1643 -Dutch explorer Abel Tasman is the first European to visit the islands
1830s -Western Christian missionaries begin to arrive
1840s-50s -Christian convert chief Cakobau control most of western Fiji while another Christian convert, Ma'afu from Tonga, controls the east
1868 -Cakobau sells Suva -the current Fiji capital- to an Australian company
1830s -Western Christian missionaries begin to arrive
1840s-50s -Christian convert chief Cakobau control most of western Fiji while another Christian convert, Ma'afu from Tonga, controls the east
1868 -Cakobau sells Suva -the current Fiji capital- to an Australian company
1871 -European settlers at Levuka island organize a national government and name Cakobau king of Fiji following local disorder
British rule
1874 -Fiji becomes a British crown colony at the request of Cakobau and other chiefs
1875-76 -Measles epidemic wipes out 1/3 of the Fijian population. British forces and Fijian chiefs suppress rebellion
1879-1916 -More than 60,000 indentured labourers brought in from the Indian subcontinent to work on sugar plantations
1904 -Legislative Council, consisting of elected Europeans and nominated Fijians, set up to advise the British governor
1916 -British colonial government in India stops the recruitment of indentured labourers
1920 -All labour indenture agreements in Fiji end
Fijians get the vote
1963 -Women and Fijians enfranchised, predominantly Fijian Alliance Party (AP) set up
1970 -Fiji becomes independent with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of the AP as prime minister
1985 -Timoci Bavadra sets up the Fiji Labour Party with trade union support
Supremacist coups
1987 Apr -Indian-dominated coalition led by Bavadra wins general election, ending 17 years of rule by the AP and Prime Minister Mara
1987 May -Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seizes power in bloodless coup with the aim of making indigenous Fijians politically dominant
1987 Oct -Rabuka stages a second coup, proclaims Fiji a republic and appoints Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau president. Ganilau in turn appoints Ratu Mara prime minister. Fiji expelled from Commonwealth. Britain, US, Australia and NZ suspend aid.
1989 -Thousands of ethnic Indians flee Fiji
1990 -New constitution enshrining political dominance for indigenous Fijians introduced
1992 -Rabuka, of the Fijian Political Party (FPP) becomes prime minister following general election
1994 -Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara president in January following the death of Ganilau in the previous month. Rabuka and the FPP win general election
1997 -Fiji re-admitted to the Commonwealth after it introduces a non-discriminatory constitution
1875-76 -Measles epidemic wipes out 1/3 of the Fijian population. British forces and Fijian chiefs suppress rebellion
1879-1916 -More than 60,000 indentured labourers brought in from the Indian subcontinent to work on sugar plantations
1904 -Legislative Council, consisting of elected Europeans and nominated Fijians, set up to advise the British governor
1916 -British colonial government in India stops the recruitment of indentured labourers
1920 -All labour indenture agreements in Fiji end
Fijians get the vote
1963 -Women and Fijians enfranchised, predominantly Fijian Alliance Party (AP) set up
1970 -Fiji becomes independent with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of the AP as prime minister
1985 -Timoci Bavadra sets up the Fiji Labour Party with trade union support
Supremacist coups
1987 Apr -Indian-dominated coalition led by Bavadra wins general election, ending 17 years of rule by the AP and Prime Minister Mara
1987 May -Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seizes power in bloodless coup with the aim of making indigenous Fijians politically dominant
1987 Oct -Rabuka stages a second coup, proclaims Fiji a republic and appoints Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau president. Ganilau in turn appoints Ratu Mara prime minister. Fiji expelled from Commonwealth. Britain, US, Australia and NZ suspend aid.
