Timeline: Zimbabwe

A chronology of key events:

Mist from the Victoria Falls can sometimes be seen for miles Shared by Zimbabwe, Zambia 108 metre (355 feet) drop Named after Queen Victoria by explorer David Livingstone

1200-1600s - Rise and decline of the Monomotapa domain, thought to have been associated with Great Zimbabwe and to have been involved in gold mining and international trade.

1830s - Ndebele people fleeing Zulu violence and Boer migration in present-day South Africa move north and settle in what becomes known as Matabeleland.

1830-1890s - European hunters, traders and missionaries explore the region from the south. They include Cecil John Rhodes.

1889 - Rhodes' British South Africa Company (BSA) gains a British mandate to colonise what becomes Southern Rhodesia.

Whites settle

1890 - Pioneer column of white settlers arrives from south at site of future capital Harare.

1893 - Ndebele uprising against BSA rule is crushed.

1922 - BSA administration ends, the white minority opts for self-government.

1930 - Land Apportionment Act restricts black access to land, forcing many into wage labour.

Supporter of white rule Ian Smith declared unilateral independence On This Day 1965: Rhodesia breaks from UK 2007 Obituary: Ian Smith

1930-1960s - Black opposition to colonial rule grows. Emergence in the 1960s of nationalist groups - the Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu).

1953 - Britain creates the Central African Federation, made up of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi).

1963 - Federation breaks up when Zambia and Malawi gain independence.

Smith declares UDI

1964 - Ian Smith of the Rhodesian Front (RF) becomes prime minister, tries to persuade Britain to grant independence.

1965 - Smith unilaterally declares independence under white minority rule, sparking international outrage and economic sanctions.

1972 - Guerrilla war against white rule intensifies, with rivals Zanu and Zapu operating out of Zambia and Mozambique.

1978 - Smith yields to pressure for negotiated settlement. Elections for transitional legislature boycotted by Patriotic Front made up of Zanu and Zapu. New government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, fails to gain international recognition. Civil war continues.

1979 - British-brokered all-party talks at Lancaster House in London lead to a peace agreement and new constitution, which guarantees minority rights.

Independence

JOSHUA NKOMO 'Umdala Wethu' - our old man - was friend, then rival, of Mugabe On This Day 1983: Nkomo flees 'death threats' 1999 Obituary: Joshua Nkomo

1980 - Veteran pro-independence leader Robert Mugabe and his Zanu party win British-supervised independence elections. Mugabe is named prime minister and includes Zapu leader Joshua Nkomo in his cabinet. Independence on 18 April is internationally recognised.

1982 - Mugabe sacks Nkomo, accusing him of preparing to overthrow the government. North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade deployed to crush rebellion by pro-Nkomo ex-guerrillas in Midlands and Matabeleland provinces. Government forces are accused of killing thousands of civilians over next few years.

1987 - Mugabe, Nkomo merge their parties to form Zanu-PF, ending the violence in southern areas.

1987 - Mugabe changes constitution, becomes executive president.

1991 - The Commonwealth adopts the Harare Declaration at its summit in Zimbabwe, reaffirming its aims of fostering international peace and security, democracy, freedom of the individual and equal rights for all.

1998 - Economic crisis accompanied by riots and strikes.

1999 - Economic crisis persists, Zimbabwe's military involvement in DR Congo's civil war becomes increasingly unpopular. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formed.

Farm seizures

INDEPENDENCE Rhodesia changed its name, elected Robert Mugabe as PM On This Day 1980: Exiled Mugabe returns 2008: Mugabe's world

2000 February - President Mugabe suffers defeat in referendum on draft constitution.

Squatters seize hundreds of white-owned farms in an ongoing and violent campaign to reclaim what they say was stolen by settlers.

2000 June - Parliamentary elections: Zanu-PF narrowly fights off a challenge from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai, but loses its power to change the constitution.

2001 May - Defence Minister Moven Mahachi killed in a car crash - the second minister to die in that way in a month.

2001 July - Finance Minister Simba Makoni publicly acknowledges economic crisis, saying foreign reserves have run out and warning of serious food shortages. Most western donors, including the World Bank and the IMF, have cut aid because of President Mugabe's land seizure programme.

2002 February - Parliament passes a law limiting media freedom. The European Union imposes sanctions on Zimbabwe and pulls out its election observers after the EU team leader is expelled.

2002 March - Mugabe re-elected in presidential elections condemned as seriously flawed by the opposition and foreign observers. Commonwealth suspends Zimbabwe from its councils for a year after concluding that elections were marred by high levels of violence.

Food shortages

2002 April - State of disaster declared as worsening food shortages threaten famine. Government blames drought, the UN's World Food Programme says disruption to agriculture is a contributing factor.

War veterans spearheaded occupation of white-owned farms 2003: Zimbabwe's changed land 2005: Zimbabwe farmers mark new territory Zimbabwe: The Battle for Land

2002 June - 45-day countdown for some 2,900 white farmers to leave their land begins, under terms of a land-acquisition law passed in May.

2002 September - Commonwealth committee - including leaders of South Africa, Nigeria and Australia - fails to agree on further sanctions against President Mugabe.

2002 November - Agriculture Minister Joseph Made says the land-grab is over. He says the government has seized 35m acres of land from white farmers.

