1519 Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second in command Sebastian Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
1521 Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
1521 Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.
1565 Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
1594 Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paves way to the creation of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
1607 San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
1686 Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.
1814 Mayon Volcano, in the Philippines, erupts, killing around 1,200 people, the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
1896 Eight provinces in the Philippines are declared under martial law by the Spanish Governor-General Ramón Blanco y Erenas. These were Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna, and Batangas.
1898 Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain.
1901 Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. The first American private school in the country.
1910 The University of the Philippines College of Engineering is established. This unit of the university is said to be the largest degree granting unit in the Philippines.
1913 The Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippines ends.
1914 Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Philippine government.
1917 Batangas is formally founded as one of the Philippines's earliest encomiendas.
1934 U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
1935 Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
1935 The Philippines ratifies an independence agreement.
1935 Manuel L. Quezon is inaugurated as the second president of the Philippines.
1937 The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.
1941 World War II: Fifty four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesus Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; Cesar Basa is killed.
1942 World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
1942 World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.
1942 World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
1942 World War II: The most famous (and first international) Aggie Muster is held on the Philippine island of Corregidor, by Brigadier General George F. Moore (with 25 fellow Texas A&M graduates who are under his command), while 1.8 million pounds of shells pounded the island over a 5 hour attack.
1942 World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
1944 United States forces land in the Philippines.
1944 General Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War.
1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history, takes place in and around the Philippines between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S. Third and U.S. Seventh Fleets.
1945 World War II: The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.
1945 World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.
1945 World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
1945 World War II: American and Filipino troops take Manila in the Philippines.
1945 World War II: liberation of the Philippines declared.
1946 After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.
1957 A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
1965 Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for "more flags" in Vietnam, Philippines President Elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
1965 Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.
1967 The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
1967 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
1968 An earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.
1971 A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
1972 Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.
1972 Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law.
1973 Ferdinand Marcos becomes "President for Life" of the Philippines.
1975 Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
1976 Japan completes its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during the imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War
1986 Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
1986 People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president.
1986 People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president.
1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
1987 After the 1986 People Power Revolution the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
1987 Philippines constitution goes into effect.
1987 Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
1987 History's worst peacetime sea disaster, when the passenger ferry ''Doña Paz'' sinks after colliding with the oil tanker ''Vector 1'' in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
1990 Luzon Earthquake stroke in Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Aurora, Bataan, Zambales and Tarlac, Philippines, with an intensity of 7.7.
1996 A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162.
1998 A Cebu Pacific Flight 387 DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, killing 104.
2000 Philippine House Speaker Manuel B. Villar, Jr. passes the articles of impeachment against Philippine President Joseph Estrada.
2000 Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a period of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.
2001 Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
2004 A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills 116.
2005 Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City.
2006 A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
2006 Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
2007 Philippines. Amidst corruption controversies hounding the Arroyo administration, a bomb explosion rocked Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati. The blast killed 11 and injured more than 100 people.
2007 An explosion hits the south wing of the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Quezon City, killing four people, including Congressman Wahab Akbar, and wounding six.
2007 Bocaue Fire: Seven people are injured when a fire results in the explosions of several fireworks stores in the municipality of Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.
2009 Typhoon Ketsana (2009) hit the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, causing 700 fatalities.
2009 The Maguindanao massacre occurs in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines