1538    Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.

1539    Re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.

1810    Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.

1948    Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the ''Bogotazo''), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia known as ''La violencia''.

1948    In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.

1968    Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.

1985    In Colombia, leftist guerrillas of the April 19 Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, eventually killing 115 people, 11 of them Supreme Court justices.

1989    Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.