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.
1773 Cúcuta (Colombia) is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.
1821 The Republic of Gran Colombia (a federation covering much of present day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador) is established, with Simón Bolívar as the founding President and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president. thumb
1831 Ecuador and Venezuela are separated from Greater Colombia.
1851 Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.
1903 The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate would later reject the treaty.
1903 With the encouragement of the United States, Panama separates from Colombia.
1909 Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
1935 Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Colombia are established.
1936 Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1945 Colombia joins the United Nations.
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.
1979 A major earthquake and tsunami kill 259 people in Colombia.
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.
1988 A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
1989 Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
1989 Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
1989 Avianca Flight 203, a Boeing 727, explodes in mid-air over Colombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel claimed responsibility for the attack.
1992 Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States.
1993 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.
1995 American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
1996 War on Drugs: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attack a military base in Guaviare, starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare in which at least 130 Colombians are killed.
1999 A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
2002 TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92.
2008 Ingrid Betancourt, and 14 other hostages held by FARC guerrillas, are rescued by the Colombian armed forces.