• 1608 Samuel de Champlain founds the settlement of Kebec -- today's Quebec City.
  • 1642 The French colony of Ville-Marie established, later renamed Montreal.
  • 1759 The British defeat the French at the Plains of Abraham. Quebec City falls.
  • 1763 All "New France" (Canada) ceded to the British.
  • 1775 American Revolutionary forces capture Montreal but are repulsed at Quebec City.
  • 1813 Americans blow up Fort York (Toronto) in the War of 1812.
  • 1841 The Act of Union creates the United Provinces of Canada.
  • 1855 Ottawa becomes Canada's capital.
  • 1869 The Hudson's Bay Company sells Rupert's Land to Canada. It becomes the Province of Alberta.
  • 1873 The Northwest Mounted Police (the Mounties) are created.
  • 1875 The west coast community of Gastown is incorporated as the city of Vancouver. The Northwest Mounted Police build the log fort that will develop into the city of Calgary.
  • 1885 Under Louis Riel, the Metis rebel in western Saskatchewan.
  • 1887 The transcontinental railroad reaches Vancouver, connecting Canada from ocean to ocean.
  • 1896 The Klondike gold rush brings 100,000 people swarming into the Yukon.
  • 1914 Canada enters World War I alongside Britain. Some 60,000 Canadians die in combat.
  • 1920 The Northwest Territories separate from the Yukon.
  • 1930 Depression and mass unemployment hit Canada.
  • 1939 Canada enters World War II with Britain.
  • 1947 Huge oil deposits are discovered at Leduc, southwest of Edmonton. The Alberta oil boom begins.
  • 1959 The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway turns Toronto into a major seaport.
  • 1967 Montreal hosts the World Expo.
  • 1968 The Parti Quebecois is founded by Rene Levesque. The separatist movement begins.
  • 1970 Cabinet Minister Pierre Laporte is kidnapped and murdered. The War Measures Act is imposed on Quebec.
  • 1976 Montreal becomes the site of the Olympic Games.
  • 1988 Calgary hosts the Winter Olympics.
  • 1989 The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement eliminates all tariffs on goods of national origin moving between the two countries.
  • 1995 Quebec votes narrowly to remain in Canada.
  • 1999 Nunavut severs itself from the rump Northwest Territories to become a self-governed territory and Inuit homeland.
  • 2003 Vancouver is awarded 2010 Olympic Winter Games as tourism starts to rebound following major drop due to SARS outbreak in Toronto and discovery of mad cow disease in some Alberta cattle.
  • 2005 Canada's Civil Marriage Act, legalizing same-sex marriage, receives royal assent. Michaelle Jean, born in Haiti, becomes the 27th governor general of Canada, the first black person to hold that position.
  • 2007 The Canadian dollar reaches, then exceeds the value of U.S. dollar for the first time since 1957.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.