1989 -Thousands of ethnic Indians flee Fiji
1990 -New constitution enshrining political dominance for indigenous Fijians introduced
1992 -Rabuka, of the Fijian Political Party (FPP) becomes prime minister following general election
1994 -Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara president in January following the death of Ganilau in the previous month. Rabuka and the FPP win general election
1997 -Fiji re-admitted to the Commonwealth after it introduces a non-discriminatory constitution
Prime minister held hostage
1999 -Mahendra Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian, becomes prime minister after the Fiji Labour Party emerges from the general election with enough seats to rule on its own
2000 May -Bankrupt businessman George Speight and retired major Ilisoni Ligairi storm parliament, aiming to make indigenous Fijians the dominant political force. They take Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his cabinet hostage. Speight proclaims himself acting premier. President Mara sacks the Chaudhry government on the orders of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs
2000 Jun -Commonwealth suspends Fiji
2000 Jul -Chaudhry and other hostages released. Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Josefa Iloilo -a former father-in-law of Speight's brother- president
2000 Jul -Speight and 369 of his supporters arrested
2000 Nov -Eight soldiers are killed in a failed army mutiny
2001 Aug -Elections to restore democracy. George Speight becomes MP in a new government
2001 Sep -Indigenous Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase sworn in, but doesn't offer cabinet posts to opposition Labour Party, in defiance of constitution
1999 -Mahendra Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian, becomes prime minister after the Fiji Labour Party emerges from the general election with enough seats to rule on its own
2000 May -Bankrupt businessman George Speight and retired major Ilisoni Ligairi storm parliament, aiming to make indigenous Fijians the dominant political force. They take Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his cabinet hostage. Speight proclaims himself acting premier. President Mara sacks the Chaudhry government on the orders of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs
2000 Jun -Commonwealth suspends Fiji
2000 Jul -Chaudhry and other hostages released. Great Council of Chiefs appoints Ratu Josefa Iloilo -a former father-in-law of Speight's brother- president
2000 Jul -Speight and 369 of his supporters arrested
2000 Nov -Eight soldiers are killed in a failed army mutiny
2001 Aug -Elections to restore democracy. George Speight becomes MP in a new government
2001 Sep -Indigenous Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase sworn in, but doesn't offer cabinet posts to opposition Labour Party, in defiance of constitution
2001 Dec -George Speight expelled from parliament for failing to attend sessions
2001 Dec -Fiji readmitted to the Commonwealth
2002 Feb -George Speight sentenced to death for treason. President Iloilo commutes his sentence to life imprisonment
2002 Nov -Government announces radical privatisation plan designed to stave off collapse of vital sugar industry threatened by withdrawal of EU subsidies
2003 Jul -Supreme Court rules that Laisenia Qarase must include ethnic-Indian members of the opposition Labour Party in his cabinet
2004 Apr -Former leader Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, considered to be independent Fiji's founding father, dies aged 83
2004 Aug -VicePresident Ratu Jope Seniloli found guilty of treason over his involvement in May 2000 coup attempt. He serves a few months of a four-year sentence.
2004 Nov -Labour Party declines cabinet seats in favour of opposition role.
2001 Dec -Fiji readmitted to the Commonwealth
2002 Feb -George Speight sentenced to death for treason. President Iloilo commutes his sentence to life imprisonment
2002 Nov -Government announces radical privatisation plan designed to stave off collapse of vital sugar industry threatened by withdrawal of EU subsidies
2003 Jul -Supreme Court rules that Laisenia Qarase must include ethnic-Indian members of the opposition Labour Party in his cabinet
2004 Apr -Former leader Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, considered to be independent Fiji's founding father, dies aged 83
2004 Aug -VicePresident Ratu Jope Seniloli found guilty of treason over his involvement in May 2000 coup attempt. He serves a few months of a four-year sentence.
2004 Nov -Labour Party declines cabinet seats in favour of opposition role.
2005 Jul -Military chief warns that he will remove government if proposed amnesty for those involved in 2000 coup goes ahead
2006 Mar -Great Council of Chiefs elects incumbent President Iloilo to a second, five-year term
2006 May -Former PM Sitiveni Rabuka is charged with orchestrating a failed army mutiny in Nov 2000. Ruling party leader and incumbent PM Laesenia Qarase narrowly wins elections and is sworn in for a second term
Military coup
2006 Oct-Nov -Tensions rise between PM Laesenia Qarase and military chief Frank Bainimarama, who threatens to oust the government after it tries, and fails, to replace him. Qarase goes into hiding as the crisis escalates
2006 Dec -Frank Bainimarama says in a televised address he has taken executive powers and dismissed PM Laisenia Qarase. Commonwealth suspends Fiji because of the coup
2007 Jan -Bainimarama restores executive powers to President Iloilo and takes on the role of interim prime minister
2007 Feb -Bainimarama announces plans to hold elections in 2010
2007 Apr -Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president
2007 Jun -State of emergency lifted but reimposed in Sept. Lifted again in Oct
2007 Nov -Bainimarama says police have foiled a plot to assassinate him
2008 Feb -Bainimarama appoints himself as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, a body he suspended after it failed to back his Dec 2006 coup
2008 Jul -Bainimarama postpones elections promised for early 2009 on the grounds that electoral reforms could not be completed in time
2006 Mar -Great Council of Chiefs elects incumbent President Iloilo to a second, five-year term
2006 May -Former PM Sitiveni Rabuka is charged with orchestrating a failed army mutiny in Nov 2000. Ruling party leader and incumbent PM Laesenia Qarase narrowly wins elections and is sworn in for a second term
Military coup
2006 Oct-Nov -Tensions rise between PM Laesenia Qarase and military chief Frank Bainimarama, who threatens to oust the government after it tries, and fails, to replace him. Qarase goes into hiding as the crisis escalates
2006 Dec -Frank Bainimarama says in a televised address he has taken executive powers and dismissed PM Laisenia Qarase. Commonwealth suspends Fiji because of the coup
2007 Jan -Bainimarama restores executive powers to President Iloilo and takes on the role of interim prime minister
2007 Feb -Bainimarama announces plans to hold elections in 2010
2007 Apr -Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his nomination for vice president
2007 Jun -State of emergency lifted but reimposed in Sept. Lifted again in Oct
2007 Nov -Bainimarama says police have foiled a plot to assassinate him
2008 Feb -Bainimarama appoints himself as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, a body he suspended after it failed to back his Dec 2006 coup
2008 Jul -Bainimarama postpones elections promised for early 2009 on the grounds that electoral reforms could not be completed in time
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