Early First Millenium B.C. Scythian tribes the new ethnic and cultural communities

7th Century B.C. Old Greek Colonies in Prychornomorya - intensive Greek colonization of the Black Sea coast later routed by Roman Legions

4th - 6th Centuries State of the Antes tribes

7th Century The Slavs - union of seven Slavic tribes

8th - 9th CENTURY Creation of the medieval Kyivan Rus' state

882 Prince Oleh the Seer rallies the Slavic tribes from the south and north of Eastern Europe

955 Princess Olha (Oleh's wife) is baptized at Constantinople

988 Prince Volodymyr (son of Olha) adopts Christianity and introduces the Eastern Orthodox faith

1019 - 1054 Kyiv Rus' reaches its apex under Prince Yaroslav the Wise (son of Volodymyr)

1187, 1189 and 1217 First three documented references of "Ukraine" appearing in the Hypatian Chronicle

1237 - 1241 The Tatar (Mongol hordes of Batu Khan) invasion of Ukraine and the destruction of Kyiv

1199 - 1340 Halych - Volyn Principality in Western Ukraine

1387 Halychyna is incorporated into the Polish Kingdom

1492 First documented reference to the Ukrainian Kozaks

Early 16th century Founding of the Zaporizhyan Sich which was the military-administrative and political organization of the Ukrainian Kozaks

1569 The treaty of Lublin is signed by Lithuania and Poland with the beginning of Polish expansion in Western Ukraine

1596 The Treaty of Berestya between a segment of the Ukrainian Orthodox faithful and the Roman Catholic Church forming the Ukrainian Catholic Church

1648 - 1654 Ukrainian liberation war against Poland

1654 Treaty of Peryaslav, a military and political alliance between Ukraine and Muscovy.

1764 - 1775 The Zaporizhyan Sich is suppressed by the Russian Tsarist government

1917 - March 4th The fall of the Russian monarchy and the creation of the Central Rada in Ukraine

1918 - January 22nd Declaration of the independence of the Ukrainian National Republic

1918 - April 29th Mykhaylo Hrushevsky is elected President of Ukraine

1918 - November 1st Founding of the Western Ukrainian National Republic with war between Western Ukraine and Poland

1919 - January 22nd The union of the Western National Republic with the Ukrainian National Republic

1919 - December Invading Bolsheviks form the third Soviet Ukrainian government

1920 - April 24th Simon Petlyura military leader signs the Warsaw Treaty concerning the joint Ukrainian-Polish armed struggle against the Bolsheviks

1920 - October Poland signs a truce with the Bolsheviks

1921 - March 18th Poland gains Western Ukrainian territories

1921 - November The Bolsheviks begin consolidating Soviet rule in Ukraine

1922 - December 30th Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) including the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

1932 - 1933 A genocidal famine, organized by the Soviets, results in the deaths of 8 million Ukrainians living in rural areas

1939 - September 1st The start of World War II and the Nazi invasion of Poland

1939 - September 17th Soviet Army units enter Western Ukraine

1939 - September 23rd After Poland's capitulation, Nazi Germany and the USSR sign a Treaty on "Friendship and Frontiers"

1939 - October 22nd Western Ukraine joins the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the USSR

1941 - June 22nd Nazi Germany invades Ukraine

1941 - 1944 Nazi Germany occupies Ukraine

1942 The creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army led by Stepan Bandera military leader which begins to resist the Nazis

1944 - October Nazi Germany is driven out of Ukraine by the Soviet Army

1944 - 1950 The Ukrainian Insurgent Army resists the Soviets in Western Ukraine

1945 Ukraine becomes a founding member of the United Nations along with fifty other nations

1950 The bulk of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is destroyed

1954 By a decree of the USSR, the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic gives the Crimea to Ukraine

1955 Outbursts of political protests against Soviet rule gain momentum in Ukraine

1965 - August - September Mass political arrests of the Ukrainian Intelegentsia

1976 The Ukrainian Helsinki Group is founded for monitoring human rights in Ukraine

1970s - 1980s Mikhail Gorbachev allows perestroika and glasnost to slacken the purges

1988 The Ukrainian Helsinki Group is reorganized as the Ukrainian Helsinki Union

1989 The Rukh National Movement for Perestroika in Ukraine is formed

1990 The Rukh National Movement becomes the Narodny Rukh - Popular Movement of Ukraine

1990 - June 16th The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passes the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine

1991 - August 24th The Ukrainian Parliament solemnly proclaims Ukraine's Independence and the formation of the independent state of Ukraine

1991 - December 1st A referendum is held whereby 85% of Ukraine's citizens vote and 90% second the Idependence Act of August 24 Leonid Kravchuk is elected President of Ukraine

1994 - July 10th Leonid Kuchma is elected President of Ukraine