Outside
Events
| Year
| Events
in Sicily
|
|
| [PERIOD
OF SETTLEMENT AND GREEK CULTURE]
|
Stone
Age tribal groups migrate across Mediterranean
| Before
3000 BC
|
|
| 1500
-1000 BC
| Siculi,
Sicani and Elymni arrive in Sicily from the Italian penninsula,
North Africa and Asia Minor
|
| 1000
-800 BC
| Phoenicians
establish trading settlements along north-western coast
|
| 735
BC
| Chalcidians
of Euboea begin Greek settlement of Sicily by establishing the city
of Naxos on the eastern coast
|
| 485
BC
| Gelon,
the Tyrant of Gela, centralizes control of Greek Sicily in Syracuse
|
| 480
BC
| Syracuse
defeats Carthage at Battle of Himera
|
Peloponnesian
War begins between Athens and Sparta and their allies
| 431
BC
|
|
| 413
BC
| Syracuse
destroys Athenian attack force
|
| 409
-301 BC
| Carthage,
allied with the Siculi and Phoenician cities of Sicily, commences
a century of debilitating and indecisive wars with Syracuse
|
|
| [PERIOD
OF ROMAN RULE]
|
| 282
BC
| The
Italian invasion of Sicily begins as former mercenaries from mainland
Italy seize Messina
|
| 264
-241 BC
| Rome
and Carthage battle for Sicily in the First Punic War
|
| 263
BC
| Syracuse
allies with Rome as a vassal state
|
| 241
BC
| Carthage
cedes to Rome its territory in western Sicily; Rome begins 600 years
of rule in Sicily
|
Capital
of Roman Empire transferred from Rome to Constantinople [Byzantium]
| 330
|
|
Roman
Empires of the West and the East split apart
| 395
|
|
Vandals
from Spain capture the Western Roman Empire's provinces in Africa
| 428-
435
|
|
|
| [PERIODS
OF BARBARIAN AND BYZANTINE RULE]
|
| 440
| Vandals
from North Africa invade and capture Sicily
|
Odoacer
leads overthrow of Western Roman Empire by barbarian mercenaries
| 476
| Vandals
cede Sicily by treaty to Odoacer
|
Theodoric's
Ostrogoths invade and seize control of Italy
| 489
|
|
| 491
| Ostrogoths
succeed to dominion over Sicily
|
Byzantine
[Eastern Roman] Empire counterattacks against Ostrogoths
| 533-
551
| Byzantine
Empire army under Belisarius drives Ostrogoths from Sicily
|
The
prophet Mohammed founds Islam
| 610
|
|
|
| [PERIOD
OF SARACEN RULE]
|
| 827
| Saracens
from North Africa begin their invasion of Sicily
|
| 831
| Palermo
captured by Saracen invaders from Iberian peninsula
|
| 965
| Saracens
complete the conquest of Sicily
|
|
| [PERIODS
OF FRENCH AND GERMAN RULE]
|
| 1060
| Normans
under Robert and Roger d'Hauteville begin an invasion of Sicily
at Messina
|
| 1091
| Normans
complete conquest and rule Sicily as part of a powerful new kingdom
including the southern Italian peninsula
|
| 1194
| King
Henry VI of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, seizes the
Norman kingdom, deriving his claim from his marriage to the daughter
of Count Roger d'Hauteville
|
| 1198
| The
celebrated Frederick II, later hailed by his contemporaries as Stupor
Mundi ["Wonder of the World"] succeeds his father, Henry VI
|
| 1266
| Supported
by Pope Urban IV, Charles, Count of Anjou, seizes control of Sicily,
slaying Frederick II's illegitimate son and successor Manfred
|
|
| [PERIOD
OF SPANISH RULE]
|
| 1282
| The
Sicilians revolt against the Anjou French in the dramatic episode
known as the Sicilian Vespers, cede sovereignty to Manfred's son-in-law,
Peter III, King of Aragon [Spain]
|
| 1296
| Under
threat of being returned to the Anjou French, the island of Sicily
enters a brief period of independence under the rule of Frederick
III, brother of the King of Aragon and grandson of Manfred
|
| 1442
| Alphonso
V "the Magnanimous" of Aragon reunites the Kingdom of
Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples
|
War
of Spanish Succession erupts through Europe
| 1701
-1712
|
|
| 1713
-1738
| Treaty
of Utrecht leads to New Kingdom of Two Sicilies
|
|
| [PERIOD
OF ITALIAN STATEHOOD]
|
| 1860
| Garibaldi
leads forces from the Kingdom of Savoy in conquering the Kingdom
of the Two Sicilies and creating the Kingdom of Italy, the first
unitary government of Sicily and the Italian pennisula since the
Roman Empire
|