1960 - Independence from "indirect rule" by Britain. Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa leads a coalition government.

1962-63 - A controversial census stokes regional and ethnic tensions.

1966 - Balewa is killed in a coup. Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi leads a military administration until he is killed in a counter-coup and replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon.

1967 - The secession of three south-eastern states as the Republic of Biafra sparks a bloody civil war.

1970 - Biafran leaders surrender and former Biafran regions are reintegrated.

1975 - Gowon is overthrown and replaced by Brigadier Murtala Ramat Mohammed.

1976 - Mohammed is assassinated in a coup attempt and replaced by Lieutenant-General Olusegun Obasanjo, who introduces a presidential constitution.

1979 - Elections bring Alhaji Shehu Shagari to power.

1983 - Shagari is re-elected amid allegations of irregularities.

1983 - Major-General Muhammad Buhari seizes power in a bloodless coup.

1985 - Ibrahim Babangida seizes power in a bloodless coup, and cracks down on political activity.

1993 - Preliminary election results show victory by Chief Moshood Abiola, but the military annuls the election.

1993 - General Sani Abacha seizes power and suppresses the opposition.

1995 - Writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, who campaigned against environmental damage by the oil industry in his Ogoni homeland, is executed following a rushed trial. In protest, the European Union imposes sanctions.

1998 - Abacha dies, and is succeeded by Major-General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

1999

May - Parliamentary and presidential elections. President Obasanjo takes office. Fighting flares between ethnic Ijaws and Itsekiris in the Niger Delta over a local government headquarters, with up to 200 killed.

Nov - Paramilitary police quell riots in Lagos after clashes between immigrant Hausas from the north and Yorubas kill more than 100.

2000 - Thousands of people are killed throughout northern Nigeria as non-Muslims opposed to the introduction of Islamic sharia law fight Muslims who support its implementation.

2001

Sep - Violence flares in the city of Jos between Christian and Muslims, with churches and mosques set on fire. According to a report by a panel set up by the Plateau state government, at least 915 people are killed during days of rioting.

Oct - At least 200 people are killed in two days of Muslim-Christian fighting in the northern city of Kano, sparked by Muslim protests against U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan.

2002

Feb - At least 100 people are killed and 430 wounded in four days of fighting between ethnic Hausas and Yorubas in a suburb of Lagos.

Jul - 250 unarmed Ijaw women storm a Chevron-Texaco facility in the Niger Delta and hold 700 employees hostage until the company agrees to invest in the local area.

Nov - Nigeria abandons the Miss World contest in Abuja. At least 215 people had died in rioting in the northern city of Kaduna after a newspaper suggested the Prophet Mohammad would probably have married one of the beauty queens were he alive today.

2003

Apr - First legislative and presidential elections since the end of military rule. President Obasanjo is elected for a second term and his People's Democratic Party wins a parliamentary majority despite EU observers citing irregularities.

Aug - Leaders of rival ethnic groups declare a ceasefire in the oil city of Warri after days of clashes over oil wealth and political power. The Red Cross says nearly 100 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured.

2004

May - The government declares a state of emergency in Plateau State after at least 600 people, mostly Muslim Fulanis, are killed by Christian militia in the central town of Yelwa. Nine days later, Muslim and Christian militants fight bloody street battles in the northern city of Kano.

Aug-Sep - Troops crack down on clashes between gangs in the oil city of Port Harcourt. Amnesty International cites a death toll of 500, while authorities say about 20 died.

2005

Feb - Soldiers from the Joint Task Force, an army-led unit, fire on protesters at the Chevron Escravos oil terminal on the Delta State coast killing one demonstrator.

Jul - Paris Club agrees to write off two-thirds of Nigeria's $30bn foreign debt.

2006

Jan-Feb - Militants in the Niger Delta attack oil facilities and kidnap foreign oil workers, demanding greater control over the region's oil wealth.

Feb - More than 100 people are killed in religious violence in mainly-Muslim towns in the north and in the southern city of Onitsha, following global controversy over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad published in a Danish newspaper.

Mar - Nigeria's first census in 15 years is carried out. Disputes between rival ethnic groups over claims to land and property lead to several deaths, and at least eight people are killed in the southeast, where a separatist group tries to stop people from being counted.

May - The Nigerian Senate throws out a bill to amend the constitution, bringing an end to a campaign by President Obasanjo's supporters to let him stand for a third term in the 2007 elections.

More than 150 people are killed in an explosion at an oil pipeline near Lagos.

Aug - Nigeria hands over the disputed Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon under a 2002 International Court of Justice ruling.

Dec - President Obasanjo's spokesman announces that Vice President Atiku Abubakar has "technically resigned" after joining an opposition party and asks the ruling People's Democratic Party to find a replacement.

Explosion at a vandalised oil pipeline in Lagos kills more than 250 people.

2007

Feb - Nigeria's anti-graft agency releases the names of 135 politicians it alleges are too corrupt to run in the country's elections in April.

An appeals court rules that Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo does not have the power to sack his vice president for joining an opposition party.

April 14 - State gubernatorial and legislative elections. Results point to a landslide victory for the ruling PDP. Around 50 people die in poll-related violence.

April 17 - A mob, thought to belong to a radical Islamic sect, kills 13 people in the northern city of Kano, four days after unidentified gunmen shot dead a hardline Muslim cleric.

Nigeria's highest court and the electoral authorities clear Vice President Atiku Abubakar to stand in the presidential poll.

April 21 - Presidential and National Assembly elections. The presidential ballot, criticised by observers as a "charade", is won by ruling PDP candidate Umaru Yar'Adua. Opposition groups reject the result.

May - Umaru Yar'Adua inaugurated president.

Sep - Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announces end to ceasefire in Niger Delta after talks with government failed.

Oct - Human Rights Watch releases a report dismissing the April elections as a "farce". The number of kidnappings by MEND escalate.

Nov - President Yar'Adua allocates $3.4 billion for "security and the Niger Delta". MEND calls this a "declaration of war" and threatens to extend attacks beyond Delta region.

Dec - Yar'Adua asks Senate to ratify 2006 agreement to cede disputed Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon.

2008

Feb - Election tribunal upholds Yar'Adua's April 2007 election victory. Opposition groups vow to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Some Niger Delta groups say they are ready to resume peace talks but key MEND faction continues to resist.