| Year | Victoria | Empire | Buildings |
| 1592 | Voyage of Juan de Fuca | ||
| 1778 | Captain James Cook anchored at Nootka Sound | ||
| 1835-7 | Captain McNeill (Beaver) explored Victoria, Esquimalt, Sooke; recommended are for harbour | Coronation of Queen Victoria; People's Charter is drafted by Chartists | |
| 1839 | 1st Opium War (1839-42) | ||
| 1842 | Victoria selected as Hudson Bay fort by James Douglas | ||
| 1843 | Fort Victoria built | ||
| 1844 | Songhees village relocated by HBC from east side of harbour across to Vic West area | ||
| 1845 | First ship from England arrives in Victoria | 1st Sikh War (1845-6) | |
| 1847 | Engles and Marx publish Communist Manifesto | ||
| 1848 | 1st British man-of-warship (Constance)enters Esquimalt Harbour; Meazles and influenza epidemic | Cholera epidemic; 1st Public Health Act passed; 2nd Sikh War (1948-9) | |
| 1849 | Vancouver Island became British Crown Colony | ||
| 1851 | James Douglas appointed governor | The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park | |
| 1852 | Coal discovered in Nanaimo; First common school opened by James Douglas for Hudson Bay Co. | Helmcken House, by RBCM | |
| 1853 | First salmon exported from Victoria | ||
| 1854 | 1st census in Victoria | Crimean War begins | Craigflower School, Admirals Rd. (1855) |
| 1856-7 | Disovery of gold in British Columbia | Crimean War Ends (1856); Ellen Terry's first appearance of stage | |
| 1858 | Fort Victoria becomes provisioning centre for Gold Rush in Fraser River; pop. Increase from 500 to 2000 inhabitants | ||
| 1859 | Chief Justice M.B. Begbie arrives from England; Fort Victoria becomes a free port | Queen Victoria cancelled HBC's Crown Grant: Darwin's Origin of Species | The Birdcages" are built - 1st Legislative buildings |
| 1860 | |||
| 1861 | Prince Albert died; Victoria retires from public life | ||
| 1862 | Victoria incorporated; smallpox epidemic | Dickson, Cambell & Co. (Capital Iron), 1900 Store St. | |
| 1863 | Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue, 1421 Blanshard; Carr House, 207 Governmnet St. | ||
| 1864 | First use of street numbers | ||
| 1865 | Royal Naval base established at Esquimalt | Diamonds discovered in South Africa | |
| 1865 | Union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia | ||
| 1867 | Confederation of Canada (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick); Times Colonist supports suffragettes | British North America Act | |
| 1868 | Victoria selected as capital city of BC | ||
| 1869 | Bedford College for women incorporated | ||
| 1871 | BC joins Confederation; Emily Carr born (207 Government St.) | ||
| 1872 | Ross Bay Cemetary | ||
| 1874-6 | Salmon Canning began | ||
| 1875 | Three women cast votes in civic election; female emancipation rejected in legislature | Public Health and Artisans' Dwellings Act passed to clean up slums in London | |
| 1876 | Victoria became Empress of India | Dominion Customs House, 1002 Wharf St. | |
| 1877 | First telephone in Victoria | ||
| 1878 | City Hall Built; Chinese workers strike | City Hall (1978, 1881, 1891), 1 Centennial Square | |
| 1881 | 1st Boer War | ||
| 1883 | Gold discovered in Kootneys; first electric street lighting in Victoria | Driard Hotel and Victoria Theatre (The Bay Centre), 1150 Douglas at View and Broad St. | |
| 1885 | Disallownace of the Chinese restriction act | new theatre | |
| 1886 | Railway completed on Vancouver Island | Bank of British Columbia, 1022 Government at Fort | |
| 1887 | Canada-China mail subsidy granted (bimonthly mail to China); standard time adopted in Victoria | Jubille celebrations | |
| 1888 | Gas expolsion at Wellington Colliery; miners strike - Robert Dunsmuir hires Chinese workers; Canada's first incadescent electric light station in Victoria | The Jack the Ripper murders occurred in London | |
| 1889 | Electric Tramway built | British South Africa Co. is chartered | Jubilee Hospital |
| 1892 | E.A. Morris Tobacconist, 1116 Government | ||
| 1895 | Trial of Oscar Wilde | ||
| 1896 | Point Ellice Bridge disaster (55 dead when bridge collapsed uder weight of streetcar) | ||
| 1897 | Klondike Gold Rush | Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee | |
| 1898 | Fountain Lake constructed (Beacon Hill Park) | ||
| 1899 | 2nd Boer War | ||
| 1900 | Boxer risings in China | ||
| 1901 | Death of Queen Victoria; Edward VII (1901-10) | ||
| 1903 | Chinese Bell (1627; confiscated during Boxer Rebellion) arrives in Victoria | Women's Social and Political Union formed by Emmeline Pankhurst | |
| 1904 | Portion of James Bay filled to build Causeway and the Empress | Anglo-French Entent Cordial formed | Victoria Public Library, 794 Yates at Blanshard |
| 1905 | British Navy left Esquimalt | 1st motor buses in London | |
| 1906 | Dreadnought completed | ||
| 1907 | Victoria changes street names and building numbers | Anglo-Russian Entente formed | Merchants Bank (Bank of Montreal) 1225 Douglas at Yates |
| 1908 | Empress opened | Hatley Park, 2000 Sooke Rd. | |
| 1910 | George V coronated (1910-36) | Chinese Public School, 636 FisgardSt. (1909) | |
| 1911 | Downtown fire; Songhees agree to move from Vic West to Esquimalt | ||
| 1911 | Streets paved | ||
| 1914 | 1st contingent left for WWI | WWI breaks out | Pantages Theatre (McPherson Thatre), 3 Centennial Square |
| 1915 | Anti-German riots after sinking of the Lusitania | ||
| 1925 | Crystal Gardens, 701 Douglas at Belville |