ABT 217 : Date of oldest Pueblo roofbeam that can be dated

ABT 400 : Heyday of Moundbuilders in Mississippi valley

ABT 725 : Casa Grande, an Indian fort and large irrigation works built in Arizona

ABT 985 : Eric the Red colonizes Greenland

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

ABT 1100 : Mayan civilization reaches it's height in Central America

1325 : Toltec empire defeated by Aztecs in Mexico

1327 : Aztecs establish Mexico City

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

24 Jun 1497 : John Cabot lands in Newfoundland

1524 : Giovanni da Verrazzano explores coastline from Maine to N Carolina

1565 : Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St. Augustine, Florida

22 Jul 1587 : Sir Walter Raleigh founds the Roanoke Colony

18 Aug 1590 : Roanoke Colony found deserted

1607 : Jamestown Settlement founded

1614 : Dutch claim New Netherland

1619 : Slavery introduced in the Colony of Virginia

11 Nov 1620 : Pilgrims aboard the "Mayflower" arrive at Provincetown

1625 : New Amsterdam (New York City) founded

1628 : Massachusetts Bay Colony founded

1634 : Province of Maryland founded

1635 : Connecticut Colony founded by James Hooker

1636 : Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations founded by Roger Williams

1638 : Delaware Colony founded

1655 : Peach Tree War in New Netherland

1663 : Province of Carolina founded

4 Mar 1665 : Start of the second Anglo-Dutch war

31 Jul 1667 : New Netherland ceded to Great Britain

1669 : John Lederer explores the Appalachian Mountains

1670 : Charleston, SC founded

1671 : Batts-Fallam expedition reaches New River, W Virginia

1672 : Jolliet and Marquette explore the Illinois Country

7 Apr 1672 : Start of the third Anglo-Dutch war

29 Jun 1676 : First formally declared Day of Thanksgiving

Jul 1676 : Bacon's Rebellion wages vigilante war against Indians in Virginia

1679 : Westo tribe destroyed in S Carolina

10 Aug 1680 : Start of Pueblo Revolt in Spanish New Mexico

4 Mar 1681 : William Penn granted charter for the Province of Pennsylvania

9 Apr 1682 : Robert de La Salle reaches the mouth of the Mississippi

3 Jun 1686 : Dominion of New England created by Great Britain

18 May 1689 : Government of New England collapses

8 Feb 1690 : Schenectady Massacre in New York colony

Feb 1692 : Start of Salem witch trials in Massachusetts

1698 : Pensacola, Florida founded by Spain

1702 : East Jersey and West Jersey become crown colonies

1729 : Province of Carolina proprietors sell out to England

1732 : First Great Awakening, reshaping religious policies everywhere

1739 : Start of the War of Jenkin's Ear

28 May 1754 : Start of the French and Indian War

Jun 1754 : The Albany Congress

Oct 1758 : Treaty of Easton prevents Ohioan Indians fighting alongside the French

