38,000 B.C.- The man who would be come to known as Doctor Gotham, after suffering grievous injuries, is placed in suspended animation (?) by Strega below the place that will eventually become Gotham City. The Breed Building would be built above this site. (Shadowpact # 5, 2006)

An ancient Native American tribe known as the Miagani inhabited the Gotham islands several centuries before European explorers ever crossed the Atlantic. The Miagani tribe is no longer in existence, and there is much speculation as to their final fate. One posited theory suggests that a shaman named Blackfire came to them, proclaiming to be a holy messenger. Within short order however, Blackfire took control of the Miagani and proved to be a cruel and evil tyrant. The Miagani chieftain Chief Paleface demanded that Blackfire leave the tribe, but the shaman would not be silenced, and he struck down Paleface with his staff, killing him. The other Miagani revolted against Blackfire. They shot him with their arrows and tied him to a pole to die. Blackfire didn't die though, so the Miagani sealed him inside of a cave. They erected a totem in front of the tomb as a warning sign of the evil that resided within. Some sources cite that Shaman Blackfire emerged from the cave and used his power to cause a blight across the land. As such, the Miagani had little choice but to abandon their homes in search of fertile ground. Two days into their journey, a rival tribe came upon them and slaughtered all of the Miagani. Some legends however, say that it was actually Shaman Blackfire who murdered them. (Batman: The Cult # 1, 1988)

1609- The Dutch East India Company selected English explorer Henry Hudson to chart an easterly passage to Asia. Along his journey, he surveys the Northeastern coastal region of what would one day become the United States (Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City). Following Hudson's course, Dutch pioneers sail for this New World and land in what was to become Gotham City. They find no Indians and think it safe to settle there. They start 2 separate colonies, one by the shore of the Atlantic and the other farther inland where farming is better. The latter group settles on the lands of the long dead Indian tribe called the Miagani. The group soon came upon the ancient Native American tomb of Blackfire. A few days later, the settlement is devoid of people. There is blood and signs of violence, but all the settlers are gone. The only witness, a trapper, says he saw a naked man walking away from the area. (Batman: The Cult # 1, 1988)

1635- Gotham City founded by Captain Jon Logerquist, a Swedish mercenary who landed on the Eastern seaboard with a handful of colonists who were fleeing the religious wars in Europe. Logerquist named his settlement Fort Adolphus after Gustavus Adolphus, the great Swedish general. (Atlas of the DC Universe, 1990)

1672- Pope Clement X sanctions Gotham’s (stilled called Fort Aldolphus) first church. (Detective Comics Annual # 11)

1674- Fort Adolphus was ceded to the British. General Adam Howe was named first Governor. He renames the settlement Gotham City (Atlas of the DC Universe, 1990) after a village in England famous for its wise fools. (http://www.dcuguide.com/profilewhere.php?name=gothamcity)

Wayne Corp was founded in the seventeenth century as a merchant house, eventually becoming a large multinational conglomerate. See below with Alan Wayne. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Enterprises)

By the mid-1700s, the American colonies had grown restless and had begun to choke under the yoke of England. Increasing taxation among other reasons had many thinking about independence. In 1764 (# 454 says 1765) Thomas Jefferson, Jacob Stockman, and others decide to perform a mystic rite known as the Ceremony of the Bat. In the ceremony, they brought forth a virgin to sacrifice to a demon known as Barbathos, but they were interrupted by what they perceive as a giant bat. Frightened the men flee in panic, trapping the demon and the sacrifice in the underground room on Stockman’s farm. Over time, the demon, whose essence remains trapped in limbo, becomes the spirit of Gotham City as the great metropolis grows up around the cellar. This foreshadows a later rite, which would create the living spirit of America, which would empower heroes like Minute Man, Brother John, and, more recently, Uncle Sam. (Batman # 452-454, 1990)

1760s- Thomas Wayne (who would later become the “black sheep” of the Wayne family leads a distinguished sect of devil worshipers. The sect summoned an ancient Bat-Demon of the Miagani tribe and “all kinds of terrible and bloody bargains were struck”. (Batman and Robin # 10, 2010)

