1964
The Colombian military attacked the "independent republic" of Marquetalia. The survivors, led by Manuel Marulanda, established the Southern Bloc to avenge the attacks.
1966
Marulanda and other left-wing leaders organized the FARC as a nationwide insurgent army. Marulanda remained its leader until early 2008.
1970s-1980s
The FARC established schools, hospitals and a judicial system in its de facto state in southern Colombia. The group expanded into 27 smaller fronts throughout Colombia.
1984
May: The government and the FARC signed the La Uribe peace accords, which allowed the FARC to establish a mainstream political party, the Union Patriotica (UP).
1989
Right-wing death squads killed Liberal and UP candidates during the presidential election.
1990s
The FARC began its involvement in the burgeoning narcotics industry. By mid-decade, the FARC earned more than half of its income from the illegal drug trade, allowing it buy modern weapons, expand its forces and begin a public-relations campaign.
1992
March 27: A FARC bomb exploded outside the U.S.-owned Diner's Club in Bogota, killing one employee and wounding five others.
Oct. 23: The FARC kidnapped a British businessman named Arthur Kessler in Magdalena. Kessler was killed the next day during a military rescue attempt.
1995
Sept. 23: A dozen FARC rebels kidnapped a U.S. citizen named Thomas Hargrove when he was stopped at a guerrilla checkpoint.
1997
Feb. 7: FARC guerrillas kidnapped four European tourists in LosKatiosNational Park. The military tried to rescue the captives, but the FARC killed two of them. The military eventually freed the other two hostages.
1998
June: Andres Pastrana was elected president and promised to begin peace talks with guerrilla groups.
November: Pastrana granted the FARC a demilitarized zone in southeast Colombia.
Nov. 3: FARC guerrillas attacked a police barracks in Mitu with missiles, killing at least 80 policemen and 10 civilians.
1999
January: Pastrana and Marulanda met during peace talks between the government and the FARC.
March: The FARC murdered three American activists that it had taken hostage.
2000
July: The U.S. granted Pastrana almost $1 billion mainly in military aid to help "Plan Colombia," Bogota's program to fight drug cartels and guerrilla groups that profit from the drug trade.
September: The government called off peace talks with the FARC after it accused the guerrillas of harboring a hijacker who landed in their autonomous zone. The FARC later refused to resume talks because it said the government was not doing enough to fight right-wing paramilitary groups.
2001
February: The FARC returned to the peace talks after Pastrana and Marulanda met again. Pastrana extended the status of the demilitarized zone for another eight months.
June: The FARC released 359 imprisoned Colombian soldiers and police officers in exchange for 14 captured rebels. Later, the FARC was accused of using its zone to launch attacks and sell drugs.
August: Three Irish men linked to the Irish Republican Army were arrested at the Bogota international airport after leaving the FARC stronghold of San Vicente del Caguan. The men were accused of training the FARC in bomb-making techniques.
September: Former Minister of Culture Consuelo Araujo was kidnapped and later murdered by the FARC during a failed rescue attempt by the Colombian army.
October: FARC and the government signed the San Francisco agreement, which committed both sides to a negotiated cease-fire. Pastrana extended the status of the FARC safe zone until January 2002.
2002
January: Pastrana accepted the FARC cease-fire timetable and kept the safe zone demilitarized until April 2002.
February 20: Pastrana broke off peace talks with the FARC and ordered the guerrillas to leave the safe zone. The government declared the former safe haven a war zone.
February 21: FARC rebels hijacked an airplane in order to capture a senior Colombian senator.
February: Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was captured at a FARC checkpoint.
May: Candidate Alvaro Uribe was elected president. Uribe promised to crack down on rebel groups.
August: Just before Uribe was sworn in as president, several mortar blasts rocked Bogota, killing 19 people and injuring 70. FARC members were accused of launching the attacks. Several days later, Uribe declared a state of emergency.
2003
February: Guerrillas captured three American defense contractors after their plane crash-landed in the Colombian jungle.
May: Senior officials suggested that the government was in contact with FARC leaders to discuss a new cease-fire and peace talks.
