1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

ABT 985 : Eric the Red colonizes Greenland

ABT 1000 : Leif Ericson builds dwelling on NE coast of Newfoundland

12 Oct 1492 : Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas, discovering the New World

24 Jun 1497 : Venetian explorer John Cabot lands at (probably) Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland

10 May 1534 : Frenchman Jacques Cartier explores coast of Labrador

5 Aug 1583 : Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for England

3 Jul 1608 : French explorer Samuel de Champlain builds village of Quebec

2 Aug 1610 : English explorer Henry Hudson discovers Hudson Bay

2 Jun 1615 : Récollets missionaries from Rouen, France arrive at Quebec

1621 : Acadia is granted to Sir William Alexander who renames it New Scotland

19 Jul 1629 : David Kirke captures Quebec City for England

29 Mar 1632 : Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye returns Quebec to France

18 May 1642 : Montreal is founded by the Sieur de Maisonneuve

1663 : Quebec becomes a French royal province

2 May 1670 : Royal Charter incorporates the Hudson's Bay Company

20 Jun 1675 : Indian raids start "King Philip's War" in New England

1678 : Louis Hennepin sees Niagara Falls

1686 : Neutrality pact hands St John's and Port Royal back to France

16 Oct 1690 : Frontenac repulses an English invasion of Quebec

26 Jan 1700 : Cascadia Earthquake

1707 : Port Royal, Nova Scotia is attacked twice by English from Massachusetts

Mar 1713 : Treaty of Utrecht ends Queen Anne's War and confirms British possessions in Canada