During the Revolutionary War, Gotham City was home to about as many Tories as Rebels, leading to continual fighting within the city between rebel and British troops as the British held Gotham for most of the war. In 1779, a major battle was fought in Gotham when a Continental Army officer led a rebel raid on the Gotham armory. Spies alerted the British to the raid, and only the actions of a Gotham merchant named Darius Wayne averted a massacre of the rebel forces. Wayne was arrested and sentenced by the British to hang, but he was rescued from the noose when Revolutionary Army forces captured Gotham. After the war, Wayne was granted some land south of the city as a reward for his heroism. Beginning as early as 1799, Darius Wayne building Wayne Mansion (though he never lived to occupy it) and also founded Robinson Park. Darius's estate was the beginning of the Wayne fortune, which would continue to be an influence on Gotham through today. (Atlas of the DC Universe, 1990)

During the latter half of the 18th century and the early half of the 19th century, Gotham becomes a major port city known as Gotham Town.

The wilderness guerilla and war hero Tomahawk decides to make Gotham his home for a short time where, along with Stovepipe, he apparently becomes a tax collector during this downward period in his life. (Swamp Thing, Vol. 2, # 86, 1989)

1800- A time traveling Swamp Thing visits early Gotham. On January 1st, 1800, the frontiersman known as Tomahawk becomes embroiled in a fight with a British spy named Lord Shilling. Shilling has disguised himself as Tomahawk's close ally Stovepipe in order to get in close enough to procure a piece of mystical amber that Tomahawk had acquired from occultist Jason Blood years earlier. The two fight one another inside of an immense, bat-filled cavern not far from where the Wayne estate is being built under the guidance of Darius Wayne. Shilling tries to stab Tomahawk and recover the amber, but a giant bat bears down upon them and scoops Tomahawk out of the way. It drops Tomahawk near a river of molten liquid and the amber fragment falls into it. Shilling rushes over and shoves his arm into the river desperately scrambling for the fragment. When he withdraws his arm, he finds the amber fused to his hand. His arm is now desiccated and mummified. Tomahawk severs the arm and returns with it to Gotham Town. The arm and amber later becomes known as the Claw of Aelkhünd. The cavern in which the two fought one another would later service modern age super-hero Batman as the Batcave. Tomahawk encounters a slave trader, the immortal Jason Blood, who is then an Admiral in the Royal British Navy. The encounter makes Tomahawk disgusted with city life and he leaves Gotham with his Indian lover, Moon Fawn. (Swamp Thing, Vol. 2, #86, 1989)

Wayne Manor falls out of the hands of the Wayne family. Solomon and Joshua Wayne, grandsons of Darius, were soon able to buy it back. Afterward, Joshua joined the Underground Railroad (The Underground Railroad was at its height between 1810 and 1850. One report estimates that up to 100,000 people escaped enslavement via the Underground Railroad, but census figures only account for 6,000. Source: Wikipedia) and used the caves beneath the Manor as a hiding place for runaway slaves. Joshua was later mortally wounded in this pursuit and, in order to preserve the secret of the Underground Railway, climbed into a drainage pipe to ensure that his corpse would not be found.

1836- Marco Cantonini immigrates to Gotham when he is 2 years old. For years he works construction and proves to be a gifted architect. He later starts his own company and by 1900, his company has built 60% of the building in the city.  He dies in 1906 and 2 years later, his grandkids change the family name to Canton. The family becomes big in most everything concerning Gotham as well as a military conglomerate. (Batman Annual # 27)

Gotham continued to grow in size. Eventually, Solomon Wayne, who had become a judge, hired the eccentric architect Cyrus Pickney. His industrial-gothic style would continue to dominate the look of Gotham. Solomon Wayne's son Alan founded Wayne Enterprises, which grew to become Gotham's, and later one of America's, leading corporations.

1892- Fioroni is named Gotham’s first Cardinal. (Detective Comics Annual # 11)

1893- Panic of 1893 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893)

1894- In Slaughter Swamp outside of Gotham City, the wealthy Cyrus Gold is murdered. He would later return in various incarnations as the monster Solomon Grundy.

