ca. 500 BCE: Darius of Persia conquers the territory.

ca. 334 BCE: Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquers the territory.

700 CE: Islamic forces conquer the territory.

1218:Genghis Khan conquers the territory.

1400s: Tamerlane conquers the territory.

1839 – 1842: First Anglo-Afghan war. The British install Shah Shujah as the king. He is assassinated in 1842.

1878 – 1880: Second Anglo-Afghan war. A treaty gives Britain control of foreign affairs.

1893: Great Britain creates an informal border separating Afghanistan from India.

1919: Emir Amanullah Khan declares Afghanistan an independent country.

1926: Emir Amanullah Khan declares himself king and announces a series of reforms. Three years later, in 1929, civil instability permeates the country. Khan flees. Zahir Shah becomes king, bringing some stability to the country.

1953: The pro-Soviet general Mohammed Daoud, cousin of the king, becomes prime minister and looks to the Soviet Union for economic and military assistance.

1973: Mohammed Daoud overthrows the king in a military coup. He abolishes the monarchy and names himself president. The Republic of Afghanistan is established with strong ties to the USSR.

1978: Mohammed Daoud is killed in a pro-Soviet coup.

1979: The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. Backed by Soviet troops, Babrak Karmal becomes ruler.

1984: Osama bin Laden of Saudi Arabia travels to Afghanistan to aid anti-Soviet fighters.

1986: The United States supplies the Mujahideen (Afghan rebels) with Stinger missiles, enabling them to shoot down Soviet helicopter gunships.

1989: The Soviets withdraw. Civil war continues.

1992: The Mujahideen fight among themselves for control of Afghanistan.

1996: The Taliban rise to power on promises of peace.

2001: Ignoring international protests, the Taliban destroy ancient Buddhist statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, saying they are an affront to Islam.

2001: Hijackers commandeer four commercial airplanes and crash them into the World Trade Center Towers in New York; the Pentagon, outside Washington, D.C.; and a Pennsylvania field. U.S. officials say that Osama bin Laden is the prime suspect in the attack and demand his extradition. The Taliban refuse to turn over bin Laden. U.S. and British forces launch air strikes against targets in Afghanistan.

2002: The Loya Jirga (“grand council”) elects U.S.-backed Hamid Karzai as president.

2003: U.S. offensive begins against Kandahar Province and Al-Qaeda. NATO takes command of peacekeeping troops.

2008: U.S. president George W. Bush sends 4,500 additional troops to Afghanistan.

2014: Ashraf Ghani is sworn in as president. NATO, including the U.S. and Great Britain, formally ends its thirteen-year combat operations.

2015: At the request of President Ghani, President Barack Obama delays U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

2016: More than 1 million Afghans are displaced during the war. NATO and the U.S. agree to keep troops in place until 2020.

1824 – 1826, 1852: The Karens support the British in the first and second Anglo-Burmese wars.

1881: The Karen National Association (KNA) is founded by Western-educated Karens to represent Karen interests with the British.

1885: The Karens support the British in the third Anglo-Burmese war.

1886: Burma becomes a province of British India.

1941 – 1945: During World War II, the Karens fight alongside Allied forces; the Burmese fight alongside the Japanese.

1948: Great Britain grants Burma independence. Karens and other ethnic populations become incorporated as part of Burma. Massacres in Karen villages quickly follow.

1949: The Karen National Union (KNU), prosperous from imports and logging, uses some of its wealth to arm the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

1960s: “Four Cuts” operations. The Burmese Army targets Karen civilians who support the KNLA.

1962: The Burmese military takes control of the area and turns it into a dictatorship.

1984: The first Karen refugees arrive in Thailand.

1989: The Burmese military changes the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar.

1990s: Karen and other ethnic people move to refugee camps inside the Thai border. The Myanmar army attacks and burns down several camps.

2005: A resettlement program is set up with Western countries.

2011: More than 70,000 Karen people are resettled in the United States.

1820: Sudan is conquered by Turkey and Egypt. The slave trade develops.

1882:Great Britain invades Sudan.

1885: An Islamic state is founded.

1899: Sudan is governed by British-Egyptian rule.

1955: The First Sudanese Civil War, led by the separatist rebel army Anya-Nya, begins in the North.

1956: Sudan becomes an independent country.

1962: Civil war breaks out in the southern (Christian) part of the country.

1969: Gaafar Nimeiry becomes prime minister of Sudan after a military coup.

1972: The First Sudanese Civil War ends. A peace agreement signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, gives partial autonomy to southern Sudan.

1978: Oil is discovered in Bentiu, in southern Sudan. Sudanese leaders try to redraw the countries’ boundaries, transferring the oil fields to the North.

1983: The Second Sudanese Civil War begins. Approximately 26,000 young Nuer and Dinka boys, known as the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan, are separated from their families.

1985: President Nimeiry is removed from power in a military coup.

2001: Hunger and famine affect 3 million people. The Nile river floods, leaving thousands homeless.

2005: The Second Sudanese Civil War ends.

2005: The North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement offers a permanent ceasefire and autonomy for the South. Former southern rebel leader John Garang is sworn in as the first vice president but is killed in a plane crash three weeks later.

2011: South Sudan becomes independent and joins the United Nations.

2013: Fighting breaks out between rival ethnic militias, the Nuers and the Dinkas.

2015: A peace agreement between the Dinkas and the Nuers is signed. Smaller ethnic groups are left out. This agreement collapses and fighting resumes.

2017: The U.N. reports on famine caused by civil war and economic collapse. One million children have fled South Sudan. Another million children are displaced within the country. South Sudan becomes the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.

637: Muslims burn and destroy much of the Yazidi territory.

