1960 - Independence from France. Felix Houphouet-Boigny elected president and holds the post until 1993 death

1993 - Henri Konan Bedie becomes president

1999 - Bedie overthrown in military coup led by General Robert Guei. Bedie flees to France

2000

Jul - New constitution, introduced by Guei, bars anyone with non-Ivorian parents from running for president, including main rival Alassane Ouattara, whose mother was from Burkina Faso

Oct - Elections held and Guei declares himself the winner, but is forced to flee following a popular uprising against perceived vote-rigging. Laurent Gbagbo, thought to be the actual winner, is made president. Fighting breaks out between Gbagbo supporters from the south and Ouattara supporters from the north

Dec - President Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) emerges as biggest single party in parliamentary elections

2001

Mar - Ouattara's Rally of the Republicans (RDR) party wins majority in local elections, leading to calls for fresh presidential and legislative elections. Gbagbo and Ouattara agree to work towards reconciliation

Nov - Ouattara returns from year-long exile

2002

Aug - RDR party given four ministerial posts in new government

Sep - Dissident soldiers attack the commercial capital Abidjan over demobilisation plans. Mutiny turns into full-scale rebellion, with rebels seizing control of the north

2003

Jan - Seydou Diarra appointed prime minister under a peace deal signed in Paris after Gbagbo agrees to share power with rebels and political rivals. Riots in Abidjan

May - Rebels and army sign a total ceasefire bringing an end to months of fighting in western regions. French and West African troops secure ceasefire line on May 24

Jul - Army and rebels formally declare the war is over, with the country split between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south

2004

Mar - Rebels and opposition RDR party pull out of government after a crackdown on a banned anti-Gbagbo march in which at least 120 people ere killed, according to a U.N. report

Jul - Warring parties sign a deal after talks in Ghana, setting out timetable for reform and rebel disarmament

Nov - Government planes bomb rebel stronghold of Bouake in a bid to retake north. Nine French peacekeepers killed. In response France destroys large part of Ivory Coast government air force. This is followed by anti-French riots in Abidjan. Thousands of French nationals leave country

Dec - African Union appoints South African President Thabo Mbeki to help resolve crisis. Parliament abolishes the need for a president to have Ivorian parents

2005

Apr - Rebels and Gbagbo finally agree to end the war at peace talks in Pretoria, South Africa. Both sides say they will disarm and agree to hold presidential elections in October

Jun - At least 100 people killed in massacres in the western town of Duekoue

Oct - Human Rights Watch claims Ivory Coast is recruiting former child soldiers and other fighters from Liberia, an allegation denied by the government. Presidential polls postponed. A U.N. resolution allows Gbagbo to remain in power another year, while a new prime minister is appointed

Dec - Charles Konan Banny, governor of West Africa's central bank, named interim prime minister in a move brokered by AU mediators. U.N. Security Council bans diamond exports to stop rebels using them to buy arms illicitly. Constitutional authorities allow the parliament to continue working until elections, after its mandate expires

2006

Jan - Foreign mediators recommend parliament should not be reconvened. Gbagbo's supporters say the international group has no right to make such a recommendation. Gbagbo supporters stage four days of anti-U.N. protests in Abidjan and other cities. Eleven people killed and thousands of refugees in nearby camps left without supplies or help. Ouattara returns after three years in exile in France

Feb - U.N. sanctions against the leaders of the recent riots take effect. Prime Minister holds first peace talks on Ivorian soil since 2002.

Mar - 80,000 children in the north sit exams after a two-year wait. Independent electoral commission begins work organising presidential elections. Its establishment had been agreed in the 2003 peace deal, but wrangling over membership delayed the process. U.N. troops return to the west of the country after having fled the earlier riots. New Forces (FN) rebel leader Guillaume Soro attends his first cabinet meeting in more than a year

Jun - U.N. Security Council approves an extra 1,500 U.N. peacekeepers for Ivory Coast, boosting the existing force by 20 percent. Militias loyal to President Gbagbo miss deadline to disarm

Aug - At least 16 people die and thousands become ill when a ship dumps toxic waste at open air sites around Abidjan. Oil trading firm Trafigura, which chartered the vessel, later agrees to pay a $198 million settlement to the Ivory Coast government but denies responsibility for the dumping or any wrongdoing. U.N. investigators find seven spots around the capital still contaminated two years later, with victims continuing to experience headaches, skin and lung problems, premature births, early menopause and miscarriages

Sep - Political and rebel leaders fail to complete voter registration and disarmament to pave the way for elections. The government resigns over the toxic waste scandal, but the president later names a largely unchanged cabinet. Gbagbo boycotts a U.N.-sponsored peace summit

Oct - AU and West African leaders recommend interim government remains in power for another year, in the absence of elections. U.N. report finds diamonds from rebel-held areas are being sold on the international market, despite the U.N. ban

Nov - U.N. Security Council extends mandate of Ivory Coast leaders by another year, but shifts most power from President Gbagbo to Prime Minister Banny. Relations between Banny and Gbagbo deteriorate

Dec - Gbagbo presents new peace plan, including direct talks with Forces Nouvelles, end to north-south buffer zone, new amnesty law and elections in July 2007. Soro rejects the plan in favour of the U.N. peace deal

2007

Jan - Soro agrees to direct talks with Gbagbo, mediated by Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore

Feb - United States and European Union extend military sanctions for another year

Mar - Gbagbo and Soro sign new peace deal that includes establishing a new transitional government, integrating rebel and loyalist fighters into a joint army under joint command, completing voter registration and identification, and calling on U.N. and French troops to withdraw from the buffer zone

Apr - Gbagbo names government of national unity, headed by Soro. U.N. and French peacekeepers begin staged pullback from the military buffer zone to be gradually replaced by mixed brigades of government and rebel soldiers

Jun - A rocket attack on Prime Minister Soro in his rebel stronghold - killing four aides - shakes the peace process, but FN and Gbagbo vow to continue reuniting the country

Oct - U.N. Security Council renews arms and diamond sanctions for another year in order to pressurise leaders to implement the peace deal and hold elections

Dec - Rebels and government soldiers pull back from frontline

2008

Jan - U.N. mandate for peacekeepers renewed for six months

Apr - Violent protests about rising food costs. Gbagbo cancel customs duties in response. Elections postponed again from June to end-November

May - Northern rebels begin disarming

Nov - Elections scheduled for Nov. 30 are postponed until early 2009