33 AD --- Iron Age comes to an end
34 AD --- It was around this time that the brown bear became extinct in Scotland.
36 AD --- Saint Even arrives on the west coast of Scotland, steps ashore and raises both arms outwards and tilts his head back to thank the Lord for his safe delivery across the Irish Sea and to proclaim the start of his mission.
39 AD --- Word reaches Rome of the great works being carried out far to the north west of the civilised world as it was known at that time.
41 AD --- Hearing of these great works, the Romans decide to invade and enslave Britain and Scotland.
43 AD --- The Romans finally arrived in England, in force, after two earlier unsuccessful attempts to invade.
47 AD --- After a pretty much but bloody one-sided punch-up, the Romans claimed England as part of their empire.
60 AD --- Boudicca led an English revolt against the Romans.
61 AD --- When the revolt failed and Boudicca's army was slaughtered she took poison rather than be caught.
63 AD --- Joseph of Arimethea, one of Jesus' disciples was sent to Britain to convert the people to Christianity.
77 AD --- The Romans completed their conquest of England.
79 AD --- Agricola attempted to conquer the Picts in Scotland for Rome, but failed. More importantly, it was around this time that records of Saint Even appear to have been destroyed. Whether he was captured or killed remains a mystery to this day.
84 AD --- Calgacus unites the Scottish tribes, but is killed along with 10,000 men by the Roman army at Ardoch.
122 AD --- The Emperor Hadrian ordered that a wall be built across the north of England to repel the rebellious Scottish tribes.
139 AD --- Hadrian's Wall was completed.
142 AD --- After another largely unsuccessful attempt to quell the Scottish tribes, the Antonine Wall was built to secure southern Scotland and to keep the northern lot out.
150 AD --- A patterned woollen cloth weaved on looms started to be used as a means of identifying Pict-ish and Scot-ish families and clans. It gradually came to be known as plaid, or tartan.
160 AD --- Antonine Wall abandoned!
297 AD --- Pictish nation established.
360 AD --- Together with Gaels from Ireland the Picts over-ran Hadrians Wall.
397 AD --- Saint Ninian arrives from Ireland and establishes the Whithorn Priory in Galloway.
400 AD --- Saint Patrick introduces whisky distilling to Ireland.
410 AD --- The last Romans leave England after being recalled to Rome and the Britons told to fend for themselves.
412 AD --- Romano-Britons hired Angles and Saxes to drive Gaels and Picts out of England.
500 AD --- The Irish bring the secrets of distilling to Dalriada where the Scots perfect the process and produce a spirit called Scotch whisky as opposed to Irish whiskey (note the difference in spelling).
563 AD --- Saint Columba landed in Iona from Ireland to continue the 'good works'.
843 AD --- Kenneth mac Alpin, the 35th King of Dalriada, becomes King of the Picts to become the first King of a united Scotland
1005 --- Malcolm II kills Kenneth III and becomes King.
1018 --- Malcolm II wins Lothian after defeating the Saxons at the Battle of Carham.
1058 --- A stone fort was built on the rock in the centre of Edinburgh during the reign of Malcolm III and rebuilt and expanded over the coming years to become Edinburgh Castle as we know it today.
1066 --- The Normans arrived in England, taking advantage of the frequency of the new 'EasyLongship' ferry service.
1296 --- The 'Stone of Scone' was taken by the English King Ewdard 1 the first and carried off to Westminster Abbey when he 'annexed' Scotland.
1314 --- Battle of Bannockburn, whgere the Scots routed the English.
1603 --- James VI of Scotland crowned James 1 of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth I, although the two nations remained separate for another 104 years.
1649 --- Charles 1 was the last king born in Scotland. He was defeated by Oliver Cromwell in 1645, surrendered in 1646 and was executed in 1649.
1692 --- Masscare of Glencoe, where the Campbells slayed 38 MacDonalds who hadn't yet taken an oath of allegiance to the King.
1695 --- Bank of Scotland founded!
1744 --- The world's first golf club is founded in Edinburgh.
1746 --- Battle of Culloden, where the Jacobites were defeated by the Government army under the Duke of Cumberland.
1796 --- Rabbie Burns died, aged 37.
1845 --- Robert William Thomson invented and patented the vulcanised rubber pneumatic tyre, which was later developed by Robert Dunlop.
1890 --- Forth Rail Bridge opened after 6 years construction.
1950 --- A bunch of students nick the 'Stone of Scone' back from Westminster and returned it to Scotland where it was later found and taken back to England!
1975 --- First oil piped ashore from the North Sea at Peterhead.
1981 --- The world wide growth in Burns Suppers created a strain on the wild haggis population. Measures are introduced to protect the species.
1999 --- Scottish Parliament is re-instated in Edinburgh after 292 years of rule from London.
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