1522 - Spanish explorer Gil Gonzalez de Avila names Nicaragua after a local Indian chief, Nicarao.

 

1823 - Nicaragua becomes part of the United Provinces of Central America, which also comprises Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

 

1838 - Nicaragua becomes fully independent.

 

1893 - General Jose Santos Zelaya, a Liberal, seizes power and establishes dictatorship. 

 

1927-33 - Guerrillas led by Augusto Cesar Sandino campaign against US military presence.

 

1934 - Sandino assassinated on the orders of the National Guard commander, General Anastasio Somoza Garcia.

 

1937 - General Somoza elected president, heralding the start of a 44-year-long dictatorship by his family.

 

1956 - General Somoza assassinated, but is succeeded as president by his son, Luis Somoza Debayle.

 

1961 - Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) founded.

 

1967 - Luis Somoza dies and is succeeded as president by his brother, Anastasio Somoza.

 

1972 - Managua is devastated by an earthquake that kills between 5,000 and 10,000 people.

 

1978 - Assassination of the leader of the opposition Democratic Liberation Union, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, triggers general strike and brings together moderates and the FSLN in a united front to oust Somoza.

 

1979 - FSLN military offensive ends with the ouster of Somoza.

 

 1980 - Somoza assassinated in Paraguay; FSLN government led by Daniel Ortega nationalizes and turns into cooperatives lands held by the Somoza family.

 

1982 - US-sponsored attacks by Contra rebels based in Honduras begin; state of emergency declared.

 

1984 - Daniel Ortega elected president; US mines Nicaraguan harbors and is condemned by the World Court for doing so.

 

1987-88 - Nicaraguan leadership signs peace agreement and subsequently holds talks with Contra; hurricane leaves 180,000 people homeless.

 

1990 - US-backed centre-right National Opposition Union defeats FSLN in elections; Violeta Chamorro becomes president.

 

1992 - Earthquake renders 16,000 people homeless.

 

1996 - Arnoldo Aleman elected president.

 

1998 - Hurricane Mitch causes massive devastation. Some 3,000 people are killed and hundreds of thousands are left homeless.

 

2001 November - Liberal party candidate Enrique Bolaños beats his Sandinista party counterpart, former president Daniel Ortega, in presidential election.

 

2002 March - Opposition Sandinista party re-elects Daniel Ortega as its leader despite his three consecutive defeats since 1990.

 

2002 August - Former president Arnoldo Aleman charged with money laundering, embezzlement during his term in office.

 

2003 December - Arnoldo Aleman jailed for 20 years for corruption. A year later he is transferred to house arrest.

 

2005 April - Rises in fuel prices and the cost of living trigger weeks of sometimes-violent street protests.

 

2005 October - Political crisis eases as Congress agrees to delay constitutional reforms, which will weaken the powers of the president, until President Bolaños leaves office in 2007.

 

2006 April - Free trade deal with the US comes into effect. Nicaragua's Congress approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta) in October 2005.

 

2006 October - President Bolaños unveils plans to build a new ship canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. MPs approve a tough new bill that bans abortions, including in cases where the mother's life is at risk.

 

2006 November - Ex-president Daniel Ortega is returned to power in elections.

 

2009 July - President Ortega announces plans to change the constitution to allow him to stand for another term in office.

 

2009 October - Constitutional Court lifts ban on president seeking re-election.

 

2010 November - Tension with Costa Rica over their disputed river border.

 

*Information obtained from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1225283.stm.