Timeline of Basel

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Basel (or Basle, in the once-preferred English spelling).

Established in the 4th century, the city rose to importance in the medieval period as a bishop's seat. In the 15th century it became an important center of Renaissance humanism and, in the 16th century, of the Protestant Reformation. Basel joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1501. In the 19th century, Basel was a center of Industrialisation, and it remains one of the major cities of contemporary Switzerland.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Early history

• 150 BC – Settlement of the Gaulish Rauraci on the northwestern outskirts of the present city
• 58 BC
  • Rauraci together with Helvetii try to emigrate to Gaul, but are defeated at the Battle of Bibracte by Julius Caesar and sent back to their homeland
  • Returning Rauraci build a fortified settlement, called oppidum (located in today's Basel Cathedral hill)
• c. 44 BC – Augusta Raurica is founded by the Romans some 5 km from the site of the future city.
  • c. 15 BC – Successful colonization of the area supported by the Augustus's conquest of the central Alps
  • By the 2nd century AD, Augusta Raurica
    • Has become a prosperous commercial trading centre and the capital of a local Roman province
    • Population reaches approximately twenty thousand people
  • 250 AD – Powerful earthquake damages a large part of the city
  • c. 260 AD – Alemanni tribes and/or marauding Roman troops destroy Augusta Raurica
• c. 300 AD, following the loss of the Limes Germanicus and the right bank of the Rhine River, the Roman army builds a castra (fort) named Castrum Rauracense near the old site of Augusta Raurica. It was intended to serve as the headquarters of the legio I Martia and to protect a ford over the Rhine.
• 4th century AD: The fort grows in importance because it commands a bridge that lies along the road from Gaul to the Danube River. Emperors Constantius II and Julian assemble their armies at the Castrum Rauracense before marching to battle against the Alemanni.[1] A church is built near Castrum Rauracense. The fort and neighboring church become the seat of a bishop, with the bishop first being mentioned in 346.[1]
• 374 AD – The town named Basilea or Basilia (from Greek Basileia, Βασιλεια "kingship") is documented[2]
• c. 400 AD – Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Roman troops withdraw from Castrum Rauracense and Basilea, the Germanic Alemanni settled in
• 7th century AD – The bishop moves to Basel and the settlement at Castrum Rauracense declines in importance

Middle Ages

• 740 – Catholic diocese of Basel active (approximate date).[3]
• 752 AD – A village called Augusta was first mentioned
• 894 AD – East Francian King Arnulf grants the church in Kaiseraugst (Castrum Rauracense) to his vassal, Anno; the church was then granted to the Abbey of St Gall and then later to the Basel Münster
• 917 AD – The Magyars destroyed Basel,[4] and later burnt down the monasteries of St Gallen and Rheinau[5]
• 999 AD – Rudolph III of Burgundy donates the Moutier-Grandval Abbey and all its possessions (1,400 km² or 540 sq mi of lands) to Bishop Adalbero II,[6][7] establishing the Prince-Bishopric of Basel as a secular territory
• 1019 – Basel Münster construction begins.
• 1032 – Town becomes seat of Prince-Bishopric of Basel, Holy Roman Empire.
• 1080 – City wall built (approximate date).
• 1226
  • Bridge over the Rhine constructed.
  • Furriers guild established.[8]
• 1230 – Inner wall built (approximate date).
• 1349
  • Black Death plague.
  • Basel massacre.
• 1356 – The 6.0–7.1 M_w  Basel earthquake shook the city with a maximum MSK intensity of IX–X (Destructive–Devastating), causing 300 deaths in the city and about 1,000 overall.
• 1380 – Public clock installed (approximate date).[9]
• 1398 – Outer wall built.
• 1412 – Guesthouse "Zum Goldenen Sternen" in business (approximate date).
• 1431 – Council of Basel formed.
• 1444 – Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs.
• 1460 – University of Basel established.[10]
• 1466 – Gesellschaft der Feuerschützen (Basel) (militia) formed.
• 1468 – Berthold Ruppel sets up printing press (approximate date).[11]
• 1471 – University Library in operation (approximate date).
• 1488 – Johannes Petri sets up printing press.
• 1491 – Johann Froben establishes printing house (approximate date).
• 1495 – Basel becomes part of Upper Rhenish Imperial Circle.
• 1499 – City hosts Treaty of Basel.
• 1500 – Basel Münster rebuilt.[12]