1741 : Danish navigator Vitus Bering sights Alaska

21 Jun 1749 : Britain founds Halifax to counter French presence at Louisburg

Aug 1755 : Britain begins the expulsion of Acadians from Nova Scotia

13 Sep 1759 : English under Wolfe take Quebec, defeating Montcalm on Plains of Abraham

1774 : The Quebec Act - borders of Quebec expanded, religious rights guaranteed

1784 : United Empire Loyalists arrive in Canada

1784 : Province of New Brunswick is created

26 Dec 1791 : The Consitutional Act - Quebec divided into Upper and Lower Canada

20 Jul 1793 : Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes first crossing of Canada

2 Jul 1808 : Explorer Simon Fraser reaches the mouth of the Fraser River

18 Jun 1812 : US declares war on Britain starting the War of 1812

11 Jul 1812 : General William Hull and troops invade Canada through Detroit

Aug 1812 : Red River Colony in Northwest is founded

16 Aug 1812 : William Hull surrenders larger American army to British

13 Oct 1812 : Battle of Queenston Heights - General Brock dies in British victory

27 Apr 1813 : American General Zebulon Pike and fleet of ships attacks York

5 Jun 1813 : Battle of Stoney Creek, Canadian victory

23 Jun 1813 : Battle of Beaver Dams, Canadian victory

10 Sep 1813 : Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry "meets" British in Lake Erie

5 Oct 1813 : Shawnee chief Tecumseh defeated and killed in Battle of Moraviantown

26 Oct 1813 : British-Canadain troops win battle in Montreral

11 Nov 1813 : Battle of Crysler's Farm - Canadians defeat Americans

6 May 1814 : Fort Ontario, Oswego captured by Drummond and Yeo

3 Jul 1814 : Fort Erie captured by Americans

5 Jul 1814 : Battle of Chippawa - American defeat the British

25 Jul 1814 : Battle of Lundy's Lane - heavy British and American losses

24 Dec 1814 : War of 1812 ends with the Treaty of Ghent

20 Oct 1818 : Anglo-American Convention fixes 49th parallel as border between Canada and USA

1819 : First Steamship goes up Ottawa river to Hull

17 Jul 1821 : The Lachine Canal in Montreal begins construction

26 Oct 1825 : US completes the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo

30 Nov 1829 : Welland Canal allows shipping to get past Niagara Falls

1833 : Cholera epidemic in Toronto kills 600 people

11 May 1833 : The brig "Lady of the Lake" hits iceberg and sinks killing 215

6 Mar 1834 : York, Ontario incorporated as city of Toronto

27 Mar 1834 : William Lyon Mackenzie first mayor of Toronto

21 Jul 1836 : Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad opens, Canada's first

1837 : Unsuccessful rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada

6 Dec 1837 : Battle of Mississaquoi Bay

9 Nov 1838 : Battle of Odelltown - Patriote rebels are defeated

Jul 1840 : Act of Union unites Upper and Lower Canada

13 Jun 1841 : First parliament of Canada meets at Kingston, Ontario

9 Aug 1842 : Webster-Ashburton Treaty settles the Maine-New Brunswick border dispute

10 May 1844 : Government moves from Kingston to Montreal

18 Oct 1847 : Telegraph line from Quebec to London, Ontario is completed

17 Sep 1849 : Stony Monday Riot in Bytown (Ottawa)

12 Jan 1851 : 1851 Canadian Census taken

7 Apr 1851 : First Canadian postage stamps are printed

27 Oct 1854 : Trains collide on the Great Western Railway at Baptiste Creek killing 52

8 Mar 1855 : A bridge is built over the Niagara River near Niagara Falls

31 Dec 1857 : Ottawa named Canada's capital by Queen Victoria

1858 : Discovery of gold in Fraser Canyon starts gold rush

25 Aug 1860 : The Victoria Bridge opens in Montreal, first to span the St Lawrence

14 Jan 1861 : 1861 Canadian Census taken

1862 : A smallpox epidemic hits northwest coast killing around 200,000 Indians

1 Sep 1864 : Charlottetown Conference - first steps towards Canadian Confederation

2 Jun 1866 : Battle of Ridgeway - Fenian invaders battle Canadian troops

1 Jul 1867 : Sir John A. Macdonald becomes first Prime Minister of Canada

1 Jul 1867 : British North America Act creates the Dominion of Canada

7 Apr 1868 : Thomas D'Arcy McGee assassinated by a Fenian

2 Nov 1869 : The Red River Rebellion takes place in present day Manitoba

15 Jul 1870 : The Manitoba Act is passed creating the Province of Manitoba

2 Apr 1871 : 1871 Canadian Census taken

20 Jul 1871 : British Columbia joins Dominion of Canada

1 Jul 1873 : Prince Edward Island joins Dominion of Canada

5 Nov 1873 : Prime Minister MacDonald resigns over Pacific Scandal

7 Nov 1873 : Alexander Mackenzie becomes Prime Minister of Canada

18 Jan 1875 : Supreme Court of Canada created

1878 : Quebec Dock Riots

