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22, 000 B.C. 
Man inhabits the Tabon caves for about 40,000 years.

960 A.D.    
Chinese goods begin to flow into the Philippines.

1100 A.D.  
Chinese colonies are founded along coastal towns.
                                        
1150 A.D.  
Ancient Filipinos build rice terraces.

1200          
Islam is introduced in Mindanao, southern  Philippines.
                                    
1521       
Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines and claims the
archipelago for the King of Spain.

1571     
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi takes possession of Manila
and makes it the capital of the Philippines.

1600-1617
The Dutch attempt to take the Philippines and are repulsed by the Spanish navy.

1762-1764
The British occupy Manila.

1834
Manila is opened world trade; economic development is
underway.

1861
Birth of Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines.

1887
Rizals novel, Noli Me Tangere which exposes Spain’s abuses in the Philippines, is published.

1892
Andres Bonifacio founds the Katipunan, a secret society aiming for the separation of the Philippines from Spain.

1896 August
The Cry of Pugadlawin. Andres Bonifacio gathers his leaders at a meeting in Balintawak, after which they proceed to Pugadlawin where they agree to fight the war until the end.

December 30
Dr. Jose P. Rizal is executed at Bagumbayan, now called Luneta.

1897
A truce ends Filipino- Spanish hostilities.

1898 April
The American Congress declares a state of war between the
United States and Spain.

May
Commodore George Dewey attacks and destroys the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.

Jun 12
Filipinos declare Philippine independence; a constitutional government is established with Emilio Aguinalcio as the first President.

July
Emilio Aguinaldo establishes a republican government thru the Pact of Biak na Bato.

August
Spanish authorities surrender Manila to the Americans.

December
The treaty of Paris ending the war between Spanish and the United States is signed. Spain cedes the Philippines to the United States, thus ending close to 400 years of Spanish influence.

1899
The Philippine-American war breaks out.

1901
General Emilio Aguinaldo Philippine Revolutionary leader, is captured.

1902
Filipino armedresistance against the Americans ends.

1935
Manuel L. Quezon is inaugurated President of the Commonwealth Government on Nov. 15

1941
Japanese bombers attack the Philippines.

1942 April
The Fall of Bataan. Defenders of Bataan surrender voluntarily and unconditionally. During the Death March, 70,000 prisoners walk approximately 120 km. to Capas, Tarlac.

1943
Jose P. Laurel is proclaimed President of a Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic.

1944 October
Leyte landing of General Douglas MacArthur. Sergio Osmeña, Sr. becomes President upon Quezon’s death on Aug.1, 1944.

1945
Liberation of the Philippines from Japan.

1946
Manuel A. Roxas is inaugurated President of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4 after 48 years of American colonial rule. Vice President Elpidio R. Quirino, assumes the Presidency upon Roxas’ death on April 15, 1948.

1949
Quirlno is elected President. Ho continues rebuilding the country devastated by war, guiding its development to become a economically strong nation.

1953
Ramon F. Magsaysay is elected President; he is acclaimed as a man of the masses. His death in a plane crash on March 17, 1957 is widely mourned by the country.

1957
becomes President in 1957 upon Magsaysay’s death. He is elected President in November 1957. Garcia formulates and implements the Filipino First policy.

1961
Macapagal, elected President in 1961, implements a Land Reform Program to free tenants from age old bondage to the soil. He changes the date of the Philippine Independence from July 4 to June 12, correcting a historical error, doing justice to the heroes of the 1896 revolution.

1965
Senator Ferdinand E. Marcos is elected President of the Philippines.

1969
Marcos is reelected for another four year term.

1972
Marcos declares martial law.

1983
Benigno S. Aquino, opposition leader, is gunned down upon arrival in Manila.

Febuary 7,1986
A snap presidential election is held with Marcos and Corazon Cojuangco Aquino in contention. Marcos is proclaimed winner by the National Assembly despite widespread protest.

Febuary 25
Marcos is deposed by a massive show of People Power. Corazon C. Aquino takes her oath of office as President of the Republic. Marcos leaves the country. Aquino restores democratic institutions in the country.

1992  June 30
Fidel V. Ramos takes his oath of office as President of the Republic of the Philippines. His Presidency marks the turn of the country to Asian tiger cub economy under a regime of law and democracy.

1998 June12
The Philippines celebrates the Centennial of Independence.

June 30
Joseph Ejercito Estrada is sworn into office as President of the Republic of the Philippines in Barasoain Church, Malolos, Bulacan. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo takes her oath as Vice President.

January 20, 2001
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo takes her oath of office President of the Philippines in Edsa Shrine after People Power II ousts impeached President Estrada.