The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Berlin, Germany.
Prior to 17th century
1163 – Berlin founded by Albert the Bear (approximate date). 1183 – Oak beam, discovered in 2008 by archaeologists, dated to 1183. 1200 – Saint Peter's Church built in Cölln (approximate date). 1220 – Population: 2,400. 1230 St. Nicholas' Church built (approximate date). Tabor Church (Berlin-Hohenschönhausen) built (approximate date). 1237 – 28 October: First documentation of Cölln. 1240 – Marienfelde church built (approximate date). 1244 – 29 April: First documentation of Berlin. 1250 Population: 1,200–2,000. Jesus Church, Berlin-Kaulsdorf built (approximate date). Franziskaner-Klosterkirche built (approximate date). Karow (Berlin) church built (approximate date). 1253 – Oldest known town seal of Berlin. 1272 – Bakers' guild established. 1278 – Georgenhospital established. 1282 – First documentation of official papers of the Margrave of Brandenburg. 1292 – 3 January: St. Mary's Church in existence. 1300 – Heinersdorf church construction begins. 1307 20 March: Legal union of Berlin and Cölln. Population: 4,000–7,000. 1360 – Berlin-Cölln joins the Hanseatic League. 1380 – Fire. 1400 Population: 7,000–8,500. 1,100 buildings. 1432 – Merger of Berlin and Cölln. 1433 – (militia) formed. 1442 – Berlin leaves the Hanseatic League. 1443 – Stadtschloss (palace) construction begins. 1446 – 7 December: Pogrom against Jews. 1448 – 14 October: Unsuccessful protest against the construction of the Stadtschloss. Town privileges curtailed. 1450 – Population: 7,000–8,000. 1451 – Stadtschloss built. 1454 – St. Erasmus Chapel consecrated. 1468 – First documentation of Kammergericht. 1484 – 18 October: Jerusalem Church in existence. 1486 – 11 March: Berlin Stadtschloss becomes permanent seat of Brandenburg Electors. 1510 – 100 Jews accused of desecrating hosts. 38 burned, the rest banished and stripped of their possessions. 1530 – Tiergarten hunting park built. 1539 – 1 November: Protestant Reformation. 1540 Church possessions secularized. Printing press in operation. 1542 – Kurfürstendamm avenue built. 1543 – Jagdschloss Grunewald hunting lodge built. 1558 – Köpenick Palace built. 1576 Population: 11,000–12,000. Bubonic plague kills 6,000 people. 1594 – Spandau Citadel built.
17th century 1600 – Population: 9,000. 1618 – Population: 12,000. 1631 – Population: 8,100. 1636 – Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium (school) relocates to Berlin. 1647 – Unter den Linden boulevard laid out. 1642 – Population: 7,500. 1648 – Population: 6,000. 1650 – Berlin Fortress construction begins. 1653 – Alte Kommandantur built. 1661 – Library of the Elector opened. 1664 – Schönhausen Palace built. 1669 – Kronprinzenpalais built. 1671 – 21 May: 50 Jewish families from Austria settled in Berlin. 1674 – Dorotheenstadt receives town privileges. 1677 – Köpenick Palace rebuilt and enlarged. 1678 – Dorotheen Church built. 1680 – Population: 10,000. 1685 29 June: Börse Berlin stock exchange founded. 6,000 Huguenots settle in Berlin. Wooden Neustädtische Brücke built. Population: 17,500. 1688 Gendarmenmarkt laid out. Jungfern Bridge built. Leipziger Straße (street) laid out. Population: 18,000–20,000. 1690 – Hohenschönhausen Castle built. 1691 – Friedrichstadt (Berlin) founded. 1693 – Jagdschloss Glienicke completed. 1695 21 July: Sebastiankirche opened. Friedrichsfelde Palace built. Lange-brucke (bridge) built. 1696 – Academy of Arts founded.