1878 : Sir Sanford Fleming, Canadian Railway Surveyor devises Standard Time

17 Oct 1878 : Sir John A. MacDonald becomes third Prime Minister of Canada

24 Jun 1880 : First performance of "O Canada" in Quebec City

16 Feb 1881 : Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated

4 Apr 1881 : 1881 Canadian Census taken

1884 : Joseph Tyrrell finds first Albertosaurus fossil near Drumheller, Alberta

7 Nov 1885 : The transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway is completed

16 Nov 1885 : Louis Riel is Executed in Regina

3 May 1887 : An explosion at Number One Mine, Nanaimo, BC kills 150 coal miners

6 Apr 1891 : 1891 Canadian Census taken

6 Jun 1891 : Prime Minister MacDonald dies of a stroke

16 Jun 1891 : Sir John Abbott becomes Prime Minister of Canada

8 Jul 1892 : The Great Fire in St. John's, Newfoundland devastates the city

24 Nov 1892 : Sir John Abbott, PM of Canada retires

5 Dec 1892 : Sir John Sparrow Thompson becomes Prime Minister of Canada

12 Dec 1894 : Prime Minister Thompson, PM of Canada dies of a heart attack

21 Dec 1894 : Sir Mackenzie Bowell becomes Prime Minister of Canada

27 Apr 1896 : Sir Mackenzie Bowell, PM of Canada retires

1 May 1896 : Sir Charles Tupper becomes Prime Minister of Canada

11 Jul 1896 : Sir Wilfred Laurier becomes Prime Minister of Canada

30 Oct 1899 : Canadian troops sent to Boer war

7 Nov 1900 : Battle of Leliefontein - Boer War - 3 Canadians receive the Victoria Cross

31 Mar 1901 : 1901 Canadian Census taken

1903 : Roald Amundsen begins voyage to traverse Northwest Passage

29 Apr 1903 : The Frank Slide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta

18 Apr 1904 : Great Fire of Toronto Ontario Canada

1 Sep 1905 : The Autonomy Act creates Alberta and Saskatchewan

1 Jan 1906 : The Ouimetoscope, Montreal is Canada's first movie theatre

24 Jun 1906 : 1906 Census taken of Northwest Provinces

7 Sep 1907 : An anti-Asian riot breaks out in Vancouver's Chinatown

23 Sep 1908 : The University of Alberta opens

23 Feb 1909 : John McCurdy makes the first powered flight in Canada at Bras d'Or Lake

31 Jul 1910 : Murderer Dr Crippen is caught in Quebec after fleeing England

1 Jun 1911 : 1911 Canadian Census taken

10 Oct 1911 : Sir Robert Laird Borden becomes Prime Minister of Canada

2 Sep 1912 : The first Calgary Stampede is held

7 Nov 1913 : Great Lakes Storm sinks over 40 vessels and kills at least 250

29 May 1914 : CP ship "Empress of Ireland" sinks in St. Lawrence, 1014 die

28 Jun 1914 : Austrian Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo

28 Jul 1914 : Austria declares war on Serbia - Start of World War I

1 Aug 1914 : Germany declares war on Russia

Aug 1914 : Battle of Tannenberg

3 Aug 1914 : Germany declares war on France

4 Aug 1914 : Germany invades Belgium

4 Aug 1914 : Britain (including Canada) declares war on Germany

Sep 1914 : First Battle of the Marne

4 Oct 1914 : First bombs fall on London

Feb 1915 : Start of German submarine blockade of Britain

22 Apr 1915 : Canadians face German gas attack at Ypres, John McCrae writes "In Flanders Fields"

26 Apr 1915 : British land in Turkey

7 May 1915 : SS "Lusitania" sunk by German submarine

6 Sep 1915 : Poland and Lithuania overrun by Germany

14 Oct 1915 : Britain and France declare war on Bulgaria

20 Dec 1915 : British withdraw from Gallipoli

Feb 1916 : Battle of Verdun

3 Feb 1916 : Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa destroyed by fire

31 May 1916 : Battle of Jutland is largest naval battle of WWI

1 Jun 1916 : 1916 Census taken of Northwest Provinces

1 Jul 1916 : Start of Battle of the Somme

27 Aug 1916 : Romaina declares war on Austria-Hungary

15 Nov 1916 : End of Battle of the Somme

6 Apr 1917 : USA declares war on Germany

12 Apr 1917 : Canadian troops capture Vimy Ridge

Aug 1917 : Conscription introduced in Canada

6 Dec 1917 : French munition ship "Mont Blanc" explodes in Halifax harbour, 1950 killed

7 Dec 1917 : USA declares war on Austria-Hungary

15 Dec 1917 : Russian Bolsheviks now ally with Germany

21 Mar 1918 : Start of German offensive

Jul 1918 : Second Battle of the Marne

8 Aug 1918 : End of German offensive

8 Aug 1918 : Canadians break through German trenches at Amiens "Canada's Hundred Days"

4 Oct 1918 : Germany offers surrender

11 Nov 1918 : End of WWI - Hostilities cease on Western Front

15 May 1919 : Winnipeg General Strike

10 Jan 1920 : Canada joins League of Nations at its inception

10 Jul 1920 : Arthur Meighen becomes Prime Minister of Canada

29 Dec 1921 : William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada

10 Oct 1922 : Railways are merged forming Canadian National Railways