Old Swiss Confederacy

• 1501 – Basel becomes part of Swiss Confederacy.[13]
• 1523 – Christoph Burckhardt becomes citizen.
• 1529 – City becomes Protestant; Catholic bishop moves to Porrentruy.
• 1536 – John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion published.
• 1542
  • Basel thaler (currency) in circulation.
  • Johannes Oporinus sets up printing business.
• 1543 – Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica published.
• 1559 – Skalich's Encyclopaedia published.[14]
• 1662 – Amerbaschsches Kabinett established.
• 1774 – Population: 15,040.
• 1777 – Gesellschaft zur Aufmunterung und Beförderung des Guten und Gemeinnützigen founded.
• 1787 – Death of Anna Catharina Bischoff (born 1719, wife of a pastor), whose mummified corpse was rediscovered in 1975 in the Barfüsser Church.
• 1795 – City hosts Peace of Basel.
• 1798 – Basel frank (currency) in circulation.

Modern history

• 1815 – Evangelical Missionary Society of Basel formed.
• 1821 – Natural History Museum founded.
• 1833 – Canton of Basel divided.
• 1834 – Basler Stadttheater founded.
• 1839 – Basler Kunstverein founded.
• 1840 – Income tax collection begins in the canton.[14]
• 1850 – Population: 27,844 in city; 29,698 in canton.[15]
• 1864 – Elisabethenkirche built.
• 1867 – Allgemeine Musikschule founded.
• 1870 – Population: 44,848 in city; 47,040 in canton.[15]
• 1872 – Kunsthalle Basel inaugurated.
• 1874 – Zoo Basel opens.[16]
• 1882 – St. Gotthard railway begins operating.[17]
• 1893 – FC Basel founded.
• 1894 – Basel Historical Museum opens.
• 1897 – City hosts Zionist Organization meeting.
• 1900 – Population: 109,161 in city; 112,227 in canton.[15]
• 1907 – Basel SBB railway station built.
• 1912 – City hosts Second International meeting.
• 1913 – Basel Badischer Bahnhof built (approximate date).
• 1917
  • Schweizer Mustermesse Basel begins.
  • Ethnographic Museum formed.
• 1923 – Silo Tower built.
• 1925 – Pharmazie-Historisches Museum der Universität Basel founded.
• 1926 – Basel Chamber Orchestra founded.[18]
• 1927 – Boys' Choir of the Protestant Church of Basel-City formed.
• 1933
  • Schola Cantorum Basiliensis founded.
  • Gate of Spalen restored.
• 1945 – 4 March: Bombing by Allied forces.[19]

After 1945

• 1946 – Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport opens.
• 1954
  • City of Basel Music Academy formed.
  • St. Jakob Stadium opens.
• 1961 – Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig founded.
• 1963 – Birskopf Bridge built.
• 1968 – Merian Gärten (garden) established.[20]
• 1969 – Basel Institute for Immunology founded.
• 1970
  • Art Basel begins.
  • Population: 212,857 in city; 234,945 in canton.[15]
• 1977 – Basler Zeitung (newspaper) begins publication.
• 1979 – Cartoonmuseum Basel founded.
• 1980
  • Paper museum established.
  • Museum of Contemporary Art opens.
  • Population: 182,143 in city; 203,915 in canton.[15]
• 1984 – Swiss Architecture Museum founded.
• 1989 – City hosts Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
• 1996 – Museum Tinguely opens.
• 1997 – Sinfonieorchester Basel formed.
• 1998 – Dollhouse Museum opens.
• 2000
  • Music Museum opens.
  • Population: 166,558 in city; 188,079 in canton;[15] 731,167 metro.
• 2001 – St. Jakob-Park stadium opens.
• 2006 – City hosts European Curling Championships.