18th century 1700 11 July: Electoral Brandenburg Society of Sciences founded. Population: 28,500. 1701 – 18 January: Berlin becomes capital of the Kingdom of Prussia. 1702 – Friedrichs-Waisenhaus Rummelsburg orphanage and infirmary established. 1703 8 July: Parochialkirche opened. Wooden Friedrichs Bridge built. 1704 – Vossische Zeitung founded. 1705 Charlottenburg founded. French Cathedral built in Friedrichstadt. 1706 – Zeughaus built. 1708 9 April: Neue Kirche completed in Friedrichstadt. Frankfurter Allee built. 1709 Berlin merges with the cities of Cölln, Dorotheenstadt, Friedrichstadt, and Friedrichswerder to create the capital and royal residence of Berlin. Population: 55,196. 1710 – Charité hospital established. 1712 – Population: 61,000. 1713 18 June: Spandauische Kirche inaugurated. Charlottenburg Palace built. Nicolaische Buchhandlung (bookseller) in business. 1715 – City hosts Treaty of Berlin (1715). 1716 – 12 July: Luisenkirche inaugurated. 1717 – Compulsory schooling established. 1720 – Späth nursery founded. 1721 – Population: 65,300. 1722 – Garrison Church built. 1726 – Population: 72,000. 1730 – Population: 72,387. 1732 13 December: Treaty of the Three Black Eagles signed by Prussia. 1,200 Bohemians settle in Berlin to escape religious persecution. Population: 77,973. Crown Prince's Palace remodelled. 1733 Prinzessinnenpalais built. Population: 79,017. 1734 Potsdam Gate constructed. Pariser Platz laid out. Das Rondell laid out. 1735 – Population: 86,000. 1737 City fortifications replaced by the Berlin Customs Wall Opera Palace constructed. Zietenplatz built. 1738 – Ordenspalais built. 1739 13 August: Holy Trinity Church built. Prinz-Albrecht-Palais built. 1740 – Population: 90,000.
1742 28 July: City hosts signing of the Treaty of Berlin (1742). 7 December: Berlin State Opera house inaugurated. 1743 – Opernplatz (square) laid out. 1746 – Population: 97,000. 1747 – Population: 107,224. 1748 Berlin Cathedral built. Population: 107,635. 1749 – Population: 110,933. 1750 – Population: 113,289. 1751 22 September: Ackerstraße building begins. Population: 116,483. 1752 – Population: 119,224. 1753 Palais am Festungsgraben built. Luisenstädtische Kirche rebuilt. Population: 122,897. 1754 – Population: 125,385. 1755 – Population: 126,661. 1756 – Population: 99,224. 1757 16 October: 1757 raid on Berlin. Austrian general András Hadik raids Berlin. Population: 94,219. 1758 – Population: 92,356. 1759 – Population: 94,433. 1760 9–12 October: Raid on Berlin. City taken by Russian and Austrian forces. Population: 95,245. 1761 – Population: 98,238. 1762 – Population: 98,090. 1763 19 September: Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin founded in Charlottenburg. Population: 119,219. 1764 Döbbelinsches Theater opened, the first permanent German-language theater in Berlin. Population: 122,667. 1765 Bank established. Population: 125,139. 1766 Ephraim Palace built in Nikolaiviertel. Population: 125,878. 1767 – Population: 127,140. 1768 – Population: 130,359. 1769 Brick Friedrichs Bridge built. Population: 132,365. 1770 Bergakademie Berlin established. Population: 133,520. 1771 – Population: 133,639. 1772 – Population: 131,126. 1773 1 November: St. Hedwig's Church consecrated. Population: 132,204. 1774 Französisches Komödienhaus (French Comedy House) established. Population: 134,414. 1775 – Population: 136,137. 1776 – Population: 137,468. 1777 – Population: 140,719. 1778 – Population: 124,963. 1779 – Population: 138,225.
1780 (library) built. Population: 140,625. 1781 – Population: 142,375. 1782 – Population: 143,098. 1783 Wednesday Society active. Berlinische Monatsschrift (magazine) begins publication. Population: 144,224. 1784 – Population: 145,021. 1785 – Population: 146,647. 1786 Bellevue Palace built. Population: 147,338. 1787 – Population: 146,167. 1788 – Population: 149,274. 1789 – Population: 149,875. 1790 – Population: 150,803. 1791 24 May: Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (choral society) founded. Brandenburg Gate dedicated. Population: 155,211. 1792 – Population: 157,534. 1793 – Population: 157,121. 1794 – Population: 157,603. 1795 First steam engine in Berlin, used to power spinning machines. Population: 156,218. 1796 Zuckerbäckerei Johann Josty & Co. established. Population: 160,733. 1797 Pfaueninsel Palace built. Population: 164,978. 1798 – Population: 169,019. 1799 18 March: Bauakademie founded. Population: 169,510.
