1801-04 – Most parts of present-day Georgia becomes part of the Russian Empire.
1918 – Georgia declares independent state.
1922 – Georgia, as part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Republic, becomes a founder member of the Soviet Union.
1972 – Eduard Shevardnadze is appointed head of the Georgian Communist Party.
1989 – 19 pro independent demonstrators are killed in Tbilisi by Soviet troops.
1989 – Demands for more autonomy in the South Ossetia region lead to violent clashes between Georgians and Ossetians. Russia dispatches a peacekeeping force.
1990 – Nationalist coalition wins multi-party parliamentary elections and former dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia is appointed chairman of parliament.
1990 – 1991 – Growing South Ossetian independence aspirations bring further violence between separatist and Georgian forces. Hundreds die and tens of thousands are forced to flee.
1991 – Georgian parliament declares secession from the Soviet Union after its referendum. Gamsakhurdia is elected President.
1992 January – Gamsakhurdia is deposed after fighting in central Tbilisi between government troops and opposition forces.
1992 March – Shevardnadze is appointed head of the newly formed State Council.
1992 August – Fighting breaks out in Abkhazia between Georgian government troops and separatist forces.
1993 October – Insurrection by Gamsakhurdia supporters in western Georgia is suppressed after Georgia agrees to join the CIS and receives help from Russian troops.
1994 – Georgian government and Abkhaz separatists sign a ceasefire agreement, paving the way for the deployment of a Russian peacekeeping force in the region.
New constitution adopted which provides for a strong executive presidency. New currency, the lari, introduced.
2001 October – Clashes in Abkhazia between Abkhaz troops and Georgian paramilitaries backed by fighters from the North Caucasus.
2001 November – Demonstrations following raid by security forces on privately-owned Rustavi-2 TV station, known for its criticism of Shevardnadze and of government’s failure to tackle corruption. The government is then sacked by Shevardnadze.
2002 October – Fighting with Russia is defused after Georgian leader promises to work with Moscow to fight Chechen rebels. Antiterrorist operation ends with several suspected guerrillas killed.
2003 November – Shevardnadze is toppled in a bloodless “Rose Revolution” triggered by opposition allegations of irregularities in parliamentary elections.
2004 January – Mikhail Saakashvili takes the Presidency.
2004 May – Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze claims Georgian forces about to invade and blows up bridges connecting the region with the rest of Georgia.
Aslan Abashidze resigns and leaves Georgia.
2004 October – Abkhaz presidential elections, not recognised by Tbilisi, end in chaos.
2005 February – Three police officers killed by car bomb in Gori.
2006 May – Tensions with Russia rise again as Georgia demands that Russian peacekeepers arriving on rotation in South Ossetia have visas.
2007 August – Georgia accuses Russia of twice violating its air space. Moscow denies the claim.
2008 August – After a week of unrest between Georgian troops and separatist forces in South Ossetia, Georgia launches an aerial attack and ground offensive in the breakaway region.
Russia responds by dispatching thousands of troops into South Ossetia, launching bomb raids in the region and other parts of Georgia.
