Timeline of Michigan history

Natural history

 * to The most recent of four major   started to recede leaving a  like environment. The melting ice formed the, the  and  (in the )
 * s and other s started to appear in the  record
 * to Archeological evidence of  in the form of sharpened stone tool points known as fluted  appears

Early human history

 * to  period
 * to
 * to
 * to  groups including  (South central Upper Peninsula),  (Eastern Upper Peninsula),  (Eastern Upper Peninsula, Canada),  (Western lower Michigan),  (Western and central southern lower Michigan),  (Eastern central lower Michigan),  (Eastern lower Michigan, near Lake Huron),  (Southeastern corner of lower Michigan),  (Southwestern corner of lower Michigan)

French colonization

 * or  and his companion Grenolle paddled up the  and entered
 * guided by the passed through the  and followed the southern shoreline of the  en route to find the  and the imagined passage to the Pacific.
 * priests and  ventured the same route as Brûlé finding many  at the St. Mary's River rapids and named it.
 * The virtually emptied the  of  and cut off the  route and the  route into Michigan.
 * and ventured to western Lake Superior with an envoy of  Native Americans returning from.
 * Father retraced the route of Radisson and Groseilliers to find the, wintered in , and then disappeared traveling inland from.
 * and six retraced Menard's route to find him and the Wyandot, they reported  deposits in the  area.
 * Père (Father) established, the first European settlement in Michigan.
 * sent on a mission to investigate the Allouez copper reports, An  warrior guided his return trip along eastern shoreline of the  and down the  and.
 * June 14 - "The Pageant of the Sault" at, four priests led by Father  representing the , and  held aloft a sword and a symbolic tuft of sod, and declared to the Native Americans that all of the  country was henceforth a possession of.
 * Father took over the mission at the Sault and Marquette moved to establish a mission at
 * sailes to St. Ignace and on to, departs with 14 men from there via canoe south on  and establishes
 * La Salle abandons and makes an overland trip across the
 * and 150 French soldiers established at
 * The mission of St. Joseph was established in by
 * established in what is now
 * sent to establish  at the Jesuit mission that had been formed there around
 * , with his lieutenant, established a trading post on the which they name , today the city of .  Their wives join them and are claimed to be 'the first European women in Michigan'.
 * Cadillac is removed from under a cloud of greed and replaced by Dubuisson, On his way out Cadillac invites the  to live around the fort.
 * The are not welcomed by the tribes living around Detroit and Dubuisson orders them to leave, they refuse and a fight breaks out for 19 days.
 * is abandoned and is constructed in what is now
 * to A period of peace,  and little expansion in  (what would become Michigan)
 * to Conflicts surrounding the  begin in the  between  and the
 * The unofficially begins with the

British colonization

 * was captured by forces cutting off New France's  supply and communication conduits into Michigan.
 * was peacefully turned over to the after
 * - France cedes all lands in North America in east of the  to
 * led a major revolt of the against the British,.
 * in the proclaims that the newly acquired North American land except,  and  will be an  prohibiting settlement without British permission west of the.
 * passes the which expands Quebec's borders south to the
 * The area that is now Michigan is included with the territory ceded by Great Britain to the United States by the that ended the . The U.S. did not take control of the territory until 1796.
 * Detroit and other posts in Michigan were turned over to the United States under terms of the . was established as an administrative division of the.

U.S. territory

 * was created, with designated as the seat of government.  appointed as governor. Detroit was destroyed by fire.
 * became Territorial Governor.
 * The is established in Detroit, the first public university in the state.
 * In the, the , , and ceded more than six million acres, or 24,000 km² in the central portion of the  to the United States.
 * With the, the , , and ceded all the lands south of the  to the United States.
 * Congress transferred legislative powers previously exercised by the Territorial Governor and Judges to a nine-member Legislative Council, appointed by the U.S. President who selected them from eighteen persons chosen by the people. The Council was expanded to thirteen members in 1825 and made an elected body in 1827.
 * Territorial Capitol built in at a cost of $24,500.
 * First Constitutional Convention. inaugurated as the first Governor. A minor conflict with, known as the , over an area including the city of , contributed to delaying Michigan's statehood. As a resolution, Ohio received Toledo and the , while Michigan gained the western two-thirds of what is now.
 * Admitted as a into the union (the 26th state), it was admitted a few months after the  state of.

As a U.S. state

 * The was a severe setback to the nascent state bank and to several ambitious programs of public improvements, including the
 * The saw Irish nationalists invade Canada from southeast Michigan.
 * reported finding deposits on the.
 * , an Indian, pointed out a large deposit of  ore to prospector  near the present-day city of.
 * Under the leadership of Dr., Dutch Calvinist separatists founded Holland in southwest Michigan.
 * A law was passed by the State Legislature to re-locate the state capital from Detroit to a site "in the township of, in the county of ."
 * is founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, becoming the first in the.
 * Fires burn and
 * New dedicated in . The structure cost $1,510,130.
 * and,  and  were founded in southeastern Michigan.
 * ended with official recognition of the by.
 * Riot broke out pitting whites against blacks during wartime.
 * Five-mile long opened.
 * struck the city of Detroit. After 5 days of rioting, 43 people lay dead, 1189 injured and over 7,000 people had been arrested. The riot had lasting effects on the entire and is usually cited as one of the reasons the Detroit area is among the most segregated areas in the United States.
 * of became the 38th.
 * Michigan celebrated 150 years of statehood.
 * Michigan elects its first female governor,.