| The East India Company established | a.d. 1600 |
| First English settlement, at Masulipatam | 1611 |
| Site of Madras acquired by Mr. Francis Day | 1639 |
| The acquisition confirmed at Chandragiri by the Hindu 'Lord of the Carnatic' | 1639 |
| The Hindu lord of the Carnatic (the Raja of Chandragiri) dethroned by the Mohammedan Sultan of Golconda | 1646 |
| The Company secure from Golconda a fresh title to their possessions | |
| The Sultan of Golconda dethroned by the Moghul Emperor, Aurangzeb, who appoints a 'Nawab of the Carnatic' | 1687 |
| The Company secure from a representative of the Emperor a fresh title to their possessions | |
| Da-ud Khan, Nawab of the Carnatic, invests Madras for three months, and is finally bought off | 1702 |
| In Europe, England and France are engaged in the War of the Austrian Succession | 1740–1748 |
| Dupleix, who is possessed with the idea of making France politically influential in India, is appointed Governor of Pondicherry | 1742 |
| In the war in Europe he sees an opportunity for fighting the English in India, and French forces under LaBourdonnais capture Madras | 1746 |
| Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, by which Madras is restored to the English | 1748 |
| Two Carnatic princes quarrel for the Nawabship | 1749 |
| The French and the English in South India join in the quarrel on opposite sides. In the name of the claimant whom the English supported, Clive captures Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, and then defends the town against the rival claimant and his French supporters | 1749 |
| The French are defeated in the open field, and the struggle is at an end | 1752 |
| In Europe, England and France are engaged in the Seven Years' War | 1756–1763 |
| In India, Count Lally besieges Madras unsuccessfully for more than two months | a.d. 1758–1759 |
| The English defeat the French at Wandiwash | 1760 |
| The English capture Pondicherry | 1761 |
| Treaty of Paris, by which Pondicherry is restored to the French | 1763 |
| (The town was captured again in 1786 and in 1803). | |
| Haidar Ali makes himself Sultan of Mysore about 1760, and reigns till his death, which occurred in | 1781 |
| Tipu, his son, succeeds him, and reigns till he is slain in defending his capital, Seringapatam, against an assault by the English | 1799 |
| (Madras was frequently disturbed by the raids of the father and of the son; and Tipu's death relieved the townsmen of constant anxiety.) | |
| The Supreme Court of Judicature established at Madras | 1801 |
| In default of an heir, the Carnatic 'lapses' to the Company | 1855 |
| The Madras Railway opened for traffic | 1856 |
| The Indian Mutiny | 1857–1859 |
| The Madras University instituted | 1857 |
| The High Court established | 1861 |
