The 50 most important moments in Welsh history

Aug 12 2008 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail

550: St David establishes a monastery near the present city that bears his name;

780: Offa’s Dyke built between Wales and England;

800: The Welsh legal system is conducted through the Welsh language and the great prose work Mabinogi is written;

945: Welsh law codified and written down under Hywel Dda;

1057: Whole of Wales united under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn;

1176: Lord Rhys held the first eisteddfod, inviting poets and musicians to his castle at Cardigan;

1193: Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) writes his Description of Wales;

1216: Llywelyn presided over a meeting of Welsh rulers at Aberdyfi where he was recognised as their overlord. He became known as Llywelyn the Great;

1282: Edward I overcomes Welsh resistance to impose English rule on Wales;

1400: Owain Glyndr proclaimed Prince of Wales at height of his rebellion against English rule;

1485: Pembroke-born Henry Tudor becomes Henry VII;

1536 and 1543: Wales annexed by England in the Acts of Union;

1550: Robert Recorde of Tenby invented the “equals” sign in maths.

1588: Bishop Morgan’s translation of the Bible into Welsh is required to be used in churches;

1706: Anglesey-born William Jones became the first to use the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, pi, to represent the ratio of the circum- ference to the diameter of a circle;

1792: The Gorsedd of Bards is established by Iolo Morgannwg in a ceremony at Primrose Hill, London;

1807: The Mumbles-Swansea railroad became the first in the world to charge passengers;

1831: Merthyr Uprising;

1839: Chartist Rebellion in Newport;

1847: The Treachery of the Blue Books, a notorious parliamentary report on Welsh education;

1859: World’s first mail-order business established by businessman Pryce Pryce-Jones of Newtown to cater to the needs of many of his rural customers;

1865: First group of settlers from Wales reach Patagonia;

1872: First Welsh university established at Aberystwyth;

1873: A version of tennis known as sphairistike (sticky, for short) was devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield for a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, Llanelidan;

1880: First modern National Eisteddfod held;

1886: Cymru Fydd ( Wales of the Future) formed by group of politicians interested in achieving a measure of autonomy for Wales;

1897: World’s first wireless transmission takes place between Lavernock and Flat Holm;

1900: Keir Hardie elected first Labour MP at Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare;

1904: The Great Religious Revival is launched, led by Evan Roberts;

1907: World’s first million-pounds deal struck in Cardiff Coal Exchange;

1908: Wales wins the first ever rugby Grand Slam. There have been nine more since;

1909 Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George introduces the old age pension;

1913: Cardiff is the largest coal-exporting port in the world;

1916: Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister;

1920: Anglican Church in Wales disestablished;

1925: Plaid Cymru founded;

1932: Wales is one of the most depressed countries in the developed world, with 42.8% of the male working population unemployed;

1936: Nationalists Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and DJ Williams symbolically burn an RAF bombing school at Penyberth, near Pwllheli;

1948: NHS founded by Aneurin Bevan;

1964: Welsh Office established;

1965: Tryweryn valley flooded to provide water for Liverpool;

1966: Gwynfor Evans elected Plaid Cymru’s first MP;

1966: Aberfan disaster;

1967: First Welsh Language Act allowing for some government documents to be produced in Welsh;

1976: Cardiff MP James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister;

1993: Second Welsh Language Act giving Welsh equal status with English in the public sector;

1997: Wales votes Yes for a National Assembly;

1999: Establishment of National Assembly;

2007: Plaid Cymru enters government for first time;

2008: Tower Colliery, the final deep mine in Wales, closes.