7th-8th centuries - Arabs conquer Uzbekistan and introduce Islam.

9th-10th centuries - Persian Samanid dynasty becomes dominant and develops Bukhara as important centre of Islamic culture. As it declines, Turkic hordes compete to fill the vacuum.

13th-14th centuries - Uzbekistan and the rest of Central Asia conquered by Genghis Khan and becomes part of Mongol empire.

14th century - Uzbekistan part of Turkic ruler Tamerlane's empire with Samarkand as its capital.

18th-19th centuries Uzbekistan comes under independent emirates and khanates of Bukhara, Kokand and Samarkand.

Russian influence

1865-76 - Russians take Tashkent and make it capital of Turkestan, incorporating vast areas of Central Asia. They also annex emirate of Bukhara and khanates of Samarkand, Khiva and Kokand.

1917 - Tashkent soviet established following Bolshevik revolution in Russia.

1920 - Tashkent soviet ousts emir of Bukhara and other khans.

1918-22 - New communist rulers close down mosques and persecute Muslim clergy as part of secularization campaign.

1921 - Uzbekistan becomes part of Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR).

1924 - Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) formed from territories of the Turkestan ASSR, the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic and the Khorezmian People's Soviet Republic; Uzbekistan becomes part of the USSR.

Resettlement of minorities

1930s - Uzbek capital transferred from Samarkand to Tashkent.

2000: Uzbekistan restores Timurid legacy
1944 - Some 160,000 Meskhetian Turks deported from Georgia to Uzbekistan by Joseph Stalin.

1950s-80s - Cotton production boosted by major irrigation projects which, however, contribute to the drying up of the Aral Sea.

Late 1980s - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, or openness, opens the way to increased Islamic consciousness.

1989 - Islam Karimov becomes leader of Uzbek Communist Party.

Violent attacks take place against Meskhetian Turks and other minorities in the Fergana Valley. Nationalist movement Birlik founded.

Independence

1990 - Communist Party of Uzbekistan declares economic and political sovereignty. Islam Karimov becomes president.

1991 - Karimov initially supports the attempted anti-Gorbachev coup by conservatives in Moscow. Uzbekistan declares itself independent and, following the collapse of the USSR, joins the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Karimov returned as president in direct elections in which few opposition groups are allowed to field candidates.

1992 - President Karimov bans the political parties Birlik (Unity) and Erk (Freedom). Members of the opposition are arrested in large numbers for alleged antistate activities.

1994 - Uzbekistan signs an economic integration treaty with Russia, and an economic, military and social cooperation treaty with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

1995 - Activists belonging to the outlawed opposition party Erk given lengthy prison sentences for allegedly conspiring to oust the government.

Ruling People's Democratic Party - formerly the Communist Party of Uzbekistan - wins general election.

Referendum extends Karimov's term of office for another five years.

1996 - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan agree to create single economic market.

1999 - Bomb blasts in Tashkent kill more than a dozen people. President blames "fanatics" from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

IMU broadcasts a declaration of jihad from a radio station in Iran. It also demands the resignation of the Uzbek leadership.

Operating from mountain hideouts, IMU fighters launch first in several-year series of summer skirmishes with government forces.

2000 - Karimov re-elected president in election deemed by Western observers to be neither free nor fair.

New York-based human rights organisation Human Rights Watch accuses Uzbekistan of widespread use of torture.

2001 June - Some 70 people are jailed for terrorism following cross-border incursions in the south by Islamic militants in 2000.

Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan launch Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), formed to tackle ethnic and religious militancy and to promote trade, investment.

2001 October - Uzbekistan allows USA to use its airbases for action in Afghanistan.

2002 January - President Karimov wins support for extending the presidential term from five to seven years in a referendum criticised as a ploy to hang on to power.

2002 March - President Karimov visits USA. Strategic partnership agreement signed.
Cotton, sheep farming, oil and gas are mainstays of the economy

2002 August - IMU military leader Juma Namangoniy reported killed.

2002 September - Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan settle a long-standing border dispute.

2003 May - Tashkent hosts annual meeting of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development which expresses disappointment at President Karimov's failure to condemn torture.

Banned Birlik movement hold congress openly for first time in a decade.

2003 June - Erk opposition party holds first formal meeting since it was banned 11 years previously.

2003 December - President Karimov sacks long-standing prime minister Otkir Sultanov, citing country's poorest-ever cotton harvest. Shavkat Mirziyayev appointed to replace him.

2004 March - At least 47 people killed in wave of shootings and bombings. Authorities blame Islamic extremists. Several dozen people are subsequently sentenced to lengthy terms in prison.

The state no longer censors newspapers, but self-censorship is common

2004 April - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announces it is to slash aid because of country's poor record on economic reform and human rights.

2004 July - Suicide bombers target US and Israeli embassies in Tashkent; third blast hits general prosecutor's office.

2004 November - Recently introduced restrictions on trading practices lead to civil disorder in eastern city of Kokand. Several thousand people are reported to have taken part in street protests.

Turkmen and Uzbek presidents sign friendship declaration, agreement on water resources.

2004 December - Parliamentary elections held; opposition parties are barred from taking part.