With its active harbors, Gotham prospered during the Industrial Revolution, growing rapidly into a major center of manufacturing, shipping, and finance. (Atlas of the DC Universe, 1990)

1900- Gotham has become the leading financial center in North America. (Atlas of the DC Universe, 1990)

1903- An unnamed millionaire’s mansion, which later becomes the nightclub called the Magic Palace, is built in Gotham City. (Batman # 295)

1920- Gotham, a city which had been thriving on coal and railroads, begins to decline in the new age of petroleum and automobiles. (Atlas of the DC Universe, 1990)

1920- Prohibition is declared. Many criminals begin selling illegal booze, along with other illicit substances. A vicious gang war erupts. Guiseppe Bertinelli united three of the "Five Families" of Crime in Gotham behind him against the other two, winning the gang war. With this, corruption and graft among politicians and the police began to grow.

1921- Elizabeth Arkham Asylum is founded by Amadeus Arkham who himself later would be imprisoned there. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkham_Asylum)

Gotham, like the rest of America, is hit hard by the Great Depression. Gotham is slow to recover, falling behind New York in prominence in the eastern United States. (Atlas of the DC Universe, 1990) During this time, organized crime grows increasingly powerful. Corruption infiltrated all levels of Gotham society from cops who were paid to look the other way to politicians in the pockets of gang lords. At the same time, however, Gotham became the home of two of the earliest superheroes: Green Lantern I and Black Canary I. Eventually, the Justice Society would even make its headquarters in Gotham for a short while. However, no matter what good these forces managed to do, the city remained in the control of organized crime. The mayor was murdered in the first of a series of grisly murders that would taunt the then protector of Gotham, Green Lantern (Alan Scott).

Sometime during the 1930s, Relief Island is built to house Gotham’s sick and destitute. It was replaced in the 1960s by a state way social aid bureaucracy and altogether abandoned “fifteen years ago”. (Batman # 345)

1939- Grosvenor’s Island, “situated in murky Gotham Bay”, becomes the home for the eighth armory. During WWII, soldiers were trained there. (Batman # 330)

During the 1950s, Gotham evolves with the changing times, particularly in light of the paranoia perpetuated by the Cold War. Various bomb shelters are erected throughout the city.

By the 1960s, Gotham City planners begin an ambitious project called the Underground Highway. Beginning at Fourth Avenue, they begin building an actual subterranean thoroughfare designed to link with the subway system. They only manage to complete two-hundred yards worth of tunnel before budget cuts force them to abandon the project. In later years, the unfinished highway becomes a haven for the homeless and even a few criminals such as Killer Croc. (Batman # 471)

Gotham would remain in the clutches of criminals for most of the 20th century. In the 1960s, Tomaso Panessa arrived in the city disrupting the balance of power among the "Five Families." Soon afterwards, a vigilante known as The Reaper appears, who wantonly slays criminals and terrorizes the city before mysteriously disappearing.

1964- The Magic Palace is purchased by the Society of Sorcerers to house their private club. (Batman # 295)

Gotham begins a slow but steady recovery during the 1970s as new, more lenient tax laws drew business and industry back into the city. That prosperity continues to this day, with Gotham leading the nation in new business construction.

One dark night, in the infamous Crime Alley, two of Gotham's most prominent citizens were murdered: Doctor Thomas Wayne and his wife, Martha. Though there was a great media sensation around the tragic event, their murderer was never caught. They left behind their son Bruce, who witnessed the crime and swore on their graves to avenge their deaths (eventually becoming known as the Batman). The murder soon became a symbol of the failure of the justice system. Over the following decades, corruption grew even worse. Drugs, prostitution, and graft skyrocketed. Organized crime embedded itself within the system, being lead at this time by Carmine Falcone, alias The Roman. An honest cop became a rarity. This changed with the arrival of two men: James Gordon and Bruce Wayne.

Gotham City had suffered the results of a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in an event commonly referred to as the "Cataclysm". With hopes for rehabilitating the broken city, the United States government declared it a No Man's Land, which effectively quarantined the entire island city. Eventually, thanks in no small part to the financial and political machinations of Lex Luthor--dipping his hands, as ever, in both legitimate and illegal means to achieve his goals--Gotham City was released and rebuilt, and rejoined the United States.