1885:Qing dynasty makes Taiwan a province of China.

1895:China cedes Taiwan to Japan.

1945:China resumes control after the Second World War.

1949:Chiang Kai-shek (leader of a nationalist movement) loses civil war to Mao Zedong's Communist armies. He flees to Taiwan with two million followers and establishes a government. Chiang rules until his death in 1975.

1968:Taiwan holds first byelections to replace China-elected deputies who have died.

1971:United Nations expels the Republic of China, as Taiwan is officially known.

1972:Chiang Kai-shek appoints his son Chiang Ching-kuo as premier.

1984:Chiang Ching-kuo selects Taiwanese-born Lee Teng-hui to succeed him.

1986:Political dissidents form the country's first opposition party, the Democratic Conservative Party (DPP). At the time, parties other than the governing party are illegal.

July 1987:Taiwan lifts almost four decades of martial law.

January 1988:Chiang Ching-kuo dies, ending the Chiang rule over the island. Lee Teng-hui becomes president.

May 1990:Lee Teng-hui pardons dissidents Shih Ming-teh and Hsu Hsin-liang, who become chairmen of the DPP.

1992:Taiwan holds first full elections to parliament.

1993:Parliament ends restrictions on broadcasts in Taiwanese dialect.

1996:Voters make Lee Teng-hui the first directly elected president in Chinese history, despite weeks of war games in the waters by China.

2000:Voters put the DPP in power for the first time, electing Chen Shui-bian as president and ending five decades of Nationalist Party rule.

Nov. 27, 2003:Parliament passes law allowing referenda on issues such as national sovereignty, opening the door for a future vote on a declaration of independence from China.

March 19, 2004:President Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu are injured after being shot at during the presidential election campaign. Chen is hit in the stomach and Lu in the right leg.

May 20, 2004:Chen Shui-bian begins a second term as Taiwan's president by asking his opponents in Beijing and Taiwan for a new start. He repeats a pledge to have a new constitution in place by the end of his term but says changes won't deal with sovereignty.

Jan. 30, 2005:For the first time in 55 years, direct flights carry passengers between Taiwan and the mainland.

March 14, 2005:Taiwan calls a new law passed by Beijing "a serious provocation." The law authorizes the use of force against Taiwan if the island formally declares independence.

April 29, 2005:Taiwan's opposition leader Lien Chan meets China's President Hu Jintao in what is termed a "historic reconciliation." In a stately Great Hall ceremony in Beijing the two men shake hands and express hope of ending decades of hostility. It's the highest-level contact in decades. But some analysts say the meeting is designed to undermine the authority of Taiwan's pro-independence president, Chen Shui-bian, who defeated Lien in elections in 2000 and 2004.

January 2008: The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party sweeps the parliamentary election, winning 81 of the legislature's 113 seats.

March 2008: The presidential election takes place, alongside a referendum on whether Taiwan should join the United Nations.