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8500 BC: The date of the oldest human settlement yet found in Scotland, at Cramond, near Edinburgh.
3000 BC: Maes Howe chambered tomb is built on Orkney.
3000 BC: Alleged date of origin of the Fortingall Yew, probably the world's oldest living thing.
3000 BC: Occupation of what may be the first Crannog or artificial islet residence, on the islet Eilean Domhnuill on Loch Olabhat in North Uist.
2500 BC to 2000 BC: Stone village of Skara Brae on Orkney in occupation.
1400 BC: The era of Scota, the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh, who features in the foundation myth of Ireland an Scotland, and who Scotland is named after.
500 BC: Crannogs, houses built on stilts or artificial islets, begin to appear widely on Scottish lochs.
200 BC: According to Irish legend, the "School for Heroes" is run by the warrior queen Scáthach, or Sgathach, at her fortress Dún Scáith, near Tarskavaig on Skye.
200 BC to AD 200: Building and occupation of Brochs, circular stone defensive towers.
20 BC: Pontius Pilate, later to become the Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, is born at Fortingall.
AD 80: Julius Agricola Roman Governor of Britain, invades Scotland, reaching a line between the Rivers Clyde and Forth by AD 82.
AD 83: Julius Agricola invades northern Scotland.
AD 84: The Battle of Mons Graupius takes place at a location still uncertain. The Romans under Julius Agricola convincingly defeat the Caledonians under Calgacus. They fail to press home their advantage, however, and instead establish a defensive line of forts extending north east from Loch Lomond to Stonehaven to guard the exits from the main highland glens.
AD 105: The Romans withdraw from Scotland to a defensive line between the Rivers Solway and Tyne. This is fortified as Hadrian's Wall from AD 121.
AD 139: The Romans advance again, to a line between the Forth and Clyde and build the Antonine Wall.
AD 170: The Romans withdraw to Hadrian's Wall once more.
AD 209: The Romans push north again, though only temporarily.
AD 250: The first raids take place in western Scotland by the strong Irish tribe, the Scots.
AD 367: The Picti, or the Picts, push the Romans back from Hadrian's Wall. "Picti" is the Romans' disparaging slang for their northern neighbours, meaning the painted (or tattooed) ones.
AD 397: Saint Ninian dedicates the first Christian church in Scotland, the Candida Casa at Whithorn, to St Martin.
AD 500: Increased migration of Scoti or Scots from Ireland to Scotland leads to the establishment of the kingdom of Dalriada in what is now Argyll, with its capital at Dunadd in Kilmartin Glen.
AD 500: King of the Scots of Dalriada, Fergus Mor fights both the Picts to the east and the Britons of Strathclyde to the south for land.
AD 550: The Angles establish Bernicia, later called Northumbria, with boundaries extending south to Yorkshire.
AD 552: St Mungo or St Kentigern founds a church on part of the site that later became Glasgow Cathedral.
AD 562: St Moluag founds a settlement on the Isle of Lismore in the mouth of Loch Linnhe.
AD 563: St Columba founds a settlement on the island of Iona, off the western tip of Mull.
25 June 592: St Moluag dies at Ardclach.
9 June 597: St Columba dies in his monastery at Iona.
13 January 614 : St Mungo or St Kentigern dies, and is buried at his church in Clas-gu which later becomes Glasgow.
AD 638: Edinburgh - Din Eidyn - is overrun by the Angles of the Kingdom of Northumbria.
AD 672: A Pictish uprising against the Kingdom of Northumbria is suppressed.
AD 678: St Nathalan dies on Deeside.
20 May 685: The Battle of Dunnichen or Nechtansmere, near Forfar. King Ecgfrith of Northumbria is decisively defeated by the Picts, paving the way for the development of a separate Scottish nation. The battle is later depicted on a cross slab at Aberlemno Kirk.
795: First recorded Viking raid (probably from Orkney), on Iona, which is raided twice more in the following decade.
839: The Picts, who have controlled all of Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde except for Argyll, suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the Vikings. Most of the Pictish nobility is wiped out in the defeat, including King Bridei VI.
843: Kenneth Mac Alpin becomes King of the Scots of Dalriada; and later becomes King of the Picts of Pictland as well, unifying the main groups in Scotland north of the Forth-Clyde line for the first time within the Kingdom of Alba.
850: Viking pressure leads to the relocation of the capital of Alba from Argyll to Scone, near Perth. The religious centre, and the relics of St Columba, moves from Iona to Dunkeld.
850: Kenneth Mac Alpin, also known as Kenneth I, raids Northumbria six times in the 850s.
858: Kenneth Mac Alpin is succeeded by Donald I.
863: Donald I is succeeded by Constantine I.
870: Following a 15 week siege the Vikings capture the fortress at Dumbarton Rock guarding the entrance to the Clyde and the British Kingdom of Strathclyde.
872: Constantine I arranges the death of the King of Strathclyde in 872. He replaces him with his own brother in law, Rhun: effectively making Strathclyde a subordinate kingdom to Alba.
877: Constantine I is succeeded by King Aedh.
878: King Aedh is succeeded by the joint rule of Kings Eochaid and Giric.
889: Kings Eochaid and Giric are succeeded by Donald II.
890: The Vikings capture the Pictish fortress at Dunnottar, near Stonehaven.
900: Constantine II succeeds Donald II and helps incorporate Viking settlers into the emerging Kingdom of Scotland.
937: A joint army comprising Constantine II's Scots and Olaf III Guthfrithson's Vikings is defeated at the Battle of Brunanburh by King Athelstan of England in 937: largely securing the future of what is to become England.
943: Constantine II is succeeded by Malcolm I.
945: Edmund, a Danish King ruling Northumbria, gives Cumbria to Malcolm I of Scotland in return for military support.
954: Malcolm I is succeeded by King Indulf.
962: King Indulf is succeeded by King Duff.
967: King Duff is succeeded by King Culen.
971: King Culen is succeeded by Kenneth II.
995: Kenneth II is succeeded by Constantine III.
997: Constantine III is succeeded by Kenneth III.