Protests

2003 March - Widely-observed general strike is followed by the arrests - and reported beatings - of hundreds of people. A BBC correspondent says the evidence points to a crackdown of "unprecedented brutality".

2003 June - Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai is arrested twice, amid a week of opposition protests. He is charged with treason, adding to an existing treason charge from 2002 over an alleged plot to kill President Mugabe.

Morgan Tsvangirai led the fractious opposition to President Mugabe until the power-sharing deal of 2009. Profile: Morgan Tsvangirai 2006: Zimbabwe's 'outsider' faction leader

2003 November - Canaan Banana, Zimbabwe's first black president, dies aged 67.

2003 December - Zimbabwe pulls out of Commonwealth after organisation decides to extend suspension of country indefinitely.

2004 March - 67 men - alleged to be mercenaries planning a coup in Equatorial Guinea - are detained and charged after their plane is impounded in Harare. In September their leader, British national Simon Mann, is sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to buy guns.

2004 October - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is acquitted of treason charges relating to an alleged plot to kill President Mugabe. He faces a separate treason charge.

2005 January - The US labels Zimbabwe as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny". Zimbabwe rejects the statement.

2005 March - Ruling Zanu-PF party wins two-thirds of the votes in parliamentary polls. Main opposition party says election was rigged against it.

Urban "clean-up"

2005 May-July - Tens of thousands of shanty dwellings and illegal street stalls are destroyed as part of a "clean-up" programme. The UN estimates that the drive has left about 700,000 people homeless.

Demolitions left thousands homeless, jobless 2005: What lies behind the demolitions?

2005 August - Prosecutors drop remaining treason charges against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

2005 November - Ruling Zanu-PF party wins an overwhelming majority of seats in a newly-created upper house of parliament, the Senate. The opposition MDC splits over its leader's decision to boycott the poll.

2005 December - After a four-day visit, UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland says Zimbabwe is in "meltdown".

Galloping inflation

2006 May - Year-on-year inflation exceeds 1,000%. New banknotes, with three noughts deleted from their values, are introduced in August.

2006 September - Riot police disrupt a planned demonstration against the government's handling of the economic crisis. Union leaders are taken into custody and later hospitalised, allegedly after being tortured.

2006 December - Ruling ZANU-PF party approves a plan to move presidential polls from 2008 to 2010, effectively extending Mr Mugabe's rule by two years.

HYPERINFLATION Galloping prices rendered Zimbabwe's currency nearly worthless by 2008 Zimbabwe abandons its currency Zimbabwe inflation hits new high

2007 February - Rallies, demonstrations banned for three months. The ban is extended in May.

2007 March - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is hospitalised after his arrest at a rally. One man is shot dead as riot police move to disperse the gathering.

2007 May - Warnings of power cuts for up to 20 hours a day while electricity is diverted towards agriculture.

2007 June - Five men are charged with treason for plotting a coup. Their lawyer says they were planning to form a political party.

Ruling ZANU-PF and opposition MDC hold preliminary talks in South Africa.

2007 November - Former Prime Minister Ian Smith dies.

2007 December - Mr Mugabe attends EU-Africa summit, where he is criticised over his rights record. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotts the meeting over Mugabe's presence.

Elections

2008 March - Opposition MDC wins parliamentary elections. Morgan Tsvangirai wins first round of presidential poll.

2008 June - Mr Mugabe wins presidential run-off election after Mr Tsvangirai pulls out days before the poll, saying a free and fair election is impossible because of violent intimidation of his supporters. Mr Mugabe is sworn in for sixth term of office.

POWER-SHARING DEAL The deal ended months of deadlock over the disputed 2008 election result Robert Mugabe remains president Mr Tsvangirai gets new PM post MDC, Zanu-PF share cabinet posts Zimbabwe's uneasy balancing act

2008

July - Britain and the United States spearhead international campaign aimed at persuading Mr Mugabe to step down. Their efforts to dislodge him suffer a setback when a proposed UN resolution to impose new sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders is vetoed by Russia and China.

100-billion-dollar banknote is introduced in response to official year-on-year inflation rate of 2m per cent.

Power-sharing accord

2008 August - Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai hold talks on power-sharing that end without agreement.

MDC chairman Lovemore Moyo is elected as speaker of parliament, the first opposition MP to hold the post since the country's independence in 1980.

2008 September - President Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai sign power-sharing deal. Mr Mugabe remains as president and Mr Tsvangirai is offered the post of prime minister, but the two men fail to reach agreement on the allocation of other cabinet posts.

2008 October - Annual inflation rate hits new high of 231m per cent, according to official figures.

2008 November - After several rounds of talks over the formation of a government, the two sides remain deadlocked over the distribution of ministries between Zanu-PF and the two branches of the MDC.

With millions of people dependent on food handouts and an outbreak of cholera in Harare, aid agencies warn that the political impasse is creating a humanitarian crisis. South Africa says it will withhold $28m of agricultural aid until a representative government is in place.

2009 January - A week after a further round of initially inconclusive talks in Pretoria, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai announces his party's readiness to join the power-sharing government.

2009 February - Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as prime minister.

2009 March - PM Morgan Tsvangirai's wife, Susan, dies in a car crash. In conciliatory remarks at her funeral service a few days later, President Mugabe calls for an end to the "days of violence" in Zimbabwe.

Retail prices fall for the first time after years of hyperinflation, according to government statistics for January and February 2009.