May 10: FARC rebels dynamited electricity pylons in Huila and Valle Del Cauca states.
June: Bogota began Plan Patriot, a large-scale military offensive aimed at decapitating the FARC and asserting government control of FARC strongholds in southern Colombia.
Sept. 1: Colombia's high commissioner for peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo, said the United Nations was negotiating with the FARC on peace talks that might be held in Brazil.
Sept. 10: Eight people were killed when an explosive-laden horse detonated in the village of Chita. Authorities blamed the FARC for the attack.
2004
May: Ricardo Palmera was sentenced to 35 years in jail for kidnapping and rebellion. Palmera, arrested in Ecuador in January, was the most senior FARC leader ever captured.
December: The acquittal of three IRA members accused of training the FARC was overturned, sparking an international manhunt.
2005
Jan. 13: Bogota placed a bounty of up to US$2 million on the heads of FARC senior leaders Manuel Marulanda and Jorge Briceno, also known as Mono Jojoy.
July 27: The Colombian government reversed its policy, saying it would meet the FARC at a time and place of the group's choosing to negotiate the release of hostages. Previously, Bogota insisted that the FARC commit to a total cease-fire before negotiations could begin.
Dec 2: The Colombian government pardoned 23 FARC prisoners in the hope the group would release some of its hostages.
2006
March 23: The U.S. charged six top FARC leaders with drug-trafficking offenses, as well as 43 other commanders. The indictment alleged that the rebels had become the world's largest supplier of cocaine and cocaine paste, earning as much as $25 billion.
March 25: The FARC released two kidnapped policemen, after an alleged a secret meeting between the group and former minister Alvaro Leyva Duran. FARC reiterated its desire to negotiate a future prisoner swap with the government; however, the group insisted it would not deal with President Uribe.
April: The Colombian army launched a nationwide offensive against the guerrillas during presidential campaigning prior to elections in May.
May: The FARC changed its strategy toward elections, urging citizens to vote against incumbent Alvaro Uribe rather than its usual call for an election boycott coupled with violent intimidation of voters.
June: The FARC declared war on the ELN after a long-standing dispute over ELN's sources of income.
July 4: FARC rebels attacked Colombian security forces, killing six police officers and wounding three more. Automatic weapons and pipe bombs were used in the assault on a mountain base in the southwestern part of the country.
July 24: A team of medical personnel was kidnapped by the FARC. Authorities suspect they may have been brought over the Ecuadorian border to treat FARC fighters.
September: The FARC announced it wanted to discuss a prisoner swap.
Oct. 19: A car bomb exploded at a military university in Bogota, injuring 23. Uribe responded by suspending discussion with the FARC over a prisoner swap.
December: The FARC demanded that the government withdraw its forces from two southern areas before beginning prisoner swap talks again. The government refused because the areas were considered important trafficking routes.
2007
Jan. 1: Four Colombian civic leaders were publicly executed by FARC guerrillas in the town of Yarumal.
April 10: A car bomb was detonated in front of police headquarters in Cali, the first attack of its kind on a major city in four years.
June: The Colombian government released 150 imprisoned FARC members, including former FARC "foreign minister" Rodrigo Granda, as a goodwill gesture. However, the FARC refused to release hostages without the government creating a safe haven in which to hold peace talks. Granda later left the country for Cuba.
July: A power struggle intensified between the FARC and the National Liberation Army in Arauca province as the ELN and the government drew closer to a peace agreement.
Aug. 3: President Uribe offered a 90-day safe haven for peace talks with the FARC if the group released its hostages.
Sept. 1: Senior FARC leader Tomas Medina Caracas was killed by Colombian forces during a raid. Medina Caracas had managed a cocaine-trafficking network and led the FARC's 16th Front.
Oct. 24: Senior FARC leader Gustavo Rueda was killed by the Colombian army in a raid on his base in the mountains near the Caribbean coast. He was head of the FARC 37th Front.
November: Two homemade submarines believed to belong to FARC were captured by Colombian marines. Colombian authorities said they had seized nine such subs since 2005.
