Milestones of Basel City History - Timline

ca. 40,000-130,000 years ago

Neandertals in the region

ca. 30,000-40,000 years ago

Homo sapiens immigrates from Africa

ca. 5,500 BCE

First signs of a sedentary lifestyle in the Basel region

ca. 150 BCE

First city-like settlement in Basel, the Celtic settlement at Basel Gasfabrik

from 52 BCE

Roman troops in Basel and start of Roman rule

374 CE

Basel is first mentioned by name in a Latin script

around 400

Roman troops pull out

around 450

Alamanni settle in the area around modern-day Kleinbasel

around 540

Basel becomes part of the Franconian Empire

around 620

Basel is first mentioned as a bishopric

from 912

Basel becomes part of the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy

1006-25

Basel falls to the East Frankish-German King Henry II and the Bishop receives governing rights in the city

1019

Henry’s Münster is consecrated

around 1090

The first city fortification is built

around 1225

Construction of the first bridge over the Rhine and extension of Kleinbasel

1250

The Franciscans settle down on Barfüsserplatz

1349

Persecution and murder of the Jews in Basel

1349

The Plague reaches Basel

1356

Great earthquake

1362-98

Construction of the outer city wall

1386

Acquisition of the imperial bailiwick: the City of Basel becomes an independent jurisdiction

1392

The City buys Kleinbasel off the Bishop

1400

Basel acquires the territories of Liestal, Homburg and Waldenburg from the Bishop

1417

250 houses burn down in a major fire in the city

1431-48

The Council meets in Basel

1433

Paper production begins

1460

Basel University is founded

around 1470

The first book printer begins to operate

1471

Basel receives the imperial right to hold exhibitions and holds the first autumn fair

1474-77

Basel takes part in the Burgundian Wars as an ally of the Swiss Confederation

1501

Joins the Swiss Confederation

1516

Erasmus of Rotterdam has his Greek-Latin edition of the New Testament printed in Basel

1522

Johannes Oekolampad settles in Basel

1529

The Reformation is carried out

1543

The first printed Latin translation of the Koran in history comes out in Basel

1618-48

Thirty Years War

1648

The Swiss Confederation achieves legal independence from the Holy Roman Empire

1653

Mayor Johann Rudolf Wettstein orders the execution of seven Basel leaders of the Swiss Peasants’ War

1667

Basel is hit by its last Plague epidemic

1668

Emanuel Hoffmann smuggles a new kind of ribbon loom from the Netherlands to Basel

1691

Revolts against the power held by a few families followed by the execution of the instigators

1700

The awarding of Basel citizenship is halted

1777

Isaak Iselin founds the Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige (Society for the Good and the Charitable)

1790

Serfdom in the Basel countryside is abolished

1798

Revolution and the beginning of the Helvetic Republic

1798

The City permits Catholics to hold services in St. Clara Church

1812

The first chemical company begins production

1815

The Basel Mission Society is founded

1817

Europe is hit by a major food shortage and inflation crisis

1831

The first Rhybadhysli (Rhine Bath House) is opened at the Pfalz

1833

Basel is split into the two half-cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft

1838

Compulsory schooling for all is introduced

1844

The French railway line reaches Basel for the first time and the first railway station in Switzerland is established

1848

Switzerland becomes a federal state and issues a constitution

1855

Cholera epidemic with more than 200 dead triggers city sanitation measures

1859

Industrial production of synthetic dyes begins

1859

Work begins on demolishing the city walls

1865

Typhus epidemic with more than 4,000 infected and 400 fatalities

1867-68

Construction of the Great Synagogue

1869

First Basel Factory Law

1874

The first Zoological Gardens in Switzerland are opened

1875

A new constitution introduces people’s voting for the Great Council

1886

The Friedmatt psychiatric asylum is opened

1890

First female student at Basel University

1893

Basel Football Club (FCB) is founded

1895

The electrical tram begins to operate

1896

Law passed for the construction of the sewage system

1897

First Zionist World Congress

1907

The first port facility at St. Johann is completed

1909

The ‘Basel Women’s Society’ opens the city’s first day nursery

1912

The Peace Congress of the Second Socialist International convenes in Basel

1913

The Badischer Bahnhof in Basel is inaugurated at its present location

1914-18

First World War

1917

The Swiss Sample Trade Fair (Mustermesse) takes places for the first time

1918

35,000 persons are taken ill with Spanish influenza in Basel

1919

General strike with five fatalities and many injured

1919

A new Basel law de-criminalises homosexual relations between adults

1926

Radio Basel begins broadcasting

1932

Canton-based Old Age and Surviving Dependents’ Insurance (AHV) is introduced

1938

The chemist Albert Hofmann synthesises lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which he has discovered

1939-45

Second World War

1943

The Swiss Tropical Institute is founded

1946

Basel-Mulhouse Airport is opened

1959

Birth of Goma, the first gorilla born in a European zoo

1963

The Hoffmann-La Roche company launches Valium, for many years the most sold medication in the world

1966

Cantonal voting rights for women introduced

1966

Basel-Stadt is joined up to the Swiss motorway network

1968

14 women are voted on to the Great Council for the first time

1969

Students block tram traffic in the inner city in protest at fare increases

1970

Ciba and Geigy merge to form Ciba-Geigy

1972

Opening of the first mosque

1973-88

Resistance to Kaiseraugst nuclear power station

1981

An Autonomous Youth Centre (AJZ) on Hochstrasse is announced

1984

The Environmental Protection Pass (U-Abo) is introduced for public transport

1986

Fire in the Schweizerhalle chemical plant

1986-88

The former City Nursery is temporarily used as a cultural park

1992

Basel-Stadt Canton is given its first female government councillor

1994

In Basel a pilot project commences for the controlled handout of heroin

1996

Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy merge into Novartis

1997

Basel is the first canton in Switzerland to recruit foreigners to the police

1998

The Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft and Schweizerische Bankverein merge to form the UBS

2006

The new cantonal constitution introduces the City Commission

2014

The cross-border tram line number 8 to Weil (Germany) is inaugurated

2017

The Basel Fasnacht is accepted on the UNESCO World Heritage list

2018

In Basel the highest water temperature ever recorded in the Rhine of 26.6°C is registered

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