c230 BC Carthaginians found the settlement of “Barcino”, probably on the heights of Montjuïc.
218–201 BC Romans expel Carthaginians from Iberian peninsula in Second Punic War. Roman Barcino is established around today’s Barri Gòtic.
304 AD Santa Eulàlia – the city’s patron saint – is martyred by Romans for refusing to renounce Christianity.
c350 AD Roman city walls are built, as threat of invasion grows.
415 Visigoths sweep across Spain and establish temporary capital in Barcino (later “Barcelona”).
711 Moorish conquest of Spain. Barcelona eventually forced to surrender (719).
801 Barcelona retaken by Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne. Frankish counties of Catalunya become a buffer zone, known as the Spanish Marches.
878 Guifré el Pelós (Wilfred the Hairy) declared first Count of Barcelona, founding a dynastic line that was to rule until 1410.
985 Moorish sacking of city. Sant Pau del Camp – the city’s oldest surviving church – built after this date.
1137 Dynastic union of Catalunya and Aragón established.
1213–76 Reign of Jaume I, “the Conqueror”, expansion of empire and beginning of Catalan golden age.
1282–1387 Barcelona at the centre of an aggressively mercantile Mediterranean empire. Successive rulers construct most of Barcelona’s best-known Gothic buildings.
1348 The Black Death strikes, killing half of Barcelona’s population.
1391 Pogrom against the city’s Jewish population.
1410 Death of Martí el Humà (Martin the Humane), last of Catalan count-kings. Beginning of the end of Catalan influence in the Mediterranean.
1469 Marriage of Ferdinand of Aragón and Isabel of Castile.
1479 Ferdinand succeeds to Catalan-Aragón crown, and Catalunya’s fortunes decline. Inquisition introduced to Barcelona, leading to forced flight of the Jews.
1493 Christopher Columbus received in Barcelona after his triumphant return from New World. The shifting of trade routes away from Mediterranean and across the Atlantic further impoverishes the city.
1516 Spanish crown passes to Habsburgs and Madrid is established as capital of Spanish empire.
1640–52 The uprising known as the “Wars of the Reapers” declares Catalunya an independent republic. Barcelona is besieged and eventually surrenders to the Spanish army.
1714 After War of Spanish Succession, throne passes to Bourbons. Barcelona subdued on September 11 (now Catalan National Day); Ciutadella fortress built, Catalan language banned and parliament abolished.
1755 Barceloneta district laid out – gridded layout is an early example of urban planning.
1778 Steady increase in trade; Barcelona’s economy improves.
1814 After Peninsular War (1808–14), French finally driven out, with Barcelona the last city to fall.
1859 Old city walls demolished and Eixample district built to accommodate growing population.
1882 Work begins on Sagrada Família; Antoni Gaudí takes charge two years later.
1888 Universal Exhibition held at Parc de la Ciutadella. Modernista architects start to make their mark.
1893 First stirrings of anarchist unrest. Liceu opera house bombed.
1901 Pablo Picasso’s first public exhibition held at Els Quatre Gats tavern.
1909 Setmana Trágica (Tragic Week) of rioting. Many churches destroyed.
1922 Parc Güell opens to the public.
1926 Antoni Gaudí is run over by a tram; Barcelona stops en masse for his funeral.
1929 International Exhibition held at Montjuïc.
1936–39 Spanish Civil War. Barcelona at the heart of Republican cause, with George Orwell and other volunteers arriving to fight. City eventually falls to Nationalists on January 26, 1939.
1939–75 Spain under Franco. Generalitat president Lluís Companys executed and Catalan language banned. Emigration encouraged from south to dilute Catalan identity. Franco dies in 1975.
1977 First democratic Spanish elections for 40 years.
1978–80 Generalitat re-established and Statute of Autonomy approved. Conservative nationalist government elected.
1992 Olympics held in Barcelona. Rebuilding projects transform Montjuïc and the waterfront.
1995 MACBA (contemporary art museum) opens, and signals the regeneration of El Raval district.
2006 New Statute of Autonomy agreed with Spain.
2014 Constitutional Court of Spain deems the Catalan government’s 2013 declaration of sovereignty to be unconstitutional.
2017 On 17 August 2017 in a jihadist attack, a man drove a van into the crowd of pedestrians on Las Ramblas, killing 13 people and injuring 130.
2017 In a referendum deemed illegal and violently suppressed by the Spanish government, Catalonians vote in favour of the region becoming an independent state. The Catalonian parliament declares independence and is promptly dismissed by the Spanish government, which then dissolves the Catalonian parliament and calls for new regional elections, won again by pro-independence parties.