First Century A.D. - In his fury, Ulster's warrior-hero Cuchullain kills untold thousands of his fellow Irishmen, including his own son and his best friend - but his deeds inspire the magnificent Celtic epic, Tain Bo Culagne.

c. AD 1-500 - America, a land to  the west (variously known as Tir-nan-og, Tir inna  Ban, Hy Braisyl, and Cockayne), is visited  by a number of Gaelic-speaking mariners, including Bran Mac Febal, Tiegue Mac Cian, Mael Duir, and the 3 seafaring brothers known as Ui Chorin.

c. AD 562 Saint Columcille insists on his right to copy a manuscript.  King Dermot objects.  Three thousand Irishmen die in the ensuing Battle of the Book.  The saint is banished and is inspired to compose his great poem, "The Exile of Columcille."

c. AD 350 - Christianity reaches Ireland. 

432 - Traditional date for the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland. 

C.560 - America is officially discovered  by Brendan of Clongert, the Irish sailor saint.

700-800 - Irish monasticism reaches its zenith. 

795 - Full-scale Viking invasion. 

1014 - Brian Boru defeats Vikings at Clontarf, but died in battle.

1169 - Dermot MacMurrough, exiled king of Leinster, invites help from 'Strongbow'. 

1172 - Pope decrees that Henry II of England is feudal lord of Ireland. 

1366 - Statues of Kilkenny belatedly forbid intermarriage of English and Irish.  Gaelic culture unsuccessfully suppressed. 

1492 - William Ayers of Galway sails  with Columbus, is left behind on Hispaniola, and presumably killed  and  eaten by  the Carib Indians.

1534-40 - Failed insurrection by Lord Offaly. 

1541 - Henry VIII proclaimed king (rather than feudal lord) of Ireland.

1558-1603 - Reign of Elizabeth I.  Policy of Plantation begins.  System of counties adopted. 

1595-1603 - Failed uprising of Hugh O'Neil. 

1607 - Flight of the Earls; leading Ulster families go into exile. 

1609 -- Irishman John Colman  accompanies explorer Henry Hudson; is killed by Indians and buried on Coney Island.

1636 - A ship named Eagle's Wings brings 140 Irish Calvinists from Belfast to New England.

1641 - Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in England. 

1649 - Cromwell invades Ireland. 

1653 - Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's opponents stripped of land. 

1689-90 - Deposed James II flees to Ireland; defeated at the Battle of the Boyne. 

1704 - Penal Code enacted; Catholics barred from voting, education and the military. 

1775 - American War of Independence torments Irish unrest. 

1776 - James Smith & George Taylor of PA, Matthew Thornton of NH, and Edward Rutledge of SC - all born in Ireland - sign the Declaration of Independence, as do second-generation Irishmen Thomas McKean & George Read of Delaware.  Third-generation  Irishman, Charles Carroll of MD is the sold Catholic signer.

1782 - Grattan's Parliament persuades British to declare Irish independence, but in name only. 

1795 - Foundation of the Orange Order. 

1798 - Wolfe Tone's uprising crushed. 

1801 - Ireland becomes part of Britain under the Act of Union. 

1829 - Catholic Emancipation Act passed after Daniel O'Connell elected as MP. 

1845-48 - The Great Famine. 

1879-82 - The Land War; Parnell encourages boycott of repressive landlords. 

1910 - St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York is consecrated.

1914 - Implementation of Home Rule postponed because of outbreak of World War I. 

1916 - Easter Rising.  After the leaders are executed public opinion backs independence. 

1920-21 - War between Britain and Ireland; Irish Free State and Northern Ireland created.  ALSO Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Co-founds the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union); the eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (Prohibition) destroys the native Irish distilling industry, but enriches Irish-American bootlegger Joe Kennedy, boosting his clan up the social ladder.

1922 - Civil war breaks out. 

1923 - F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby.

1924 - First undefeated  season and national football  championship  for Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish"; Boston's Cardinal O'Connell denounces proposed child-labor laws as "socialistic."

1925 - Herbert Gleason excises his picture from the family photo album, takes his paycheck and departs.  This act insures that his son, Jackie will become one of the great comedians.

1932 - De Valera elected. 

1969 - Rioting between Catholics and Protestants. British troops called in. 

1971 - Provisional IRA begins campaign to oust British troops from Ireland. 

1972 - UK and Republic of Ireland join European Community.  'Bloody Sunday' in Derry. 

1985 - Anglo-Irish Agreement signed. 

1994 - Peace Declaration and IRA ceasefire. 

1995 - Seamus Heaney wins Nobel Prize for Literature.

1996 - February, cease fire broken by IRA bombing of Docklands, London, after long delays in coming to conference table.  British Prime Minister Major at first demanded decommissioning IRA weapons, then proposed an election scheme.

1998 - Initial peace-plan accepted by all parties.

The Dove of Peace flies from site to site through as many countries as possible.  Please help it make a line around the globe by taking it with you to your site, by giving it to someone for their site, by passing it on to another continent, or to the conflict areas of the world.