Timeline
The history of the Greek people is closely associated with the history of Greece, Cyprus, Constantinople, Asia Minor and the Black Sea. During the Ottoman rule of Greece, a number of Greek enclaves around the Mediterranean were cut off from the core, notably in Southern Italy, the Caucasus, Syria and Egypt. By the early 20th century, over half of the overall Greek-speaking population was settled in Asia Minor (now Turkey), while later that century a huge wave of migration to the United States, Australia, Canada and elsewhere created the modern Greek diaspora.
Some key historical events have also been included for context, but this timeline is not intended to cover history not related to migrations. There is more information on the historical context of these migrations in History of Greece.
| Time |
Events |
| 3rd millennium BC |
Proto-Greek tribes form around the Southern Balkans/Aegean. |
| 20th century BC |
Greek settlements established on the Balkans. Ionians and Aeolians spread over Greece. |
| 17th century BC |
Decline of the Minoan civilization, possibly because of the eruption of Thera. Emergence of the Achaeans and formation of the Mycenaean civilization. |
| 13th century BC |
First colonies established in Asia Minor. |
| 11th century BC |
Dorians move into peninsular Greece. Achaeans flee to Aegean Islands, Asia Minor and Cyprus. |
| 9th century BC |
Major colonization of Asia Minor and Cyprus by the Greek tribes. |
| 8th century BC |
First major colonies established in Sicily and Southern Italy. |
| 6th century BC |
Colonies established across the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. |
| 5th century BC |
Defeat of the Persians and emergence of the Delian League in Ionia, the Black Sea and Aegean perimeter culminates in Athenian Empire and the Classical Age of Greece; ends with Athens defeat by Sparta at the close of the Peloponesian War |
| 4th century BC |
Rise of Theban power and defeat of the Spartans; Campaign of Alexander the Great; Greek colonies established in newly founded cities of Ptolemaic Egypt and Asia. |
| 2nd century BC |
Conquest of Greece by the Roman Empire. Migrations of Greeks to Rome. |
| 4th century AD |
Eastern Roman Empire. Migrations of Greeks throughout the Empire, mainly towards Constantinople. |
| 7th century |
Slavic conquest of several parts of Greece, Greek migrations to Southern Italy, Roman Emperors capture main Slavic bodies and transfer them to Cappadocia, Bosphorus re-populated by Macedonian and Cypriot Greeks. |
| 8th century |
Roman dissolution of surviving Slavic settlements in Greece and full recovery of the Greek peninsula. |
| 9th century |
Retro-migrations of Greeks from all parts of the Empire (mainly from Southern Italy and Sicily) into parts of Greece that were depopulated by the Slavic Invasions (mainly western Peloponnesus and Thessaly). |
| 13th century |
Roman Empire dissolves, Constantinople taken by the Fourth Crusade; becoming the capital of the Latin Empire. Liberated after a long struggle by the Empire of Nicaea, but fragments remain separated. Migrations between Asia Minor, Constantinople and mainland Greece take place. |
15th century
-
19th century |
Conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire. Greek diaspora into Europe begins. Ottoman settlements in Greece. Phanariot Greeks occupy high posts in Eastern European millets. |
|
| Time |
Events |
| 1830s |
Creation of the Modern Greek State. Immigration to the New World begins. Large-scale migrations from Constantinople and Asia Minor to Greece take place. |
| 1913 |
European Ottoman lands partitioned; Unorganized migrations of Greeks, Bulgarians and Turks towards their respective states. |
| 1914–1923 |
Greek genocide; hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Greeks are estimated to have died during this period. |
| 1919 |
Treaty of Neuilly; Greece and Bulgaria exchange populations, with some exceptions. |
| 1922 |
The Destruction of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir) more than 40 thousand Greeks killed, End of significant Greek presence in Asia Minor. |
| 1923 |
Treaty of Lausanne; Greece and Turkey agree to exchange populations with limited exceptions of the Greeks in Constantinople, Imbros, Tenedos and the Muslim minority of Western Thrace. 1.5 million of Asia Minor and Pontic Greeks settle in Greece, and some 450 thousands of Muslims settle in Turkey. |
| 1940s |
Hundred of thousands Greeks died from starvation during the Axis Occupation of Greece |
| 1947 |
Communist regime in Romania begins evictions of the Greek community, approx. 75,000 migrate. |
| 1948 |
Greek Civil War. Tens of thousands of Greek communists and their families flee into Eastern Bloc nations. Thousands settle in Tashkent. |
| 1950s |
Massive emigration of Greeks to West Germany, the United States, Australia, Canada, and other countries. |
| 1955 |
Istanbul Pogrom against Greeks. Exodus of Greeks from the city accelerates; less than 2,000 remain today. |
| 1958 |
Large Greek community in Alexandria flees Nasser's regime in Egypt. |
| 1960s |
Republic of Cyprus created as an independent state under Greek, Turkish and British protection. Economic emigration continues. |
| 1974 |
Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Almost all Greeks living in Northern Cyprus flee to the south and the United Kingdom. |
| 1980s |
Many civil war refugees were allowed to re-emigrate to Greece. Retro-migration of Greeks from Germany begins. |
| 1990s |
Collapse of Soviet Union. Approx. 100,000 ethnic Greeks migrate from Georgia, Armenia, southern Russia, and Albania to Greece. |
| 2000s |
Some statistics show the beginning of a trend of reverse migration of Greeks from the United States and Australia. |
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