• 600,000 B.C. Early human habitation of caves in Carmel Mountains near Haifa.
  • 15,000 B.C. Appearance of farming settlements in the Galilee and Jordan Valley.
  • 7000 B.C. Defensive wall built around Jericho in the Jordan Valley. Evidence of early centers for cult and fertility worship.
  • 4500-3100 B.C. Towns develop at Bet Shean, Ein Gedi, Megiddo, and Beersheva.
  • 3100 B.C. Start of early Canaanite era; development of cities.
  • 1600 B.C. Hebrews enslaved in Egypt.
  • 1250 B.C. Exodus of Hebrews under Moses. Early Canaanite-Hebrew alphabet begins to develop.
  • 1100 B.C. Israelite tribes settle in much of Canaanite highlands; Israelite culture becomes pervasive. Philistine people from Aegean occupy Canaanite coast.
  • 1025 B.C. Saul anointed first Israelite king by the prophet Samuel.
  • 1004-1000 B.C. David, second king of Israelites, makes Jerusalem his capital; begins conquest of territories from southern Syria to Eilat.
  • 950 B.C. King Solomon builds First Temple of Jerusalem.
  • 928 B.C. After death of Solomon, kingdom divided into Israel in the north, and Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem.
  • 870-722 B.C. Pagan religions flourish. Assyria conquers kingdom of Israel.
  • 701 B.C. Judah devastated by Assyrian invasion. Jerusalem, led by King Hezekiah and inspired by the prophet Isaiah, remains unconquered.
  • 627-586 B.C. Prophet Jeremiah in Jerusalem.
  • 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem and Temple of Solomon. End of First Temple period. Jews exiled to Babylon.
  • 540 B.C. Babylon defeated by Persians. Jews allowed to return to Jerusalem.
  • 515 B.C. Second Temple built upon ruins of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.
  • 445 B.C. Ezra the Scribe begins public reading of Torah in Jerusalem.
  • 332 B.C. Alexander the Great conquers Judea. Hellenistic era begins.
  • 167 B.C. Antiochus IV desecrates Jerusalem temple; outlaws Jewish religion.
  • 164 B.C. Judah Maccabee captures Jerusalem; temple rededicated. Judea independent under Maccabee (Hasmonean) dynasty; borders greatly expanded.
  • 63 B.C. Judea incorporated into Roman Empire.
  • 37 B.C. Romans proclaim Herod the Idumaean king of Judea.
  • 18 B.C. Herod begins vast renovation of Second Temple.
  • 8-4 B.C. Jesus born in Bethlehem.
  • A.D. 62 Completion of Herodian renovation of Second Temple.
  • 66-73 Jewish revolt against Rome. Jerusalem and Second Temple captured by Rome and razed; Masada falls.
  • 132 Second Revolt against Rome led by Bar Kochba; ruins of Jerusalem freed; temple service resumed.
  • 135 Bar Kochba defeated. Hadrian orders Jerusalem rebuilt as Aelia Capitolina, a Roman city forbidden to Jews.
  • 160-300 Early Talmudic era. Classical synagogues built throughout Holy Land; Galilee center of Jewish population.
  • 313-326 Emperor Constantine recognizes Christianity as new religion of Roman Empire. His mother, Queen Helena, visits Holy Land to identify sites of Jesus' life and ministry.
  • 326-614 Hundreds of Byzantine churches and monastic communities built. Restrictions against Jews.
  • 351 Jews of Galilee rebel against Byzantine/Christians.
  • 400 Codification of Jerusalem Talmud.
  • 614-629 Jerusalem conquered by Persians, recaptured by Byzantines.
  • 638 Islamic conquest of Palestine. Omar Ibn El Khattab conquers Jerusalem.
  • 691 Dome of the Rock built on Temple Mount.
  • 720 Al Aqsa Mosque built on Temple Mount.
  • 1008 Caliph Al Hakim destroys churches and prevents Christian pilgrimage.
  • 1099 Crusaders conquer Jerusalem. Muslims and Jews massacred.
  • 1187 Saladin recaptures Jerusalem from Crusaders.
  • 1189-91 Third Crusade. Crusader Kingdom along coast with Akko as capital.
  • 1240 Turkish armies plunder Jerusalem.
  • 1261 Mongols devastate countryside.
  • 1267 Post-Crusader Jewish community reestablished in Jerusalem.
  • 1291 Mameluke conquest. Akko falls; end of Crusader Kingdom.