19th century 1800s–1860s 1800 – Population: 172,132. 1801 – Population: 176,709. 1802 – Population: 177,029. 1803 – Population: 178,309. 1804 Royal Prussian Iron Foundry established. Population: 182,157. 1805 25 October: Alexanderplatz renamed in honor of Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Population: 155,706. 1806 24 October: Berlin occupied by the French army. 21 November: Napoleon issues Berlin Decree while passing through city. Population: 155,000. 1807 – Population: 150,489. 1808 December: French occupation ends. Population: 145,941. 1809 Elections to city council held. 25 March: Berlin Police formed. 4 November: Gesetzlose Gesellschaft zu Berlin founded. Population: 151,119. 1810 15 October: University of Berlin established. Natural History Museum established as part of the University of Berlin. Population: 162,971. 1811 – Population: 169,763. 1812 Café Josty in business (approximate date). Population: 171,000. 1813 – Population: 178,641. 1814 – Population: 185,659. 1815 10 March: Nathan Israel Department Store established. City becomes part of the Province of Brandenburg. Population: 197,717. 1816 First continental European locomotive built at the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry. Population: 197,817. 1817 – Population: 195,689. 1818 18 September: Neue Wache inaugurated. Population: 198,125. 1819 – Population: 209,138. 1820 – Population: 201,900. 1821 30 March: Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars opened. 18 June: Schauspielhaus Berlin (theatre) inaugurated. Population: 205,965. 1822 – Population: 209,146. 1824 29 February: Berlin Missionary Society constituted. Schlossbrücke rebuilt. 1825 1 December: Population: 220,277. Sing-Akademie building constructed. First horse-drawn omnibus line operational. 1826 Glienicke Palace built. First gas lighting in Berlin at the Unter den Linden. Crelle's Journal founded. 1827 – 29 April: Premiere of Mendelssohn's opera Hochzeit des Camacho. 1828 1 December: Population: 236,830. Berlin Geographical Society founded. 1830 3 August: Königliches Museum opens. Museum Vaterländischer Altertümer formed. 1831 10 July: Friedrichswerder Church inaugurated. 1 December: Population: 248,682. 1834 3 December: Population: 265,122. Café Kranzler in business. 1835 – 24 April: Berlin Observatory opened. 1837 13 August: Ss. Peter and Paul inaugurated. 3 December: Population: 283,722. August Borsig founds Machine factory on Chausseestraße. Old Palace built. Schinkelplatz laid out. 1838 22 September: Berlin-Zehlendorf station opened. 29 October: first railway in Prussia, the Berlin–Potsdam railway opened. Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof opened. Bote & Bock music publisher in business. 1839 – 13 June: Berlin Rathaus Steglitz station opened. 1840 3 December: Population: 330,230. Zwei Friedenssäulen erected outside Charlottenburg Palace. 1841 1 July: Berlin–Halle railway opened. Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof opened. (artists association) founded. 1842 1 August: Bernau bei Berlin station opened. 1 October: Stettiner Bahnhof opened. 23 October: Berlin–Wrocław railway opened. Frankfurter Bahnhof opened. Berlin-Friedrichshagen station opened. Berlin-Köpenick station opened. Johann Friedrich Ludwig Wöhlert opens locomotive factory at Chausseestrasse No. 29. Springer-Verlag (publisher) in business. 1843 3 December: Population: 353,149. Royal Opera House rebuilt. 1844 Kroll Opera House opened. Berlin Zoological Garden opened. 1845 14 January: Physical Society of Berlin established. Stadtschloss completed. 1846 24 September: Discovery of Neptune planet at the Observatory. 15 October: Berlin–Hamburg Railway opened. Berlin-Stresow station opened. Hamburger Bahnhof opened. Nauen station opened. 3 December: Population: 408,502. 15 December: Berlin–Hamburg Railway completed.
1847