12 Sep 1759 : Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Quebec

1763 : Start of Pontiac's Rebellion

10 Feb 1763 : Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War

5 Mar 1770 : Boston Massacre. Five civilians killed by British troops

16 May 1771 : Battle of Alamance in N Carolina

9 Jun 1772 : Gaspée Affair

16 Dec 1773 : Boston Tea Party

19 Apr 1775 : Battles of Lexington & Concord - Start of American War of Independence

17 Jun 1775 : Battle of Bunker Hill

4 Jul 1776 : Declaration of Independence

15 Nov 1777 : Articles of Confederation adopted by the Second Continental Congress

23 Sep 1779 : Benedict Arnold exposed as a British agent

19 Oct 1781 : The British surrender at Yorktown

3 Sep 1783 : Treaty of Paris ends American War of Independence

1786 : Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts

30 Apr 1789 : George Washington becomes first president of USA

15 Dec 1791 : United States Bill of Rights comes into force

1794 : Whiskey Rebellion in Pittsburgh

4 Mar 1797 : John Adams becomes president of USA

1800 : Library of Congress founded

4 Mar 1801 : Thomas Jefferson becomes president of USA

1803 : Louisiana Purchase

31 Aug 1803 : Lewis and Clark expedition leaves Pittsburgh

1804 : New Jersey abolishes slavery

1807 : Robert Fulton invents the steamboat

1808 : US slave trade with Africa ends

4 Mar 1809 : James Madison becomes president of USA

1812 : War of 1812 begins

10 Sep 1813 : Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeats British Navy on Lake Erie

1814 : The British burn Washington

14 Sep 1814 : Francis Scott Key observes battle of Fort McHenry at Baltimore

8 Jan 1815 : Battle of New Orleans

4 Mar 1817 : James Monroe becomes president of USA

1819 : Panic of 1819 is first major US financial crisis

15 Mar 1820 : Maine becomes 23rd state

4 Mar 1825 : John Quincy Adams becomes president of USA

1827 : Winnebago War in Wisconsin

1828 : Baltimore and Ohio railroads begin construction

4 Mar 1829 : Andrew Jackson becomes president of USA

26 May 1830 : Indian Removal Act signed into law

1832 : Black Hawk War

2 Oct 1835 : Texas Revolution begins

6 Mar 1836 : Fall of the Alamo

4 Mar 1837 : Martin van Buren becomes president of USA

4 Mar 1841 : William Henry Harrison becomes president of USA

4 Apr 1841 : John Tyler becomes president of USA

4 Mar 1845 : James K Polk becomes president of USA

1846 : Mexican-American War begins

24 Jan 1848 : Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill, California starts the Gold Rush

4 Mar 1849 : Zachary Taylor becomes president of USA

9 Jul 1850 : Millard Fillmore becomes president of USA

4 Mar 1853 : Franklin Pierce becomes president of USA

21 May 1856 : Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas

4 Mar 1857 : James Buchanan becomes president of USA

5 Aug 1858 : Transatlantic cable allows telegraph communications between America and Britain

Jun 1859 : Pig War - Dispute over border between USA and Britain in San Juan Islands

16 Oct 1859 : John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry

20 Dec 1860 : S Carolina becomes first state to cede from the Union

4 Mar 1861 : Abraham Lincoln becomes president of USA

12 Apr 1861 : Start of the American Civil War

9 Mar 1862 : Duel between ironclads USS "Monitor" and CSS "Virginia" at Hampton Roads

17 Sep 1862 : Battle of Antietam

1 Jul 1863 : Battle of Gettysburg

Nov 1864 : General Sherman's march to the sea

14 Apr 1865 : Abraham Lincoln assassinated at Ford's Theatre

15 Apr 1865 : Andrew Johnson becomes president of USA

22 Jun 1865 : Last shot of Civil War fired by CSS Shenandoah in Bering Sea

6 Dec 1865 : 13th amendment finally abolishes slavery in the US

1866 : Ku Klux Klan founded

17 Oct 1867 : US buys Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million

4 Mar 1869 : Ulysses S Grant becomes president of USA

8 Oct 1871 : Great Chicago Fire kills hundreds

1 Mar 1872 : Yellowstone National Park established

25 Jun 1876 : Battle of the Little Bighorn - Custer's last stand

4 Mar 1877 : Rutherford B Hayes becomes president of USA

4 Sep 1877 : Crazy Horse killed trying to escape ending the Great Sioux War

4 Mar 1881 : James A Garfield becomes president of USA

19 Sep 1881 : Chester A Arthur becomes president of USA

26 Oct 1881 : Gunfight at the OK Corral, Tombstone, Arizona

24 May 1883 : Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens

4 Mar 1885 : Grover Cleveland becomes president of USA

13 Jan 1888 : National Geographic Society founded

4 Mar 1889 : Benjamin Harrison becomes president of USA

1890 : Idaho and Wyoming become states

4 Mar 1893 : Grover Cleveland becomes president of USA for the second time

16 Aug 1896 : Gold discovered at Bonanza Creek, Yukon starting another Gold Rush

4 Mar 1897 : William McKinley becomes president of USA

15 Feb 1898 : USS Maine explodes at Havana, starting the Spanish-American war

5 Oct 1898 : Battle of Sugar Point at Leech Lake, Minnesota

Nov 1899 : Boxer Rebellion in China

8 Sep 1900 : Hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing 8000

14 Sep 1901 : Theodore Roosevelt becomes president of USA

9 May 1902 : State of Ohio authorizes a state flag

1903 : K Tsiolkovsky writes "The Exploration of Cosmic Space using Reaction Devices"

17 Dec 1903 : Wright brothers achieve first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, NC

Jul 1904 : Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri

18 Apr 1906 : San Francisco earthquake

16 Nov 1907 : Oklahoma becomes 46th state

27 Sep 1908 : First production Model T Ford built

4 Mar 1909 : William Howard Taft becomes president of USA

1912 : New Mexico and Arizona become states

4 Mar 1913 : Woodrow Wilson becomes president of USA

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 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 : Germans first use of mustard gas at Ypres