30 Jan 1923 : Bankrupt Grand Trunk Railway is merged into Canadian National Railways

13 Apr 1925 : Women get the right to vote in Newfoundland

29 Jun 1926 : Arthur Meighen becomes Prime Minister of Canada

25 Sep 1926 : William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada

1 Jul 1927 : First cross-country radio broadcast

29 May 1929 : Ottawa Sewer Explosions cause damage

7 Aug 1930 : Richard Bedford Bennett becomes Prime Minister of Canada

11 Dec 1931 : Statute of Westminster grants full legislative independence to Canada

17 Feb 1932 : "Mad Trapper" Albert Johnson is killed by RCMP at Eagle River, Yukon

3 Jul 1934 : Bank of Canada is created

23 Oct 1935 : William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada

2 Nov 1936 : The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is established

1 Sep 1937 : First regular flight of Trans-Canada Airlines

1 Sep 1939 : Germany invades Poland

3 Sep 1939 : Britain and France declare war on Germany - Start of WWII

10 Sep 1939 : Canada declares war on Germany

17 Dec 1939 : The German battleship "Graf Spee" scuttled off Montevideo

10 May 1940 : Germany invades Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg

12 May 1940 : Germany invades France

26 May 1940 : Allied evacuation from Dunkirk begins

10 Jun 1940 : Italy invades France

10 Jun 1940 : Italy declares war on France and Britain

14 Jun 1940 : Germans enter Paris unopposed

22 Jun 1940 : France surrenders to Germany

17 Apr 1941 : Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany

22 Jun 1941 : Germany attacks Russia

14 Aug 1941 : Britain and USA sign Atlantic Charter aboard USS "Augusta" off Halifax

7 Dec 1941 : Japan attack USA at Pearl Harbour

11 Dec 1941 : Britain and USA declare war on Japan

11 Dec 1941 : Germany and Italy declare war on USA

15 Feb 1942 : British surrender Singapore to Japanese

26 Feb 1942 : Japanese Canadians are interned

9 Apr 1942 : USA surrenders Bataan peninsula to Japanese

6 May 1942 : USA surrenders Corregidor Island to Japanese

10 Jun 1942 : Lidice, Czechoslovakia razed by Germans

19 Aug 1942 : Many Canadians captured or killed in Dieppe Raid

8 Nov 1942 : British and US troops land in North Africa

14 Jan 1943 : Casablanca conference

1 Feb 1943 : Germans surrender at Stalingrad

12 May 1943 : War in Africa ends

9 Jul 1943 : 1st Canadian Infantry take part in the invasion of Sicily

25 Jul 1943 : Mussolini deposed

3 Sep 1943 : Allies land in Italy

8 Sep 1943 : Italy surrenders

10 Sep 1943 : Germans take Rome

22 Nov 1943 : Cairo conference

28 Nov 1943 : Teheran Conference

22 Jan 1944 : British, Canadian and US troops land at Anzio

4 Jun 1944 : Allied troops enter Rome

6 Jun 1944 : D-Day landings in Normandy - 3rd Canadian Infantry lands at Juno Beach

25 Aug 1944 : Paris liberated

2 Oct 1944 : 1st Canadian Army takes part in Battle of the Scheldt in Belgium

13 Oct 1944 : Athens liberated

20 Oct 1944 : USA invades Philippines

16 Dec 1944 : Battle of the Bulge

11 Feb 1945 : Yalta agreement

28 Apr 1945 : Mussolini executed at Lake Como

1 May 1945 : Hitler's suicide announced

2 May 1945 : Berlin falls

7 May 1945 : VE Day - Germany surrenders - Riots in Halifax

26 Jun 1945 : United Nations formed - Canada one of the original members

17 Jul 1945 : Potsdam conference

6 Aug 1945 : USA drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima

8 Aug 1945 : USSR declares war on Japan

9 Aug 1945 : USA drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki

14 Aug 1945 : Japan surrenders

2 Sep 1945 : VJ Day. Japanese sign surrender aboard USS Missouri - End of WWII

23 Jun 1946 : Vancouver Island Earthquake

22 Jul 1947 : Two new nuclear reactors go online at Chalk River research facility

1 Sep 1947 : Two trains collide head-on in Dugald, Manitoba killing 31

15 Nov 1948 : Louis St. Laurent becomes Prime Minister of Canada

31 Mar 1949 : Newfoundland joins the Dominion of Canada

4 Apr 1949 : NATO is formed with Canada one of the founding members

22 Aug 1949 : Queen Charlotte Earthquake

5 May 1950 : Red River floods causing 100,000 people to be evacuated from Winnipeg

6 Sep 1952 : CBC broadcasts Canada's first television

2 Jun 1953 : Queen Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of Canada

30 Mar 1954 : First Canadian subway opens at Yonge St., Toronto

10 Feb 1956 : Canadian prospector William Coffin is hanged for murder

9 Dec 1956 : Trans-Canada Airlines flight 810 crashes into Mount Slesse killing 62

21 Jun 1957 : John G. Diefenbaker becomes Prime Minister of Canada

1 Jul 1958 : The Lost Villages of Ontario are submerged for the St Lawrence Seaway

