Columbia Timeline

This is a timeline based on the chronological events of history revealed in the BioShock Infinite. Please note that when specific months and days are not given, they are only known to occur within the specified month or year.

1874

 * Booker DeWitt is born.

1890

 * December 29
 * Booker DeWitt is present at the Wounded Knee massacre.

1892

 * In the timeline where Booker refused his baptism, Anna DeWitt is born. Her mother dies in childbirth.
 * In an alternate timeline, Booker is baptized and born again, taking on the new name of Zachary Hale Comstock. Shortly afterward, Comstock begins having what he thinks are visions of the future from God (which are in fact glimpses of alternate realities).

1893

 * Booker DeWitt gives up his daughter to pay off his gambling debts, and fails to save her after changing his mind.
 * Anna's pinky is severed by a closing tear as she is transported into an alternate universe by Comstock and the Luteces. By now existing in two realities simultaneously, she is able to intuitively manipulate tears.
 * Zachary Hale Comstock lobbies the U.S. Congress to provide funding for the construction of Columbia.
 * The 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair occurs, giving rise to the concept of American exceptionalism. The star attraction of the exposition is the floating city of Columbia, an ambitious project envisioned by the self-proclaimed prophet Zachary Hale Comstock, designed by Rosalind and Robert Lutece and funded by the U.S. government.

1895

 * "Marlowe" begins to sell bottles of Murder of Crows in the city of Columbia.

1897

 * While construction of Columbia is still underway, Anna DeWitt, renamed "Elizabeth" by Zachary Comstock, is imprisoned on Monument Island both to protect her from the "False Shepherd" and to allow scientific study of her reality-altering abilities by the Luteces, which provides Columbia with numerous technological advances taken from alternate realities.

1900

 * The United States of America proudly launches the air-city of Columbia, which begins a global tour of major cities.

1901

 * Columbia becomes involved in an international incident. During the Boxer Rebellion in Peking, China, Columbia opens fire on Chinese citizens, revealing to the world that the city is heavily armed.
 * The U.S. government disavows Columbia, and the city soon after disappears. The U.S. assumes Columbia has seceded due to ideological differences.
 * A fire at the Fink Manufacturing facility causes the city's leadership to detach part of the structure from the city, causing the deaths of several workers. Following this date, the Vox Populi become increasingly militant under Daisy Fitzroy's leadership.

1903

 * February 13
 * Lady Comstock is allegedly murdered by Daisy Fitzroy. (In reality, Comstock had her killed when she refused to keep Elizabeth's origins a secret. Fitzroy was a maid of the Comstocks at the time and was unfortunate enough to be used as a scapegoat.)
 * The Lutece twins are supposedly killed after one of their machines is sabotaged by Fink. Instead, it disperses them across multiple realities, allowing them to exist across all of time and space.

1904

 * Payton Lane Easter &amp; Sons begins producing Automated Stallions.
 * Emporia Towers is bombed by a man the Vox Populi believe to be an unnamed postman.

1905

 * Vanderwall & Palmer begins to sell Sky-Hooks for traveling on Columbia's Sky-Line.

1909

 * May 13
 * Dr. Pinchot is betrayed and murdered by Daisy Fitzroy after promising to assist her in her escape from Comstock House Re-Education Center before a scheduled lobotomy.

1912

 * July 6
 * The Lutece twins find Booker and bring him into Comstock's timeline so he might be able to reclaim Elizabeth. Although this is repeated numerous times across countless realities, none of Booker's attempts are successful.
 * The events of BioShock Infinite occur.
 * The events of Bioshock Infinite, as well as the construction and existence of Columbia, are erased from the multiverse through Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth's actions.
 * In another reality, Booker and Anna are together, free of the now-nonexistent threat of Zachary Comstock.

1981

 * A fallen building from Columbia is found high in the Alps, leading to the discovery of several Columbian artifacts, among them a Sky-Hook in its wooden box, a bottle of Murder of Crows, a Custom Authority book from 1907, a propaganda poster warning of "the False Shepard", and other objects. The rest of the city remains hidden to the world.

1984

 * In one reality, Columbia emerges from isolation and attacks New York City.