  • 1517 Ottoman Turkish conquest of Jerusalem.
  • 1538 Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent orders walls of Jerusalem rebuilt.
  • 1550 Safed becomes center of Jewish scholarship and mysticism.
  • 1569 Codification of normative Judaism (Shulchan Aruch) in Safed.
  • 1776 Jezzar Pasha rebuilds Akko.
  • 1799 Napoleon attacks but fails to win Akko.
  • 1841 First Protestant mission in Jerusalem.
  • 1863 First Hebrew newspaper in Jerusalem.
  • 1870 Mikvah Yisrael, first agricultural school, founded.
  • 1878 Petach Tikva, near Jaffa, and Rosh Pinna, in Galilee, first Jewish farming settlements, founded.
  • 1882 First aliyah from Europe and Jewish immigration from Yemen.
  • 1897 First Zionist Congress in Basel.
  • 1898 Herzl meets German kaiser in Jerusalem.
  • 1909 Tel Aviv founded.
  • 1911 First kibbutz founded at Degania in the Galilee.
  • 1914 Jews from Russia and Allied countries expelled by Ottoman Turks.
  • 1917 Balfour Declaration supporting Jewish national home in Palestine. British free Jerusalem from Turks.
  • 1920 Official start of British Mandate.
  • 1922 British create Trans-Jordan (now Jordan) from Palestinian lands east of the Jordan River.
  • 1925 Hebrew University founded in Jerusalem.
  • 1929 Arab-Jewish riots. Jews massacred at Hebron.
  • 1936-39 Arab strikes and uprisings.
  • 1939 British White Paper curtails Jewish immigration on eve of World War II.
  • 1939-45 Six million Jews killed by Nazis in Europe.
  • 1947 United Nations votes partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. First Dead Sea Scrolls found.
  • 1948 State of Israel declared. Five Arab countries attack.
  • 1949-56 Cease-fire. Terrorist attacks on Negev from Egypt.
  • 1956 Israel joins Anglo-French attack on Egypt. Conquers Sinai Peninsula.
  • 1957 Israel returns Sinai. United Nations peacekeeping force installed in Egypt.
  • 1967 Egypt expels peacekeeping force. Israel wins Six-Day War, occupies Sinai, Golan, West Bank, and Gaza.
  • 1972 Palestinian terrorists massacre Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics.
  • 1973 Egypt and Syria attack during Yom Kippur War.
  • 1976 Israelis rescue Jewish hostages at Entebbe Airport.
  • 1977 Likud wins elections. Sadat of Egypt comes to Jerusalem.
  • 1979 Israel and Egypt sign peace treaty negotiated at Camp David.
  • 1982 Israel invades Lebanon.
  • 1984 Labor-Likud Coalition. Withdrawal from most of Lebanon. Aliyah of Ethiopian Jews.
  • 1987 First Palestinian Intifada begins.
  • 1989 Great Soviet aliyah begins.
  • 1991 Iraq attacks with scud missiles. First peace talks with Arab states in Madrid.
  • 1992 Labor Coalition government, headed by Yitzhak Rabin, elected. Rabin pledges new peace effort.
  • 1993 Rabin and Arafat sign Declaration of Principles for Peace at White House.
  • 1994 Israel withdraws from Jericho and Gaza as first step toward peace with Palestinians. Peace treaty signed with Jordan.
  • 1995 Further Israeli withdrawals from West Bank. Prime Minister Rabin assassinated.
  • 1996 Likkud Party and Benjamin Netanyahu elected. Traditionally opposed to the Rabin-Arafat Declaration of Principles, Netanyahu pledges to continue peace process.
  • 1997 Peace process deteriorates. Terrorist attacks resume; Israeli settlement expansion and land confiscation in West Bank continues.
  • 1999 Death of King Hussein of Jordan. Election of more moderate government led by Ehud Barak in Israel.
  • 2000 Second Intifada begins.
  • 2001 Ariel Sharon elected prime minister of Israel.
  • 2004 Yassir Arafat dies in Paris; Mahmoud Abbas becomes president of the Palestinian Authority.
  • 2005 Ariel Sharon evacuates Israeli settlements in Gaza, but suffers a debilitating stroke before he can further act on his agenda.
  • 2006 Hamas is elected to a majority in the Palestinian legislature. In response, Western countries cut off all funding but humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority. Haifa and northern Israel heavily shelled during month-long war in Lebanon.
  • 2007 Tourism returns to Israel at near record levels.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.