20 Feb 1959 : Avro Arrow project is terminated by the government

1 Apr 1959 : St Lawrence Seaway opens up

1 Jun 1961 : 1961 Canadian Census taken

29 Sep 1962 : Canadian satellite "Alouette 1" launched

11 Dec 1962 : Canada's last executions, Turpin and Lucas at Don Jail in Toronto

7 Mar 1963 : Terrorists, Front de libération du Québec, fire-bomb army barracks

22 Apr 1963 : Lester B Person becomes Prime Minister of Canada

19 Nov 1963 : Trans-Canada Airline flight 831 crashes after takeoff from Montreal killing 118

27 Mar 1964 : Costal British Columbia hit by tsunamis from Alaskan earthquake

15 Feb 1965 : Canada replaces Union Jack with Maple Leaf as National Flag

1 Sep 1966 : CBC starts television broadcasts in colour

Apr 1967 : Army, Navy and Air Forces of Canada merged into Canadain Armed Forces

27 Apr 1967 : Expo 67 in Montreal for Canada's 100th Birthday

20 Apr 1968 : Pierre Elliot Trudeau becomes Prime Minister of Canada

13 Feb 1969 : FLQ bomb the Montreal Stock Exchange wounding 27

Oct 1970 : October Crisis - James Cross and Pierre Laport are kidnapped by FLQ

4 May 1971 : Village of Saint-Jean-Vianney destroyed by landslide

16 Jun 1972 : Churchill Falls hydro-electric facility opens

25 Jan 1973 : Tanker "Irish Stardust" run aground off Vancouver Island causing large oil spill

29 Jun 1974 : Soviet ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defects in Toronto

2 Apr 1975 : CN Tower in Toronto opens - the tallest tower in the world at 1815 feet

10 Nov 1975 : "Edmund Fitzgerald" breaks apart and sinks on Lake Superior, 20 die

Jul 1976 : Montreal hosts the 21st Olympic Games

5 May 1977 : Willie Adams is the first Inuk to be appointed into government

24 Jan 1978 : Soviet nuclear-powered satellite crashes in Canadian north

4 Jun 1979 : Charles Joseph Clark becomes Prime Minister of Canada

3 Mar 1980 : Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes Prime Minister of Canada

12 Apr 1980 : Start of Terry Fox marathon of hope

20 May 1980 : Quebec as a whole votes down proposal for sovereignty

28 Jun 1981 : Terry Fox dies

15 Feb 1982 : "Ocean Ranger" oil platform sinks off coast of Newfoundland, 84 die

22 Jun 1983 : "Canadarm" first used on the Space Shuttle

30 Jun 1984 : John Napier Turner becomes Prime Minister of Canada

17 Sep 1984 : Brian Mulroney becomes Prime Minister of Canada

5 Oct 1984 : Marc Garneau is the first Canadian into space

23 Jun 1985 : A bomb aboard Air India flight 182 explodes off Ireland, 280 Canadians killed

8 Feb 1986 : Hinton Train Collision kills 23

13 Feb 1988 : Calgary hosts winter olympic games

24 Sep 1988 : Ben Johnson wins 100 metre gold, then stripped of it for steroid use

6 Dec 1989 : 14 female students killed by anti-feminist gunman in Montreal

12 Feb 1990 : Hagersville Tire Fire in Ontario burns for 16 days

11 Jul 1990 : Oka standoff between Mohawk and Canadian troops in Quebec lasts 78 days

15 Jan 1991 : Canadian forces participate in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq

22 Jan 1992 : Roberta Bondar is the first Canadian woman into space

17 Dec 1992 : NAFTA Trade Agreement between US, Canada and Mexico is signed

25 Jun 1993 : Kim Cambell becomes Prime Minister of Canada

4 Nov 1993 : Jen Chrétien becomes Prime Minister of Canada

5 Oct 1994 : Members of the Solar Temple cult committ mass suicide in Morin Heights, Quebec

30 Oct 1995 : Province of Quebec Referendum on Soverinty but results in no majority

14 May 1996 : 1996 Canadian Census taken

24 Jun 1996 : A riot in Quebec City causes $1M of damage

14 Nov 1997 : 14 year old Reena Virk is beaten and drowned in Victoria, BC

5 Jan 1998 : Great Ice Storm causes widespread power outages

1 Apr 1999 : Nunavut is separated from Northwest Territories

27 Oct 2000 : Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri arrested over Air India bombing

15 May 2001 : 2001 Canadian Census taken

Jul 2001 : Canada is first country to legalize cannabis for medical use

17 Apr 2002 : Four Canadian soldiers are killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan

5 Mar 2003 : First death from SARS outbreak in Toronto

12 Dec 2003 : Paul Martin becomes Prime Minister of Canada

6 Apr 2004 : 19 million British Columbia poultry are slaughtered as an avian flu measure

11 Jun 2005 : Heat wave hits central Canada

6 Feb 2006 : Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada

16 May 2006 : 2006 Canadian Census taken

13 Jul 2007 : Canadian Conrad Black is found guilty of fraud in Illinois

12 Oct 2008 : First of the British Columbia Pipeline Bombings

1 Aug 2009 : Stage collapses at the Big Valley Jamboree due to high winds