26 Apr 1915 : British land in Turkey

7 May 1915 : SS "Lusitania" sunk by German U-boat en-route from New York

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

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

1 Jul 1916 : Start of Battle of the Somme

30 Jul 1916 : German agents blow up the Black Tom munitions depot in Jersey City

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

Oct 1917 : Start of Battle of Caporetto

Dec 1917 : End of Battle of Caporetto

7 Dec 1917 : USA declares war on Austria-Hungary

15 Dec 1917 : Russian Bolsheviks now ally with Germany

9 Jan 1918 : Battle of Bear Valley - Yaqui Indians surrender to US troops in Arizona

21 Mar 1918 : Start of German offensive

3 Apr 1918 : The American's Creed adopted

Jul 1918 : Second Battle of the Marne

8 Aug 1918 : End of German offensive

4 Oct 1918 : Germany offers surrender

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

28 Oct 1919 : National Prohibition Act passed, outlawing sale of alcohol

20 Aug 1920 : The National Football League is founded

4 Mar 1921 : Warren G Harding becomes president of USA

30 May 1922 : The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC

18 Apr 1923 : Yankee Stadium opens in the Bronx

2 Aug 1923 : Calvin Coolidge becomes president of USA

10 May 1924 : J Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the FBI

10 Jul 1925 : The Scopes Trial begins in Dayton, Tennessee

16 Mar 1926 : Robert H Goddard launches first liquid-fuelled rocket

11 Nov 1926 : US Route 66, the "Will Rogers Highway", is established

18 May 1927 : Bath School disaster in Michigan

21 May 1927 : Charles Lindbergh achieves first non-stop transatlantic flight

18 Nov 1928 : Mickey Mouse makes his first movie appearance the cartoon "Steamboat Willie"

14 Feb 1929 : The Saint Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago

4 Mar 1929 : Herbert Hoover becomes president of USA

29 Oct 1929 : US stock market crashes. Start of Great Depression

6 Mar 1930 : First Birdseye's frozen foods go on sale in Springfield, Massachusetts

3 Mar 1931 : The National Anthem is finally adopted by Congress

1 May 1931 : Empire State Building opens in New York

Feb 1932 : Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid, NY

May 1932 : Al Capone imprisoned for tax evasion

Jul 1932 : Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California

4 Mar 1933 : Franklin D Roosevelt becomes president of USA

5 Dec 1933 : Prohibition Act repealed, alcohol legal again

1934 : Start of the Dust Bowl

23 May 1934 : Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow killed by officers in Louisiana

22 Jul 1934 : John Dillinger killed by officers outside the Biograph Theatre, Chicago

5 Nov 1935 : "Monopoly" board game released by Parker Brothers

1 Mar 1936 : Construction of the Hoover Dam is completed

6 May 1937 : Airship "Hindenburg" destroyed by fire at Lakehurst, New Jersey

30 Oct 1938 : "War of the Worlds" show broadcast on radio

1 Sep 1939 : Germany invades Poland

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

15 Dec 1939 : The movie "Gone with the Wind" premieres in Atlanta, Georgia

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

15 May 1940 : First McDonalds restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California

26 May 1940 : Allied evacuation from Dunkirk begins

10 Jun 1940 : Italy declares war on France and Britain

10 Jun 1940 : Italy invades France

14 Jun 1940 : Germans enter Paris unopposed

22 Jun 1940 : France surrenders to Germany

17 Apr 1941 : Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany

27 Apr 1941 : British leave Greece

22 Jun 1941 : Germany attacks Russia

14 Aug 1941 : Britain and USA sign Atlantic Charter

7 Dec 1941 : Japanese attack Pearl Harbour. US enters World War II

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

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

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

28 Nov 1942 : Fire at the Cocoanut Grove, Boston kills 492

14 Jan 1943 : Casablanca conference

1 Feb 1943 : Germans surrender at Stalingrad

12 May 1943 : War in Africa ends

20 Jun 1943 : Detroit race riots

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 and US troops land at Anzio

Jun 1944 : German V2 rocket is first to reach sub-orbital space, apogee 109 miles

