6 December 1492		Christopher Columbus arrived on the island of Hispaniola and made it a Spanish colony and founded the settlement Navidad.
1493		Columbus established a second settlement, Isabela.
1548		The Taino Indians population, estimated at 1 million in 1492, had been reduced to approximately 500
1586		Sir Francis Drake of England led one of the most famous forays against the port of Santo Domingo.
1655		English fleet tried to take Santo Domingo, but was defeated.
1697		Under the Treaty of Ryswick, Spain ceded the western third of the island to France.
1791		A slave revolt broke out in the French colony.
1795		Treaty of Basel. The accord directed Spain to cede its holdings on Hispaniola to France
5 May 1802		Toussaint surrendered to Leclerc.
1 January 1804		Haiti proclaimed its independence.
26 October 1820		General Jean-Pierre Boyer claimed it on October 26 at Cap Haïtien at the head of 20,000 troops. Haiti was once again a single nation.
30 November 1821		José Núñez de Cáceres announced the independence of the eastern part of the island as the state of Spanish Haiti.
1822		President of Haiti, Jean-Pierre Boyer, decided to invade Santo Domingo and to reunite the island under the Haitian flag.
1843		President Boyer was overthrow in the Revolution of 1843.
August 1849		Faustin Soulouque proclaimed himself as Haiti's second emperor, Faustin I.
1915		The first U.S. Marines landed in Port-au-Prince on July 28. For the next nineteen years, Haiti's powerful neighbor to the north guided and governed the country.
August 1934		The last contingent of U.S. marines departed in mid-August.
March 1947		Estimé renamed the Garde the Haitian Army (Armée d'Haïti).
6 December 1950		Paul Magloire won the election and assumed office.
1957		After elections François Duvalier ("Papa Doc") became president ruling the country as dictator.
1971		At the time of his death in 1971, François Duvalier designated his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc"), as Haiti's new leader.
7 February 1986		Jean-Claude and Michèle Duvalier departed from Haiti to France. Lieutenant General Henri Namphy came to power in Haiti.
December 1990		Under the supervision of the United Nations the radical priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president.
30 September 1991		Brigadier-General Raoul Cedras seized power in a military coup.
19 September 1994		U.S. Army units, with U.N. support, land in Haiti to restore democracy and reinstall Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president.
January 1996		René Préva became next president.
December 1998		Last of the U.N. sponsored MIPONUH troops leave Haiti.
March 2002		Yvon Neptune became president.