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1875 BCE
1875-76
Measles epidemic wipes out one-third of the Fijian population; British forces and Fijian chiefs suppress rebellion. -
1643
Dutch explorer Abel Tasman is the first European to visit the islands. -
1830
Western Christian missionaries begin to arrive. -
1840-50
Christian convert chief Cakobau gains control of most of western Fiji, while another Christian convert, Ma'afu from Tonga, controls the east. -
1868
Cakobau sells Suva - the current capital of Fiji - to an Australian company. -
1871
European settlers at Levuka island organize a national government and name Cakobau king of Fiji following local disorder. -
1874
Fiji becomes a British crown colony at the request of Cakobau and other chiefs. -
1879-1916
More than 60,000 indentured labourers brought in from the Indian subcontinent to work on sugar plantations. -
1904
Legislative Council, consisting of elected Europeans and nominated Fijians, set up to advise the British governor. -
1916
British colonial government in India stops the recruitment of indentured labourers. -
1920
All labour indenture agreements in Fiji end. -
1963
Women and Fijians enfranchised; predominantly Fijian Alliance Party (AP) set up. -
1970
Fiji becomes independent with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of the AP as prime minister. -
1985
Timoci Bavadra sets up the Fiji Labour Party with trade union support. -
1987 April
Indian-dominated coalition led by Bavadra wins general election, ending 17 years of rule by the AP and Prime Minister Mara. -
1987 May
Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seizes power in bloodless coup with the aim of making indigenous Fijians politically dominant. -
1987 October
Rabuka stages a second coup, proclaims Fiji a republic and appoints Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau president; Ganilau in turn appoints Ratu Mara prime minister; Fiji expelled from Commonwealth; Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand suspend aid. -
1989
Thousands of ethnic Indians flee Fiji. -
1990
New constitution enshrining political dominance for indigenous Fijians introduced. -
1992
Rabuka, of the Fijian Political Party (FPP), becomes prime minister following general election. -
1994
Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara president in January following the death of Ganilau in the previous month; Rabuka and the FPP win general election. -
1997
Fiji re-admitted to the Commonwealth after it introduces a non-discriminatory constitution. -
1999
Mahendra Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian, becomes prime minister after the Fiji Labour Party emerges from the general election with enough seats to rule on its own. -
2000 May
Bankrupt businessman George Speight and retired major Ilisoni Ligairi storm parliament, aiming to make indigenous Fijians the dominant political force. They take Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his cabinet hostage. Speight proclaims himself acting premier. President Mara sacks the Chaudhry government on the orders of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs. -
2000 June
Commonwealth suspends Fiji. -
2000 November
Eight soldiers are killed in a failed army mutiny. -
2000 July
Chaudhry and other hostages released; Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Josefa Iloilo - a former father-in-law of Speight's brother - president -
2000 July
Speight and 369 of his supporters arrested. -
2001 Auguest
Elections to restore democracy; George Speight becomes MP in a new government. -
2001 December
Fiji readmitted to the Commonwealth. -
2001 September
Indigenous Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase sworn in, but doesn't offer cabinet posts to opposition Labour Party, in defiance of constitution. -
2002 november
Government announces radical privatisation plan designed to stave off collapse of vital sugar industry threatened by withdrawal of EU subsidies. -
2002 Feburary
George Speight sentenced to death for treason. President Iloilo commutes his sentence to life imprisonment. -
2003 july
Supreme Court rules that Laisenia Qarase must include ethnic-Indian members of the opposition Labour Party in his cabinet. -
2004 november
Labour Party declines cabinet seats in favour of opposition role. -
2004 april
Former leader Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, considered to be independent Fiji's founding father, dies aged 83. -
2004 Agust
Vice President Ratu Jope Seniloli found guilty of treason over his involvement in May 2000 coup attempt. He serves a few months of a four-year sentence. -
2005 july
Military chief warns that he will remove government if proposed amnesty for those involved in 2000 coup goes ahead. -
2006 march
Great Council of Chiefs elects incumbent President Iloilo to a second, five-year term. -
2006 may
Former PM Sitiveni Rabuka is charged with orchestrating a failed army mutiny in November 2000. -
2006 october-november
Tensions rise between PM Laesenia Qarase and military chief Frank Bainimarama, who threatens to oust the government after it tries, and fails, to replace him. Mr Qarase goes into hiding as the crisis escalates. -
2006 december
Frank Bainimarama says in a televised address he has taken executive powers and dismissed PM Laisenia Qarase. Commonwealth suspends Fiji because of the coup. -
2007 january
Mr Bainimarama restores executive powers to President Iloilo and takes on the role of interim prime minister. -
2007 november
Mr Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president. -
2007 febuary
Mr Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president. -
2007 June
Mr Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president. -
2008 july
Mr Bainimarama appoints himself as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), a body he suspended after it failed to back his December 2006 coup. -
2008 August
South Pacific leaders warn Fiji that it faces suspension from their regional grouping if it fails to show progress towards holding elections. -
2008 febuary
Mr Bainimarama appoints himself as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), a body he suspended after it failed to back his December 2006 coup. -
2009 april
Appeal Court rules the military regime was illegally appointed after the 2006 coup and says a caretaker prime minister should be appointed to call elections to restore democracy. -
2009 May
South Pacific nations suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum regional bloc for its failure to hold elections. -
2009 Septmeber
The Commonwealth fully suspends Fiji after the refusal of the military government to bow to demands to call elections by 2010. It is only the second full suspension in the organisation's history. -
2009 july
South Pacific nations suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum regional bloc for its failure to hold elections. -
2009 january
Pacific leaders demand Fiji hold elections by the end of the year.