4 Jun 1944 : British and US troops enter Rome

6 Jun 1944 : D-Day landings in Normandy

25 Aug 1944 : Paris liberated

13 Oct 1944 : Athens liberated

20 Oct 1944 : USA invades Philippines

16 Dec 1944 : Battle of the Bulge

11 Feb 1945 : Yalta agreement

24 Feb 1945 : US Marines raise the US flag on Iwo Jima

12 Apr 1945 : Harry S Truman becomes president of USA

28 Apr 1945 : Mussolini executed at Lake Como

1 May 1945 : Hitler's suicide announced

2 May 1945 : Berlin falls

2 May 1945 : German rocket physicist Wernher von Braun surrenders to US troops

7 May 1945 : VE Day. Germany surrenders

17 Jul 1945 : Potsdam conference

6 Aug 1945 : First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

8 Aug 1945 : USSR declares war on Japan

9 Aug 1945 : Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

14 Aug 1945 : Japan surrenders

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

14 Jul 1946 : Benjamin Spock publishes his book "Baby and Child Care"

20 Jun 1947 : Gangster Bugsy Siegel shot dead in Beverly Hills

8 Jul 1947 : Unexplained object crashes at Roswell, New Mexico

24 Jun 1948 : Start of Soviet blockade of Berlin

4 Apr 1949 : NATO formed

9 Feb 1950 : Senator Joseph McCarthy claims Communists working in the State Department

25 Jun 1950 : Start of Korean War

5 Jul 1950 : Battle of Osan - US "Task Force Smith" defeated by KPA

8 Oct 1950 : China enters Korean War to support North Korea

27 Nov 1950 : Battle of Chosin Reservoir - Chinese force US retreat

Jan 1951 : Chinese Winter Offensive, troops push into South Korea

6 Mar 1951 : Trial of Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg begins

Jul 1951 : Stalemate until the end of the war

14 Oct 1952 : The United Nations moves into its new headquarters in New York

20 Jan 1953 : Dwight D Eisenhower becomes president of USA

27 Jul 1953 : Armistice ends Korean War

14 Jan 1954 : Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DiMaggio

30 Sep 1955 : Actor James Dean is killed in an auto accident near Cholame, California

25 Sep 1956 : First transatlantic telephone cable becomes operational

25 Sep 1957 : Little Rock, Arkansas school desegregation

3 Oct 1957 : Russia launches world's first satellite - Sputnik 1

24 Mar 1958 : Elvis Presley is drafted into the US Army

29 Jul 1958 : NASA formed in USA

1959 : Alaska and Hawaii become states

Feb 1960 : Winter Olympics held at Squaw Valley, California

1 May 1960 : Gary Powers, pilot of a U-2 spy plane, is shot down over the Soviet Union

1961 : Start of the Vietnam War between North and South Vietnam

20 Jan 1961 : John F Kennedy becomes president of USA

12 Apr 1961 : Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space aboard Vostok 1

17 Apr 1961 : Bay of Pigs - Unsuccessful Cuban/US invasion of Cuba

5 May 1961 : Freedom 7 - Alan Shepard is the first American into space

20 Feb 1962 : Friendship 7 - John Glenn is first US astronaut to orbit Earth

23 Jul 1962 : Treaty guarantees neutrality of Laos

Oct 1962 : Cuban Missile Crisis

15 May 1963 : Project Mercury (Faith 7) circles earth 22 times in 34 hours

16 Jun 1963 : Russian Valentina Tereshkova is first woman in space

22 Nov 1963 : President Kennedy assassinated. Lyndon B Johnson becomes president

22 Apr 1964 : New York World's Fair opens

31 Jan 1965 : US escalates war

2 Mar 1965 : US begins bombing campaign in North Vietnam

18 Mar 1965 : Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov is the first person to walk in space (Voskhod 2)

23 Mar 1965 : First manned Gemini mission

11 Aug 1965 : Watts Riots in Los Angeles, California

Dec 1965 : 200,000 US Marines now in South Vietnam

Jun 1966 : Miranda Warnings by police instigated

1 Aug 1966 : Charles Whitman kills 14 people at University of Texas, Austin

27 Jan 1967 : Astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee killed in Apollo 1 capsule fire

24 Apr 1967 : Soyuz 1 crashes on landing killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov

21 Jul 1967 : Village of Winneconne, Wisconsin secedes from US and declares war - for a day

31 Jan 1968 : Battle of Hue - 4 weeks of fighting before the NVA withdraw

31 Jan 1968 : Tet Offensive - Viet Cong and NVA launch multiple attacks

4 Apr 1968 : Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated in Memphis