980 – 981: Islamic Kurdish armies massacre Yazidis living in the Hakkar region.

1107: The Muslim expansion massacres about 50,000 Yazidi families.

1218: The Mongols, under the leadership of Hulagu Khan, massacre Yazidi families.

1254: War between Muslims and Yazidis. The Yazidis’ sacred shrine at Lalish is desecrated, and the bones of their greatest saint, Sheikh Adi, are taken from his tomb and burned.

1414: Persians, with the help of the Kurds, go to war with the Yazidis.

1585: The Kurds kill more than 600 Yazidis living in Sinjar.

1640 – 1641: Yazidi villages near Mosul are attacked and looted by the Turkish Ottoman governor.

1715: The army of the Ottoman governor of Baghdad attacks the Yazidis.

1767: Ottoman leader Amin Pasha and his son lead troops against the Yazidis living in Sinjar.

1771: Bedagh Beg, a Yazidi leader, revolts against Amin Pasha. Bedagh Beg is killed along with most of his men.

1785: The Ottoman mayor of Mosul attacks the Yazidis in Sinjar and is at first defeated. He allies with other Arab forces and succeeds.

1795: Ottomans and Kurds destroy Yazidi villages.

1809 – 1810: The Ottoman mayor of Baghdad attacks the Yazidis in Sinjar.

1838: The Ottoman mayor of Mosul, Tayar Pasha, sends an envoy to the Yazidis with an order to pay taxes. The envoy is killed. Tayar Pasha invades Yazidi villages. The Yazidis withdraw to caves and fight back. Tayar Pasha suffers many loses and returns to Mosul. Peace comes to the Sinjar.

1892: Ottoman leader Omer Wahbi Pasha gives the Yazidis the choice of converting to Islam or paying higher taxes or being killed. Many Yazidis are killed.

1914 – 1917: During World War I, the Yazidis assist more than 20,000 Armenians fleeing the Ottoman Turks.

1918: The Ottoman air force bombs Sinjar in retribution.

1935: Yazidi leaders revolt against the Iraqi army.

1975: The de facto leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, labels the Yazidis “devil worshippers” and begins a new wave of persecution.

2007: The Yazidis stone to death a local girl who wished to convert and marry a Muslim man.

2007: Eight hundred Yazidis are killed when a fuel tanker and three cars filled with explosives are driven into Sinjar villages and detonated.

2014: ISIS (also known as ISIL or the Islamic State) captures Sinjar. Kurdish military troops withdraw without a fight.

1300s: Hutu people, believed to have come from the Great Lakes region of West Africa, settle in East Africa.

1400s: Tutsi people, also believed to be from the Great Lakes region of West Africa, settle in East Africa and establish themselves as the rulers.

1500s: The kingdom of Burundi is established.

1890: Kingdoms of Urundi (Burundi) and Ruanda (Rwanda) become part of German East Africa.

1916: The kingdoms of Ruanda and Urundi are conquered by British and Belgian troops during World War I. After the war, they become a Belgian mandate.

1962: As separate nations, Burundi and Rwanda gain independence from Belgium.

1972: The Tutsi-led government in Burundi massacres approximately 100,000 Hutus.

1988: In violent confrontations between the ruling Burundi Tutsis and majority Hutus, more than 150,000 people are killed. Tens of thousands of refugees escape to neighboring countries.

1993: Melchior Ndadaye is elected the first Burundi Hutu president in a democratic election. Five months later, he is assassinated by Tutsi soldiers. In revenge, the Hutu massacre 300,000 Tutsis.

1994: Cyprien Ntaryamira, a Hutu, is appointed president of Burundi by the national assembly. He appoints a Tutsi as his prime minister. President Ntaryamira, along with the president of Rwanda, is killed in a plane crash two months later when they are returning from peace talks. This sets off a wave of massacres between the Hutu and Tutsi.

2004: U.N. forces establish peacekeeping operations in Burundi.

2017: The International Criminal Court begins an investigation into suspected crimes against humanity.

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“History of Afghanistan.” History World. Accessed December 5, 2018. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad09.

Dwe, Eh Taw, and Tonya Cook. “Karen Refugees from Burma in the US: An Overview for Torture Treatment Programs.” HealTorture.org. Accessed December 5, 2108. https://healtorture.org/sites/healtorture.org/files/PowerPoint%20Karen%20Refugees%20From%20Burma%20webinar.pdf.

Falcone, Daniel. “Myanmar and the Karen Conflict: The Longest Civil War You Have Never Heard Of.” Christopher Newman University, Reiff Center blog. January 18, 2016. http://reiffcenterblog.cnu.edu/2016/01/myanmar-and-the-karen-conflict-the-longest-civil-war-you-have-never-heard-of.

“A Brief History of Modern Sudan and South Sudan.” Water for South Sudan website. Accessed December 5, 2018. http://www.waterforsouthsudan.org/brief-history-of-south-sudan.

“South Sudan Profile – Timeline.” BBC News. August 6, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14019202.

Tchie, Andrew Edward. “Understanding South Sudan’s Political Crisis.” The Wire. May 2, 2017. https://thewire.in/external-affairs/understanding-south-sudans-political-crisis.

“History.” Yezidis International website. Accessed December 5, 2018. http://www.yezidisinternational.org/abouttheyezidipeople/history.

“Yezidi Genocide.” YezidiTruth.org. Accessed December 5, 2018. http://www.yeziditruth.org/yezidi_genocide.

“Burundi History Timeline.” World Atlas. Accessed December 5, 2018. https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/burundi/bitimeln.htm.

“Burundi Profile – Timeline.” BBC News. December 3, 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13087604.

“History of Burundi.” History World. Accessed December 5, 2018. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad25.