL leader Agathon Rwasa sign truce after first face-to-face talks, in Tanzania

July - FDD wins parliamentary elections with 58 percent of votes in shadow of recent clashes between army and FNL rebels that kill 18. FDD resoundingly wins elections to 41-seat senate, gaining 30 seats out 34 up for election

Aug 19 - Lawmakers elect new president, Pierre Nkurunziza, who is head of FDD

Aug 26 - Nkurunziza sworn in as Burundi's president for five-year term.

Sept - FNL formally rejects offer of talks by government, saying it does not recognise new administration

2006

Jan - Burundian human rights watchdog Ligue Iteka slams provisional release of 673 prisoners involved in 1993 assassination of Ndadaye and ethnic reprisals it triggered

Feb - Human Rights Watch accuses Burundian security forces of torturing and killing suspected members of FNL in report that government rejects

March - FRODEBU, the main opposition party, pulls out of national unity government, accusing Nkurunziza's coalition of failing to abide by constitutional agreement on power-sharing and failing to promote democracy

April 10 - Burundi announces plans to begin repatriating hundreds of immigrants from Rwanda after claims for asylum are rejected

April 15 - Government lifts 13-year nationwide midnight-to-dawn curfew, declaring 95 percent of Burundian territory at peace

August - Police arrest former President Domitien Ndayizeye and others in connection with alleged plot to overthrow government. Suspects say allegations were invented to squash dissent

Sep 5 - Second Vice President Alice Nzomukunda resigns, blaming official corruption and human rights abuses for derailing promising progress towards peace

Sept 7 - FNL and government sign full ceasefire after about five months of stop-start talks in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Oct 17 - U.S. State Department says United States plans to take in about 10,000 Burundian refugees from Tanzania, many of whom fled ethnic violence in 1972

2007

Jan - Former President Domitien Ndayizeye walks free from jail to glee of supporters after he and four others are acquitted of plotting coup

Feb - The United Nations officially shuts peacekeeping mission and refocuses operations on reconstruction. New U.N. Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB) has two-year term

Ceasefire monitoring team comprising government officials and FNL members begins work

Mar - FNL withdraws from ceasefire monitoring team, saying government forces have not been withdrawn from areas under their control

Apr - Government refuses to meet rebel demands

2008

Apr - Violence breaks out between FNL rebels and government troops, killing more than 100 and displacing thousands

May - Rebels drop demand for amnesty and senior FNL officials return to Bujumbura to begin implementing delayed peace deal, although leader remains in exile in Tanzania. Days later, government and FNL jointly declare end to hostilities to give stalled peace deal a chance