Talks between the Colombian government and the FARC, mediated by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, were halted by Uribe, sparking a diplomatic row between Colombia and Venezuela.
2008
January 19: Colombian forces quickly liberated two hostages that were captured the previous day. One FARC fighter died in the ensuing clash.
February 20: Colombian marines killed FARC financier Isidro Cardenas Moreno. The head of financial operations for the 53rd Front, Cardenas was in charge of supplying arms and medical supplies to FARC guerrillas.
March 1: The Colombian military killed Raul Reyes, FARC's second-in-command, on Ecuadoran soil. Colombian planes dropped bombs on the FARC camp, located a mile from the Colombian border. Colombian forces recovered three laptops that contained documents implying Ecuadoran and Venezuelan support of the FARC. The attack caused heightened tensions between Colombian and Ecuador and Venezuela. Quito and Caracas sent troops to the Colombian border and recalled their ambassadors from Bogota.
March 6: The FARC bombed an oil pipeline in Putumayo province. The attack was a reaction to Colombia's attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador.
March 26: FARC leader Manuel Marulanda died of a heart attack. He was succeeded by Alfonso Cano, FARC's ideological leader. Marulanda's death was not announced by FARC until May.
March 27: Colombian officials discovered a 66-pound cache of degraded uranium. The government said that the material could be used to create a "dirty bomb."
April 9: Six Colombian troops died in a minefield while pursuing FARC rebels. The incident occurred about 150 miles south of Bogota.
April 18: Colombian forces dismantled a FARC shipyard in Valle province. The base had housing facilities and five tons of explosive chemicals.
May: Computer documents discovered in a raid implicated Venezuelan government support for the FARC. The documents, examined by Interpol, suggested that Venezuelan authorities had supplied the FARC with light arms, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
FARC commander Nelly Avila Moreno, known as "Karina," surrendered to Colombian forces and encouraged other FARC guerrillas to lay down their arms.
May 25: The FARC confirmed that its top commander, Manuel Marulanda, had died from a heart attack two months prior.
June: The Colombian military stepped up its campaign against the FARC. In pursuit of Cano, the army dispatched 6,000 troops, including special operations forces, to the provinces of Valle, Cauca, Quindio and Huila.
Calling the FARC's activities an excuse for American intervention in Colombia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced he was ending his support for the group and urged it to free its hostages.
July 2: The Colombian military freed 15 high-profile hostages from the FARC, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three American defense contractors.
2009
January 27: A bomb exploded in a wealthy neighborhood in Bogota, killing two people. The device, suspected to have been planted by the FARC, was placed in an ATM.
February 1: The FARC released four prisoners in Caqueta province. The three policemen and one soldier were handed over to the Red Cross.
February 3: The FARC released a provincial governor that had been held hostage since 2001.
February 27: Colombian troops killed a FARC commander in Cundinamarca province. Jose de Jesus Guzman, alias "Gaitan," was believed responsible for extortion and bombings around Bogota. Ten other FARC operatives were also killed.
April 8: Colombian forces clashed with the FARC near the Venezuelan border. The Colombian army attacked FARC camps with helicopters before ground forces moved in, seizing weapons, supplies and intelligence documents in Arauca province. At least 11 rebels were killed.
May: After a number of setbacks, FARC changed tactics, adopting its "Plan Rebirth." The group launched a series of coordinated attacks against government forces throughout Colombia. It also sought to bolster its ranks by recruiting unemployed men. Indoctrination efforts were stepped up as well.
June 22: The FARC killed seven police in a roadside ambush in Cauca province. The FARC group was returning from inspecting a rebel camp that had been attacked by police and the air force. Twenty five guerrillas, including a top FARC leader, were killed in the attack.
July 19: Three civilians were killed during a fight between police and FARC rebels. Another 17 people were injured in the skirmish in Cauca province.
July 25: Colombian forces killed 16 guerrillas in an attack on a camp in Meta province.
July 27: The Colombian government announced that Swedish-made weapons that had been sold to Venezuela had recently been discovered in a FARC camp. Venezuelan officials denied supplying the weapons to the Colombian rebels.