See also

• History of Basel
• List of councillors of Basel-Stadt
• List of bishops of Basel
• List of cultural property of national significance in Switzerland: Basel-Stadt
• Timelines of other municipalities in Switzerland: Bern, Geneva, Zürich

References

1. Kaiseraugst in Roman Times in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
2. The Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Incorporated 1999, p. 308
3. "Chronology of Catholic Dioceses: Switzerland". Norway: Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
4. Overall 1870.
5. http://www.swissworld.org/en/history/alamans_to_the_holy_roman_empire/foreign_invasions/
6. The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1993, p. 659
7. Wood, 285–286, 313
8. "Geschichtliches". www.kuerschner-basel.ch. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
9. Gerhard Dohrn-van Rossum (1996). History of the Hour: Clocks and Modern Temporal Orders. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-15510-4.
10. Haydn 1910.
11. Robert Proctor (1898). "Books Printed From Types: Switzerland: Basel". Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Company – via HathiTrust.
12. "Bâle". Switzerland. Coblenz: Karl Baedeker. 1863.
13. "Switzerland". Political Chronology of Europe. Europa Publications. 2003. pp. 248+. ISBN 978-1-135-35687-3.
14. Patrick Robertson (2011). Robertson's Book of Firsts. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-60819-738-5.
15. Evolution de la population des communes 1850–2000 (xls) (in French), Swiss Confederation, Federal Statistical Office, 2005
16. Vernon N. Kisling, ed. (2000). "Zoological Gardens of Switzerland (chronological list)". Zoo and Aquarium History. USA: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-3924-5.
17. Britannica 1910.
18. Colin Lawson, ed. (2003). "Orchestras Founded in the 20th Century (chronological list)". Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00132-8.
19. Leo Schelbert (2014). "Chronology". Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4422-3352-2.
20. "Garden Search: Switzerland". London: Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Retrieved 30 September 2015.

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

Bibliography

in English

• Thomas Nugent (1749), "Basil", The Grand Tour, 2: Germany and Holland, London: S. Birt
• Theodore Alois Buckley (1862), "Basle", Great Cities of the Middle Ages (2nd ed.), London: Routledge, Warne, & Routledge
• William Henry Overall, ed. (1870). "Basel". Dictionary of Chronology. London: William Tegg.
• W. Pembroke Fetridge (1878), "Switzerland: Basle", Harper's Hand-Book for Travellers in Europe and the East, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "Basel", Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424 – via Internet Archive
• Benjamin Vincent (1910), "Basel", Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (25th ed.), London: Ward, Lock & Co. – via HathiTrust
• "Bâle". Switzerland. Grieben's Guide Books (2nd ed.). Berlin: Albert Goldschmidt. 1912.
• "Bâle", Switzerland (26th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1922, OCLC 4248970
• Robert E. Dickinson (1961). "Basel". The West European City (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-25970-8.
• Lionel Gossman (1994). "Basel". Geneva, Zurich, Basel: History, Culture, and National Identity. Princeton University Press. p. 63+. ISBN 978-1-4008-6369-3.
• Trudy Ring, ed. (1995). "Basel". Northern Europe. International Dictionary of Historic Places. Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 978-1-136-63944-9.
• Wood, Susan (2006). The Proprietary Church in the Medieval West. OUP Oxford. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-19-820697-2.

in German

• "Basel". Topographia Helvetiae, Rhaetiae et Valesiae. Topographia Germaniae (in German). Frankfurt.. 1642–1654 (1960 reprint)
• Wolfgang Adam; Siegrid Westphal, eds. (2012). "Basel". Handbuch kultureller Zentren der Frühen Neuzeit: Städte und Residenzen im alten deutschen Sprachraum (in German). De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-029555-9.

External links