16th-19th centuries: European slave trade.
1874-1877: Henry Morton Stanley explores the Congo on behalf of Belgian King Leopold II.
1879-87: Leopold commissions Stanley to establish the king's authority in the Congo basin.
1884-85: European powers at the Conference of Berlin recognise Leopold's claim to the Congo basin.
1885: Leopold announces the establishment of the Congo Free State, headed by himself.
1908: Responding to widespread international criticism over human rights abuses, Belgium annexes the Congo Free State as a colony.
1930: Joseph-Desiré Mobutu born in Lisala on 14 October.
1940: Belgium enters WWII and provides the Allies with critical raw materials. (For example, the uranium for the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
1955: Belgian Professor Antoin van Bilsen publishes a "30-Year Plan" for granting the Congo increased self-government.
1959: Belgium begins to lose control over events in the Congo following serious nationalist riots in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa).
1960: Roundtable conferences take place in Brussels. Elections are held on 31 May, and Patrice Lumumba is elected premier and Joseph Kasavubu is elected president. Independence is granted on 30 June. On 5 July, the army mutinies, and on 11 July, Moise Tshombe (governor of Katanga) declares his region independent with the support of European interests. Lumumba and Kasavubu secure UN assistance, but when the forces are not placed under the central government’s control, Lumumba seeks Soviet aid. Lumumba’s relations with the UN and Kasavuba deteriorate, and on 5 September he is dismissed by Kasavubu. Lumumba fights back, and Colonel Mobutu takes over the government and expels all Soviet diplomats. Lumumba is arrested. He escapes in November, but is recaptured.
1961: Lumumba dies under mysterious circumstances in February. A new central government is established.
1964: President Kasavubu appoints Tshombe prime minister in July. The formal name of the country is changed to the Democratic Republic of Congo on 1 August. A controversial new constitution divides executive power between the premier and the president.
1965: Mobutu, commander-in-chief of the army, seizes control of the government on 24 November and cancels the upcoming elections. He declares himself president for 5 years and consolidates is control by banning political parties and convincing parliament to vest all real power in the presidency.
1966: Mulumba is dismissed and the post of premier is eliminated.
1967: A new constitution is ratified that prescribes a strong central government.
1970: Mobutu elected president (after running unopposed) for another seven year period.
1971: The name of the country is changed in Zaire on 27 October, and renames Katanga “Shaba.”
1973-4: Most foreign businesses are ordered sold to Zairian citizens, but in 1977 the government asks the original owners to return.
1977: The first invasion of Shaba begins on 8 March. Exiled Katangans invade from Angola under the leadership of General Nathaniel Mbumba. Morroccan forces come to the aid of Mobutu and quickly subdue the rebels.
1978: The Katangans launch another invasion of 13 May. France and Belgium send troops, and the United States provides logistical support to Mobutu. Thousands of Zairians are killed.
1989: Zaire defaults on loans from Belgium, resulting in the cancellation of development programs and increased economic deterioration.
1991: Following riots in Kinshasa by unpaid soldiers, Mobutu agrees to a coalition government with opposition leaders, but retains control of the security apparatus and important ministries.
1992: The National Conference begins in January, intent on creating a new constitution and a transition government that will ease Mobutu out of power. After working through many set-backs, the Conference’s decisions are ignored by both Mobutu and the international community.
1994: The Rwandan genocide occurs in April-June, the long-lasting effects of which still have political implications today.
1996: The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire-Congo (ADLF), lead by Laurent Kabila, begins its campaign in the eastern part of the country.
1997: Kisangani falls to the ADLF in March, followed by Lubumbashi in April. Mobutu flees into exile as the ADLF enters Kinshasa in May, and Laurent Kabila is sworn in as president. Mobutu dies of cancer in September.
1998: In August, rebel forces, backed by Rwandan and Ugandan troops, advance towards the capital, Kinshasa; the intervention of troops from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola turns the tide and the rebels are pushed back. In September, Kinshasa, comes close to running out of food, while rebels face defeat in the west and thousands of the rebels who narrowly failed to reach Kinshasa are captured. Despite this, rebels in the east continue fighting. In October, rebels capture the government stronghold of Kindu in the east as more peace talks break down, this time in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
1999: In February, Rebels say they have launched a major new offensive on three fronts in the north and the southeast as refugees flee the fighting. All rebel groups sign a peace agreement in the Zambian capital, Lusaka in August. In October amid allegations of ceasefire violations, rebel groups turn down an invitation from President Laurent Kabila to take part in a national dialogue on reconciliation.
2001: 26 January - Joseph Kabila sworn in as president days after his father, Laurent, was fatally wounded by a bodyguard. 31 January - Kabila visits France en route to the US; tells French President Jacques Chirac that he is ready for a talks with the rebels without preconditions. Kabila meets Rwandan President Paul Kagame - a key backer of the rebels in D.R. Congo - in Washington on 1 February. 3 February - Kabila urges all warring sides in D.R. Congo to hold round-table peace talks with him. Addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council, he called for a precise timetable for the deployment of UN troops in D.R. Congo and the withdrawal of foreign troops from there. 28 February - Ugandan and Rwandan troops begin pulling troops back from the D.R. Congo frontline as a goodwill gesture towards the peace process. 3 April - Zimbabwean troops begin withdrawing from D.R. Congo after almost three years of fighting alongside government troops. 20 April - United Nations troops deployed in rebel-held town of Kisangani. May - President Kabila lifts ban on all parties that were in operation under former President Mobuto Sese Seko. September - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visits. November - UN panel of experts restates its assertion earlier in the year that the warring parties are deliberately prolonging the conflict to plunder gold, diamonds, timber and coltan.
2002: January - Hundreds of people are feared dead after a violent volcanic eruption in the town of Goma.
