- 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.