c. 1577
Ramdaspur (Amritsar) foundedSri Guru Ram Das Ji lays out a town around the pool he has begun digging, inviting traders of fifty-two crafts. The settlement becomes Amritsar.
28 December 1588
Foundation of the HarmandirThe foundation of the temple in the centre of the Amritsar pool is laid; by later tradition the stone is set by the Lahore Sufi Mian Mir.
19 June 1595
Birth of Sri Guru Hargobind JiSri Guru Hargobind Ji, only son of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji and Mata Ganga, is born at Wadali near Amritsar.
16 August 1604
The Adi Granth installed in the HarmandirThe scripture compiled by Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, written out by Bhai Gurdas, is ceremonially installed in the Harmandir with Baba Buddha as its first custodian.
24 June 1606
Akal Takht raised and Sri Guru Hargobind Ji installedSri Guru Hargobind Ji, eleven, is installed as sixth Guru wearing two swords, miri and piri, on the platform of the Akal Takht raised on 15 June facing the Harmandir.
1 April 1621
Birth of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur JiTyag Mal, youngest son of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji and Mata Nanaki, is born at Amritsar.
14 April 1634
Battle of AmritsarA quarrel over a hunting hawk leads to a clash between Sri Guru Hargobind Ji's men and a Mughal detachment near Amritsar, the first of several armed encounters.
1733
Kapur Singh accepts the title of NawabHaving failed to crush the Sikhs by force, the Mughal governor of Lahore offered them a title and a land grant in 1733. A Sarbatt Khalsa at Amritsar accepted, and Kapur Singh became Nawab and reorganised the Sikh fighting bands.
29 March 1748
The Sarbatt Khalsa forms the Dal KhalsaAt Vaisakhi in 1748, a Sarbatt Khalsa at Amritsar merged the 65 Sikh bands into one force, the Dal Khalsa, grouped in eleven misls. Nawab Kapur Singh urged the union, and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was named to lead it.
11 November 1757
Martyrdom of Baba Deep SinghWhen the Afghan general Jahan Khan razed Ram Rauni and filled in the sacred pool at Amritsar, Baba Deep Singh marched from Talwandi Sabo to restore it. He was gravely wounded near Ramsar and attained martyrdom close to the Harmandir Sahib.
25 April 1809
Treaty of AmritsarRanjit Singh and the East India Company fix the Sutlej as the boundary between the Lahore kingdom and British-protected territory.
1 October 1873
The Sri Guru Singh Sabha is founded at AmritsarAlarmed by missionary conversions and attacks on the Gurus, leading Sikhs at Amritsar founded the Sri Guru Singh Sabha in 1873. Its first formal session met before the Akal Takht and began a reform movement that spread across the Sikh world.
30 October 1902
The Chief Khalsa Diwan is establishedThe Chief Khalsa Diwan held its opening session at Amritsar on Diwali in 1902, uniting the feuding Lahore and Amritsar Diwans. It was the main Sikh council until the Akali bodies overtook it after 1919, and it remains active in education.
13 April 1919
Jallianwala Bagh massacreOn Vaisakhi, Brigadier-General Dyer's troops fire without warning on a crowd in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. The official count is 379 killed and 1,200 wounded, and many of the crowd are Sikhs in the city for the festival.
1925
Sikh Gurdwaras ActAfter the Akali agitation of 1920-25, the Punjab legislature passes the Act placing historic gurdwaras under the elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
June 1984
Operation Blue StarThe Indian Army enters the Harmandir complex at Amritsar to remove armed militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The Akal Takht is badly damaged and the Sikh Reference Library is lost, though what became of its collection is disputed. Indira Gandhi's assassination and anti-Sikh massacres follow in the autumn.