Timeline of Sicilian History

Dates reflect the settlement/invasion or establishment of rule. Depending on the source, dates can vary; this is meant to provide a snapshot of the extent to which Sicily has been invaded and occupied, or dominated and ruled by a succession of foreign people and powers for over 2,000 years.

Prehistory                     Elymians, Sicanians, Sicels

800 - 241 BCE               Phoenicians and Carthaginians

735 - 211 BCE                Greeks

264 BCE - 468 CE        Romans

468 - 476                       Vandals

476 - 535                       Ostrogoths

535 - 827                        Byzantines

827 - 1061                      Arabs

1061 - 1194                    Normans

1194 - 1266                   Swabians

1266 - 1282                   Angevins

1282 - 1492                   Aragonese

1492 - 1713                    Spain & Spanish Habsburgs

1713 - 1720                    Savoy

1720 - 1734                   Austrian Habsburgs

1734 - 1806                  Spanish Bourbons

1806 - 1815                   British Occupation during Napoleonic Wars

1815 - 1860                   Spanish Bourbons

1861                               Italian unification