Timeline of Pretoria

19th century

1848 - David Botha builds a farmhouse that would later become the Pionier Museum.

1855 - Pretoria founded by Voortrekkers to be the capital of the new Transvaal Republic.

1867 - Cullinan diamond field discovered near Pretoria.

1873

University of South Africa founded.

De Volkstem Dutch/English-language newspaper begins publication.

1874 - Burgers Park layout of Pretoria's first botanical gardens.

1877 - British in power.

1880 - December: The city is besieged by Transvaal Republican forces.

1881

March: The city is once again besieged by Transvaal Republican forces.

3 August: Pretoria Convention peace treaty signed ending the First Boer War. Transvaal independence reinstated with Pretoria as capital.

1884 - Kruger House built.

1886 - Melrose House built.

1892

Raadsaal (Transvaal parliament) rebuilt.

State Museum founded focusing mostly on Natural History.

Burgers Park laid out as the city's first botanical gardens.

1896 - Staats Model School built.

1897

6 April: Fort Schanskop built.

Palace of Justice built.

4 September: Fort Wonderboompoort built.

1898

18 January: Fort Klapperkop built.

November: Fort Daspoortrand built.

Pretoria News founded.

1899 - Zoo founded.

20th century

1900 - 5 June: British forces occupy the city.

1901 - Pretoria Boys High School founded.

1902

31 May: The Treaty of Vereeniging is signed in Melrose House marking the end of the Second Boer War and the establishment of the British Transvaal Colony.

Pretoria High School for Girls founded.

Premier diamond mine begins operating near Pretoria at Cullinan.

1903 - "Local self-government granted."

1905

Lady Selbourne suburb established.

Large Cullinan Diamond discovered near Pretoria.

1906 - Imported jacaranda trees planted.

1910

Pretoria becomes capital of the British colonial Union of South Africa.

Pretoria railway station rebuilt.

1913 - Union Buildings constructed in Arcadia.

1922 - Christian Brothers' College opens.

1923 - Stadium built in Arcadia.

1930 - University of Pretoria established.

1931

Capitol Theatre (cinema) opens.

14 October: Pretoria receives official city status.

1935 - Pretoria City Hall built.

1940 - Atteridgeville suburb established.

1942 - Danville suburb established.

1946 - June: Pretoria National Botanical Garden established in the east of the city.

1948

Groenkloof suburb established.

Catholic Vicariate of Pretoria established.

1949

Hercules becomes part of Pretoria.

Voortrekker Monument erected.

1951 - Vlakfontein township established.

1956 - Women's march.

1959 - "Treason trial" of ANC leaders begins.

1960 - Laudium township and Africa Institute of South Africa established.

1961 - City becomes capital of the Republic of South Africa.

1962 - Eersterus area established.

1963 - 9 October: Rivonia Trial begins.

1966 - Fort Klapperkop is restored and turned into the Fort Klapperkop Military Museum.

1972 - Daspoort Tunnel opens.

1975 - Pionier Museum opens in the oldest extant structure in Pretoria, a farmhouse circa 1848.

1977 - 12 September: Death of Steve Biko.

1979 - Menlyn Park shopping mall in business.

1981 - State Theatre opens.

1983 - 20 May: Church Street bombing was perpetrated by Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress. The bombing killed 19, including two perpetrators, and wounded 217,

1984 - Atteridgeville-Saulsville Residents Organisation formed.

1985 - Large Golden Jubilee Diamond discovered near Pretoria.

1986 - Idasa institute founded.

1991 - Institute for Security Studies established.

1993 - Radio Pretoria and Tuks FM radio begin broadcasting.

1994

City becomes part of the newly established Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vaal province (later Gauteng).

Inauguration of South African president Nelson Mandela.

1996

Population: 692,348.

Area of city: 229 square miles.

21st century

2000

5 December: Pretoria becomes the seat of the newly established City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.

Impak newspaper begins publication.

June: University of Pretoria's Mapungubwe Museum opens.

2004

Tshwane University of Technology established by merging several former institutions.

Woodlands Boulevard shopping centre in business.

2005 - December: Shanty town unrest.

2007 - Freedom Park opens.

2008 - August: Congress of South African Trade Unions demonstration.

2011

Gautrain begins operating with stations at Hatfield, Pretoria Central and Centurion.

August: Economic protest.

Kgosientso David Ramokgopa becomes mayor of Tshwane.

Population: 2,921,488 in Tshwane.

2012 - 11 July: Construction begins on the A Re Yeng rapid bus transit system.

2013 - 31 January: Train collision injuring 300 people near the Kalafong station.

2014

Air pollution in Tshwane reaches annual mean of 51 PM2.5 and 63 PM10, more than recommended.

1 December: A Re Yeng rapid bus transit system launches.

2016

20-23 June: The Tshwane riots result in the deaths of at least five people after it turned xenophobic in nature.

19 August: Solly Msimanga of the Democratic Alliance is sworn in as the Executive Mayor after the 2016 Municipal Elections.

2017 - 24 February: An Anti-Immigration Protest resulting in the arrest of 136 protesters.