5 Jun 1968 : Robert F Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles

21 Dec 1968 : Apollo 8 mission - orbits the moon but does not land

20 Jan 1969 : Richard Nixon becomes president of USA

18 Mar 1969 : US begins covert bombing of eastern Cambodia

16 Jul 1969 : Apollo 11 mission - Neil Armstrong is first man on the moon

14 Nov 1969 : Apollo 12 mission - moon walk

11 Apr 1970 : Apollo 13 mission - near disaster, moon mission is aborted

4 May 1970 : National Guard open fire on students at Kent State. 4 killed

31 Jan 1971 : Apollo 14 mission - moon walk (golf shot)

8 Feb 1971 : South Vietnamese troops invade Laos

9 Apr 1971 : Charles Manson is sentenced to death

30 Jun 1971 : The crew of Soyuz 11 die after undocking from space station Salyut 1

26 Jul 1971 : Apollo 15 mission - lunar rover on moon

3 Mar 1972 : Pioneer 10 launch - explores Jupiter (first probe to leave solar system)

16 Apr 1972 : Apollo 16 mission - moon walk

4 Aug 1972 : Huge solar flare knocks out cable lines in the US

7 Dec 1972 : Apollo 17 is the last manned mission to the moon

15 Jan 1973 : President Nixon announces suspension of offensive action

14 May 1973 : Skylab launches into orbit

1 Jul 1973 : The Drug Enforcement Administration is founded

9 Aug 1974 : President Nixon resigns. Gerald Ford becomes president of USA

1975 : European Space Agency founded

30 Apr 1975 : Saigon falls ending the Vietnam War

15 Jul 1975 : Apollo-Soyuz Project - first international space flight

24 May 1976 : Concorde flights to Washington begin

20 Jan 1977 : Jimmy Carter becomes president of USA

15 Feb 1977 : First Space Shuttle "Enterprise" begins test program

20 Aug 1977 : Voyager 2 launched on a journey to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

5 Sep 1977 : Voyager 1 launched on a journey to Jupiter and Saturn

1978 : 2 Pioneer space probes are launched towards Venus

15 Feb 1978 : Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Pensacola, Florida

29 Mar 1979 : Melt-down of the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island

11 Jul 1979 : The abandoned Skylab station falls to Earth breaking up over Australia

4 Nov 1979 : 66 Americans taken hostage at the US embassy in Tehran, Iran

1980 : The Planetary Society is founded by Sagan, Murray and Friedman

Feb 1980 : Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid, NY

24 Apr 1980 : Failed attempt to rescue 52 US hostages in Tehran, Iran

18 May 1980 : Mount St. Helens, Washington erupts

20 Jan 1981 : Ronald Reagan becomes president of USA

12 Apr 1981 : Space Shuttle "Columbia" - first mission

13 Nov 1981 : "Canadarm" first used on Space Shuttle "Columbia"

13 Jan 1982 : Air Florida Flight 90 crashes into the Potomac River, Washington killing 78

1 Oct 1982 : Walt Disney's EPCOT Center opens in Orlando, Florida

18 Jun 1983 : Space Shuttle "Challenger" - Sally Ride is first American woman in space

30 Aug 1983 : Space Shuttle "Challenger" - Guion Bluford is first black astronaut

23 Oct 1983 : Suicide bomber destroys US Marine barracks in Beirut killing 241

25 Oct 1983 : US invasion of Grenada

25 Oct 1983 : US forces invade Grenada

28 Nov 1983 : Space Shuttle "Columbia" - Ulf Merbold is first non-US astronaut

3 Feb 1984 : Space Shuttle "Challenger" mission - first untethered space walks

Jul 1984 : Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, California

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

3 Oct 1985 : First flight of Space Shuttle "Atlantis"

20 Nov 1985 : Microsoft releases Windows V1.0

28 Jan 1986 : Space Shuttle "Challenger" explodes on takeoff, 7 astronauts perish

19 Feb 1986 : First part of Mir (Peace) space station launched from Baikonur

25 May 1986 : "Hands Across America" - around 7M people form a human chain from coast to coast

19 Oct 1987 : Black Monday. Worldwide stock markets crash

20 Jan 1989 : George H W Bush becomes president of USA

24 Mar 1989 : Major oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska from the tanker "Exxon Valdez"

20 Dec 1989 : US invasion of Panama

24 Apr 1990 : Space Shuttle "Discovery" mission to deploy Hubble Space Telescope

23 Aug 1990 : British and US troop build up in Persian Gulf

17 Jan 1991 : Operation "Desert Storm" defeats Iraq

