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8500 BC: The date of the oldest human settlement yet found in Scotland, at Cramond, near Edinburgh.
3000 BC: Maeshowe 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 208: Roman Emperor Septimius Severus launches the last campaign intended to conquer Scotland, establishing a major base at Cramond, on the site of a fort built in AD 142.
AD 211: Septimius Severus dies in York. His successor Caracalla abandons territory north of Hadrians Wall and in 212 the Romans withdraw from what will later become Scotland for the final time.
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.
10 March 520: St Kessog, the original patron saint of Scotland, is killed at Bandry, on the western shore of Loch Lomond.
7 December 521: The birth in County Donegal in Ireland of the man who would go on to become Saint Columba.
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.
12 May 563: Saint Columba and twelve companions land on the island of Iona to establish a monastery.
25 June 592: St Moluag dies in Rosemarkie.
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.
17 April 617: Saint Donan and 52 of his followers are murdered during a raid on their monastery on the Island of Eigg.
AD 638: Edinburgh - Din Eidyn - is overrun by the Angles of the Kingdom of Northumbria.
3 January 642: The birth in Ireland of Saint Maelrubha, a monk who founded a monastery at what is now Applecross.
5 August 642: The death at the Battle of Maserfield (near modern Oswestry) of King Oswald of Northumbria, later known as St Oswald.
31 August 651: The death in what is now St Aidan's Church in Bamburgh of St Aidan of Lindisfarne, the Apostle 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.
20 March 687: The death on Inner Farne Island of St Cuthbert, the a monk, bishop and hermit regarded as the patron saint of northern England.
23 September 704: The death of Adomnán of Iona, also known as Saint Adomnán. He was Abbot of Iona, the author of the Life of Columba and the promoter of the hugely influential Law of Adomnán.
6 March 757: The death on Bass Rock of Saint Baldred of Tyninghame.
8 June 793: The monastery at Lindisfarne suffers its first raid by Vikings. Others will follow, leading to the abandonment of the monastery in 875.
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.
Click for Timeline: 1000 to 1200
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