20 Oct 1991 : Major fire devastates Oakland, California

1992 : SETI (Search for Intelligent Life) program starts using radio telescopes

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

29 Apr 1992 : Riots in Los Angeles sparked by the police beating of Rodney King

7 May 1992 : First mission of Space Shuttle "Endeavour" - retrieves Intelsat VI satellite

12 Oct 1992 : Pioneer Venus Orbiter plunges into atmosphere of Venus

20 Jan 1993 : Bill Clinton becomes president of USA

28 Feb 1993 : Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas stormed by ATF agents

3 Oct 1993 : Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia - "Black Hawk Down"

2 Dec 1993 : Space Shuttle "Endeavour" mission to service Hubble Space Telescope

17 Jan 1994 : Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles

3 Feb 1994 : Space Shuttle "Discovery" - Sergei Kirkalev is first Russian aboard a shuttle

19 Apr 1995 : Oklahoma City bombing, 168 killed

29 Jun 1995 : Space Shuttle "Atlantis" performs first docking with the Mir space station

Jul 1996 : Olympic Games held in Atlanta, Georgia

17 Jul 1996 : TWA Flight 800 explodes after take-off from JFK Airport

6 Aug 1996 : NASA announces signs of life in Martian meteorite but evidence is doubtful

7 Nov 1996 : Mars Global Surveyor probe launched

27 May 1997 : Tornado hits Jarrell, Texas killing 27

4 Jul 1997 : Mars Pathfinder probe lands on Mars

22 Jan 1998 : The "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty

16 Mar 1998 : LtCol Oliver North and VAdm John Poindexter indicted over the Iran-Contra Affair

20 Nov 1998 : First part of the International Space Station launched from Baikonur

20 Apr 1999 : Columbine High School massacre

23 Sep 1999 : Loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter probe on arrival in Mars orbit

3 Dec 1999 : Loss of the Mars Polar Lander probe during landing on Mars

12 Oct 2000 : Al-Qaeda attack on USS Cole in Aden, Yemen

2 Nov 2000 : First permanent crew arrive at the ISS and spend 136 days aboard the station

20 Jan 2001 : George W Bush becomes president of USA

23 Mar 2001 : Abandoned Mir space station allowed to re-enter and break up

30 Apr 2001 : American Dennis Tito, the first space tourist, boards the ISS

11 Sep 2001 : World Trade Center towers in New York destroyed by Al-Qaeda

7 Oct 2001 : Operation "Enduring Freedom" begins the Afghanistan War

Feb 2002 : Winter Olympics held at Salt Lake City, Utah

27 Apr 2002 : South African Mark Shuttleworth is the second space tourist aboard the ISS

1 Feb 2003 : Space Shuttle "Columbia" breaks up on re-entry killing crew of 7

20 Mar 2003 : Operation "Iraqi Freedom" starts the Iraq War

15 Oct 2003 : Yang Liwei pilots China's first manned spacecraft "Shenzhou 5"

14 Dec 2003 : Saddam Hussein captured near Tikrit, Iraq by US forces

25 Dec 2003 : Loss of UK's "Beagle 2" probe during landing on Mars

Jan 2004 : Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" land on Mars

1 Jul 2004 : Cassini-Huygens probe arrives at Saturn

4 Oct 2004 : SpaceShipOne, first privately funded spacecraft, wins the Ansari X Prize

27 Oct 2004 : The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918

29 Aug 2005 : Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in Louisiana killing over 1800

9 Nov 2005 : European Space Agency launches the Venus Express probe from Baikonur

19 Jan 2006 : "New Horizons", first probe to Pluto, launched

6 Mar 2006 : The first World Baseball Classic is held in San Diego, California

25 Sep 2006 : First launch from Spaceport America, New Mexico

16 Apr 2007 : Virginia Tech massacre

28 Apr 2007 : Ashes of Star Trek actor James "Scotty" Doohan carried in Spaceloft XL rocket

24 Oct 2007 : "Chang'e 1", China's first Lunar probe launched

25 May 2008 : Phoenix probe lands on Mars and discovers water

Sep 2008 : Start of global financial crisis, stock markets crash

21 Dec 2008 : First test flight of VMS "Eve", a SpaceShipTwo launch mothership

20 Jan 2009 : Barack Obama becomes president of USA

10 Feb 2009 : Satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 destroyed in collision

26 Mar 2009 : Space tourist Charles Simonyi makes his second space flight

400 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000